RESISTANCE IN THE THIRD REICH: THE “RED ORCHESTRA”



RESISTANCE IN THE THIRD REICH: STAUFFENBERG’S ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT OF JULY 20, 1944

The 20 July plot of 1944 was a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, inside his "Wolf's Lair" field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of the German (military) Resistance to overthrow the Nazi regime.

The conspirators from the civilian and military resistance circles concentrated their efforts on eliminating Hitler, gaining control of the military chain of command, and assuming the responsibilities of government in Germany.They altered these plans, code-named "Valkyrie," several times, adapting them to the respective applicable conditions. With the aid of the "Valkyrie" orders, they intended to gain control of key government, Party, and Wehrmacht offices in Berlin so they could pave the way for the coup throughout Germany and at the front.

Stauffenberg as a focal point of the military conspiracy established important links to civilian resistance groups and coordinated his assassination plans with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and Ludwig Beck, and with the conspirators waiting in readiness in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and at Army Group Center.

The events of July 20, 1944

Assassination plans repeatedly failed in 1943 and close co-conspirators such as Adolf Reichwein and Julius Leber were arrested in the summer of 1944. Despite his key role in Berlin, Stauffenberg decided early in July of 1944 to attempt the assassination of Hitler himself. On July 20, he successfully smuggled a bomb into the "Wolf's Lair", the Führer's closely guarded headquarters near Rastenburg in East Prussia, and detonated it during a briefing. After he returned to Berlin, Stauffenberg at first did not believe reports that Hitler had survived. Together with his friend Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim, he feverishly attempted to persuade senior officers to support the coup. Late that evening, he was forced to acknowledge that the assassination attempt had failed. That same night, Stauffenberg, his adjutant Werner von Haeften, Mertz von Quirnheim, and Olbricht were summarily executed as the principal guilty parties in the assassination attempt. Beck was forced to commit suicide. Tresckow took his own life on the eastern front shortly thereafter. The failure of both the assassination and the military coup d'état which as planned to follow it led to the arrest of at least 7,000 people by the Gestapo.[1] According to records of the Führer Conferences on Naval Affairs, 4,980 people were executed,[2] resulting in the destruction of the resistance movement in Germany.

[Source: German Resistance Memorial Center (gdw-berlin.de); shortened)

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Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg

The role of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg

From autumn 1943 on, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg became a decisive factor in the struggle against Hitler. In 1933, he initially felt that National Socialist policy offered Germany favorable opportunities but was soon alienated by the regime's racial ideology. Yet Stauffenberg only assumed an active role in opposing the regime once he realized the consequences of German policy in eastern Europe and was able to estimate the full extent of the damage that Hitler's war had brought upon Germany and Europe.

Under the influence of Henning von Tresckow, General Friedrich Olbricht, and First Lieutenant Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg of the army reserve,

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