Last member of failed plot to kill Hitler dies

[Octafish]

Source: MSNBC

Last member of failed plot to kill Hitler dies

90-year-old officer tried with others to assassinate Nazi leader in '44

Torsten Silz / AFP - Getty Images file
updated 4:37 p.m. ET, Fri., May. 2, 2008

BERLIN - Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, believed to be the last surviving member of the inner circle of plotters who attempted to kill Adolf Hitler in 1944 with a briefcase bomb, has died. He was 90.

The German military said in a statement Friday that the former army major died Thursday night. It did not give a cause of death.

Von Boeselager was part of a group of officers who tried to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944, supplying explosives for the operation led by Col. Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg.

SNIP...

Von Stauffenberg placed the bomb in a conference room where Hitler was meeting with his aides and military advisers but escaped the blast when someone moved the briefcase next to a table leg, deflecting much of the explosive force.

Almost immediately afterward, von Stauffenberg and many of his cohorts were arrested and executed in an orgy of revenge killings that saw some hanged by the neck with piano wire. Though many of those rounded up by Nazi officials were tortured in the hopes they would give up other conspirators, von Boeselager's name was never divulged and he was never found out.

CONTINUED...



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24430171/

[sasquatch]

1. Auf Weiderschen*spelling?*

:hi:

[Octafish]

2. Auf wiedersehen, mein Herr.

Until we see each other again, Sir.

Whether for love of country or hatred of evil, Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager was a brave officer.
I wish I had the honor of meeting him.

Wie geht's, sasquatch?

[jwirr]

5. Absolutely agree.

[sasquatch]

8. I'm alright

[JeffR]

3. Shit. Now there's no stopping this damned Hitler guy!

RIP, Herr von Boeselager. You were a brave and a good man.

[Octafish]

6. That's exactly the point, JeffR.

One can't kill an idea. But a person who has acted on it can face Justice.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Read This Book Now

To The Bitter End by Hans Gisevius

Single most important book I ever read. A history of how Nazi Germany became Nazi Germany, written by another member of the group that tried to kill Hitler.

I came away realizing that it could happen here - in fact, it might have if The Chimperor had been militarily successful.

[tuckessee]

7. Had the Allies not insisted on unconditional surrender Hitler would've been dead by mid '43.

The primary excuse given at the time by sympathetic officers who declined or waffled was that they felt that the unconditional surrender demands and no negotiations stance of the Western Allies meant peace was impossible and that to kill Hitler would only weaken them. "Why bother risking a civil war? The war will continue anyway" they reasoned.

Had the Allies been open to peace talks many, many more would have joined the plots.

Efforts to counter Hitler and the Nazis were in full bloom by 1940, well before the invasion of the Soviet Union. After Stalingrad, the German General Officer class, with the support of the Landser, would've gladly assassinated Hitler and deposed the Nazis had there been some "out" from the war.

It's entirely possible it could've occurred as early as 1941 had the Abwehr not been rebuffed then neutered by the British.

There's a lesson here for America's neo-cons & hawks who refuse to talk with our many enemies the world over today.

[Zorro]

9. You forget one thing

The Germans were in the dominant position for the first couple of years of the war.

Any suggestion of the Allies offering conditional surrender terms would have been either laughed off, or seen as a sign of weakness by the Germans, IMHO.

Unconditional surrender was the only option. Churchill and Roosevelt understood that.

[onager]

12. And another thing...

FDR was determined not to repeat a big mistake of 1918, when World War I ended in an armistice, not a formal surrender.

That little technicality led directly to the "Big Lie" so useful to German right-wing radicals. Since the German Army was still fighting as of 11 November 1918, it couldn't possibly be responsible for the collapse of the war effort and the humiliating Versailles Treaty that followed.

Therefore, the fault must lie elsewhere. Our Brave Soldiers never surrendered. So they must have been "stabbed in the back" by a conspiracy at home. The Usual Suspects got blamed for that--liberals, Communists and Jews.

The German General Staff, naturally, encouraged this line of thinking. And who embodied the General Staff between the wars? Two of its most revered World War I leaders: Ludendorff, who would march alongside Hitler in the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923; and Hindenburg, who would appoint Hitler as Chancellor in 1933 and truly unleash the nightmare.

In WWII, the Allied leadership wanted to make sure the same thing would not happen again. At the end of this war, the German leadership would not have a chance to cobble up conspiracy theories about why they lost the war. The leaders would surrender unconditionally in front of the whole world.

I'm really annoyed by the anti-FDR propaganda coming from (mostly) the right wing in the past few years. Much of that propaganda starts with this whine about the demand for unconditional surrender in WWII. But the reasons for that demand were well known at the time and for many years after. It's only fairly recently that the question has even come up, almost always from revisionist asshats who want to destroy any bit of the FDR legacy they can. For one of the worst examples, see Thomas Fleming.

[Kolesar]

13. The "Knife in the Back" thesis was explained in an article at Harpers Magazine

I don't have time to google it up. Gotta reformat C:\ now

[onager]

15. Thanks! Found it, read it. Outstanding!

I think all DU'ers would enjoy that article. Well, except for the PCT's, but Cheney them anyway.

