*** biography: Adolf Hitler assasination attempts








Adolf Hitler: Assasination Attempts



Figure 1.--Here Hitler is making the radio broadcast from bunker HQ Wolfschanze (the Wolf's Lair) only hours after surviving the Valkyrie assassination attempt and assuring the German npeopole tht he was still alive (July 29, 1944). If Hutler had been killed, there swas chance that the planned coup might have succeeded -- although that is unclear. With him surviing, it collapsed. It was a disaster for the German people. More than half of the bomb tonnage dropped on Germany and the danage to German cities occurred after Valkyrie.

It is difficult to identify an individual who so influenced the course of the 20th century. Thus a single assasination could have had a major impact on the course of history. There was no shortage of people who wished they could kill Hitler. But only a few actually tried it. Despite elaborte protection measures by the SS, there were several attemots, some of which were no detected. This included both individual lone-wolf assasins and a vast Wehemacht conspiracy. The fact that that Hitler survived appears to be mostly dur to an amzzing series of lucky circumstances. An ordinary German citizen, Georg Elser, working by himself came very close to killing Hitler. Elser was a carpenter working in a watch shop. He worjked in the Munich Beer Hall where he secretly assembled his home-made bomb. He hid it in a hollowed-out space close to the speaker's platform. It denonated, kolling eight people, but not Hitler (1939). [Ortner] The best known assination attempt was the Wehrmacht Valkyrie conspiracy ending in the July Bomp Plot (1944). In the end, the ehrmacht's sense of hinor condemned the German people who they were resonsible for protecting go a cruel fate. The real loser was the German people. Nearly a million Germans would die in 1945. More were wounded or raped. And many who sonehow survived had their homes and work places destroyed. To form the Honor Court trying the conspirators. Hitler appointed Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt--a Prussian aristocrat who despised Hitler personally. After Valkyrie, securiy measures were tightened to the point that assasinatio was no longer possible.

Georg Elser (1939)

An ordinary German citizen, Georg Elser, working by himself came very close to killing Hitler. Elser was a carpenter working in a watch shop. He worjked in the Munich Beer Hall where he secretly assembled his home-made bomb. He hid it in a hollowed-out space close to the speaker's platform. It denonated, kolling eight people, but not Hitler (1939). [Ortner]

Baron Rudolf von Gersdorff (1943)

Baron Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff was one of several Wehrmacht officers that tried to kill Hitler. The attemps motly occurred in 1943-44). One is attempted to ascribe this to the fact by this time that Hiler had by this time lost the War. But is alsop true that the great crimes in terms of numbers of people killed began in 1941 with the invasion of the Soviet Union, Followed by the destruction of Polish Jewery (1942-43). His biographer writes, "Tresckow now opened up to me conpletely about the necesity of doing away with Hitler, In doing so, he used the following expression: that mankind had to be liberated from its greatest criminal. He explained that after long consideration, he had decided on using exploives for the assasinatiion, because this method offered the greatest assurance of actually killing Hitler.... During a visit by Hitler to Army Group Center, wehad been ble to scertin that even his service cap had steel inserts. A woukld be assasin, therefore , would have to be able to shoot him in the small target aeas consisting of the middle of his face, in order to kill him with ang degree of certainty." [von Gersdorff] The Baron had been assigned to guide Hitler to view captured Soviet weaponry at a display in Berlin (March 21, 1943). The Baron planned to detonate a bomb that would have killed both Hitler and himself. He was not able to pull it off, but the SS never learned of the plot. He served as an Abwehr officer with rmy Group Center. It was the Baron that reported the discovery of mass graves of Polish officers now known as the Katyn Massacres (April 1943). And he served as Chief of Saff of the LXXXII Army Corps on the Atlntic Wall. He plyed a key role in the evacuation of the 7th Army caught in the Falaise Pocket,

Valkyrie (1944)

The best known assination attempt was the Wehrmacht Valkyrie conspiracy ending in the July Bomp Plot (1944). Hitler had correctly judged that after his appointment as Chancellor, that the Reichwehr was the only force in Germany that could prevent him from seizing absolute power. The Whermacht was also in 1944 the only force capable of taking control of Germany from the NAZIs. Wehrmacht officers had perpetrated terrible attrocities. Some were apauled with what the SS abd other security forces were doing. Others were bothered about the Wehrmacht's conduct. Only the impending defeat of Germany, however, brought about an attempted (July 1944). An idealistic young Catholic aristocrat, Colonel Claus von Staufenberg, placed a bomb in the Wolf's Lair. After Hitler was dead, the Hpme Army would seize control of Berlin and then Germany. The idea was to then negotiate a separate peace with the Western Allies. That by 1944 was unrealistic. Someone moved the bomb and Hitler was protected by the thick oak leg of the map table. The failure to kill Hitler and the extensive NAZi penetration of the Wehrmacht led to the coup's failure. The bulk of the Wehrmacht remained loyal to Hitler and the NAZIs. In the end, the Wehrmacht's sense of honor condemned the German people who they were resonsible for protecting To a cruel fate. The real loser was the German people. The great bulk of German civilian casualties took place after the failed coup. Nearly a million Germans would die in 1945. More were wounded or raped. And many who sonehow survived had their homes and work places destroyed. To form the Honor Court trying the conspirators, Hitler appointed Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt--a Prussian aristocrat who despised Hitler personally.

Sources

Ortner, Helmut. Ross Nenjamin, trans. The Lone Assasin: The Epic Story of the Man Who Almost Killed Hitler (2012), 192p.

Von Gersdorff, Baron Rudolf-Christoph. Soldier in the Downfall: A Wehrmacht Calvalryman in Russis, Normandy, and the Plot to Kill Hitler (2012), 240p.






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Created: 2:26 AM 12/29/2012
Last edited: 3:35 AM 6/3/2022