At the end of 1943 the Schutz
Staffeinel (SS) and the Gestapo managed
to arrest several Germans involved in plotting
to overthrow Adolf
Hitler. This included Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, Klaus
Bonhoeffer, Josef
Mueller and Hans
Dohnanyi. Others under suspicion like Wilhelm
Canaris and Hans
Oster were dismissed from office in
January, 1944.
Major
Claus von Stauffenberg now emerged
as the leader of the group opposed to Nazi
rule. In 1942, he decided to kill Adolf
Hitler. He was joined by Wilhelm
Canaris,Carl
Goerdeler, Julius
Leber, Ulrich
Hassell, Hans
Oster, Peter
von Wartenburg, Henning
von Tresckow, Friedrich
Olbricht, Werner
von Haeften, Fabian
Schlabrendorft, Ludwig
Beck and Erwin
von Witzleben.
The plot was developed as
a modification of Operation Valkyrie (Unternehmen
Walküre), which was approved by Hitler for
use if Allied bombing of German cities or
an uprising of forced laborers from occupied
countries working in German factories resulted
in a breakdown in law and order. Members
of the Reserve Army, including members of
the Kreisau
Circle, modified the plan and decided
to assassinate Adolf
Hitler, Hermann
Goering and Heinrich
Himmler. Afterward, they planned for
troops in Berlin to
seize key government buildings, telephone
and signal centers and radio stations. Hitler's
death was required to free German soldiers
from their oath of loyalty to him. Operation
Valkyrie was meant to give the plotters control
over the government so they could make peace
with the Allies and end the war.
At least six attempts were
aborted before Claus
von Stauffenberg decided on trying again
during a conference attended by Hitler on
July 20, 1944. It was decided to drop plans
to kill Goering and Himmler at
the same time. Stauffenberg, who had never
met Hitler before,
carried the bomb in a briefcase and placed
it on the floor while he left to make a phone-call.
The bomb exploded killing four men in the
hut. Hitler's right arm was badly injured
but he survived the bomb blast.
The plan was for Ludwig
Beck, Erwin
von Witzleben and Friedrich
Fromm to take control of the German
Army. The coup failed in part because they
delayed implementing the plan until official
confirmation of Hitler's death could be
received. When they learned that Hitler
had survived, Valkyrie was not put in effect.
In an attempt to protect
himself, Fromm organized the execution of Claus
von Stauffenberg along with two other
conspirators, Friedrich
Olbricht and Werner
von Haeften, in the courtyard of the
War Ministry. It was later reported the Stauffenberg died
shouting "Long live holy Germany".
As a result of the July
Plot, the new chief of staff, Heinz
Guderian demanded the resignation of
any officer who did not fully support the
ideals of the Nazi
Party. Over the next few months Guderian
sat with Gerd
von Rundstedt and Wilhelm
Keitel on the Army Court of Honor that
expelled hundreds of officers suspected of
being opposed to the policies of Adolf
Hitler. This removed them from court
martial jurisdiction and turned them over
to Roland
Freisler and his People's Court.
Over the next few months
most of the group, including Wilhelm
Canaris, Carl
Goerdeler, Julius
Leber, Ulrich
Hassell, Hans
Oster, Peter
von Wartenburg, Henning
von Tresckow, Ludwig
Beck, Erwin
von Witzleben and Friedrich
Fromm, were either executed or committed
suicide. Ninety of the supposed conspirators were executied between August 1944 and April 1945 at the Plotzensee Prison.
It is etimated that 4,980
Germans were executed after the July Plot. Hitler decided
that the leaders should have a slow death.
They were hung with piano wire from meat-hooks.
Their executions were filmed and later shown
to senior members of both the NSDAP and
the armed forces.
In March 2013, the last surviving member of the plot - Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin - died in Munich.