Here's the link. The article is from 2006 but still available:

Stabbed in the back! The past and future of a right-wing myth by Kevin Baker: http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/06/0081080

A few quotes:

The Siegfried legend in particular, though, has nuances that would mesh perfectly with right-wing mythology in the twentieth century, both in Germany and in the United States...

In the years immediately following World War II, the American right was facing oblivion. Domestically, the reforms of the New Deal had been largely embraced by the American people. The Roosevelt and Truman administrations—supported by many liberal Republicans—had led the nation successfully through the worst war in human history, and we had emerged as the most powerful nation on earth.

Franklin Roosevelt and his fellow liberal internationalists had sounded the first alarms about Hitler, but conservatives had stubbornly—even suicidally—maintained their isolationism right into the postwar era...

Once again, by 1975, the American right should have found itself utterly discredited. A war that conservatives had fervently supported had ended in defeat, but with none of the consequences they had prophesied. Instead, the entire operating right-wing belief in “monolithic communism” was debunked in the wake of our evacuation from Saigon, as Vietnam attacked Cambodia, China invaded Vietnam, and the Soviet Union and China clashed along their border.

[happyslug]

10. In 1941, Hitler was a "Hero" to the German People

He had conquered Poland and France. He had NOT yet attack Russia. I believe it was General Beck who said in 1940 "You can NOT kill a Hero" when he canceled plots to kill Hitler in the 1940-1941 period. Basically do to the German Success on Continental Europe there was no political support for a removal of Hitler.

By 1943, the situation had changed, Hitler had attacked Russia, he had failed to take Moscow in December 1941. The Germans had lost Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-1943, he had lost Kursk in the Summer of 1943, the US and British had taken driven the Germans out of Africa and had taken Sicily. During Kursk, the Western Allies had invaded Italy proper and Mussolini's fascist government had fallen (And Italy had surrendered).

It was at this point the plots to kill Hitler were revived. The Army Leadership did NOT want the Russians to get to Germany, but there was no way the German Army could do that without oil. Prior to Hitler's attack on Russia, Russia had been Germany's main source of oil. With the failure of the attack in 1941, the Germans lost up to 90% of the oil they knew they needed to operate. The German did go on the Offensive in 1942 in Russia, but one of the reasons they failed was their infantry had to use only 10% of the oil they had used in peacetime, to save fuel to the Tank Division and the German Air Force. That offensive ended in Stalingrad. The Germans tried again in 1943 but was stopped in the Battle of Kursk, after which the Russians pushed them back, by the summer of 1944 the Germans had been pushed out of pre-WWII Russia, and heading for Berlin.

The Allies where also advancing in 1943, in Italy and in 1944 France. It was at this period, between the invasion of Italy and France that the German Army made approached to the Allies. The Western Allies had a problem. 2/3 of the German Army was tied up in Russia, if it was freed from Russia, the Western Allies COULD NOT INVADE FRANCE. The Allies could NOT get enough troops on shore to fight off the German Army. Thus D-day could NOT occur (or if it did it would have been a disaster) WITHOUT THE RUSSIANS TYEING UP 2/3rds OF THE GERMAN ARMY.

Thus in 1943-1944, the Germans would loved to have made a deal with the West, including pulling the German Army out of France and Italy (and even the Balkans) if freed to fight the Russians from taking Berlin. The Western Allies knew they could only invade IF THE GERMAN ARMY WAS TIED UP IN RUSSIA. Stalin knew he had the Germans on the ropes, all he needed to do is keep attacking, as long as the Western Allies did NOT provide the Germans with oil, Stalin knew he would take Berlin sometime.

In simple terms, the Russians could defeat the Germans, if the Western Allies did NOTHING (i.e. no shipments of oil to Germany, remember the US was the #1 oil exporter of this time period). The Germans could defeat the Russians ONLY IF THE ALLIES SUPPORTED THE GERMANS, at the minimum exporting oil to the Germans. The Western Allies could do NOTHING, if the Germans and Russians came to an agreement.

The conspirators had a problem, they could NOT promise any withdraws till they were in Power, and could NOT get into power until Hitler was dead. The only troops in Berlin were Home Army troops (Basically old men and young boys) under Beck. As a Reserve Army, Beck had no day to day control over these troops, thus their loyalty in a coup was suspect (All the regular and first line Reserve troops were in Russia, Italy, the Balkans or France). The conspirators could promise, they could not deliver.

At the same time, the Lucy Ring was operating. What was the Lucy ring is unclear, OAS (The predecessor to the CIA) claim it was their project, but it appears to be a Soviet Spy Ring that had been forced to use the OAS to get information to the Allies do to lost of an ability to communicate with Moscow. The effectiveness of the Lucy Ring did NOT provide confidence in the Conspirators (Who were NOT member of that ring) given that any troop movements would be sent to Moscow almost as soon as the OAS received it. The Western Allies had a greater fear of a Moscow- Berlin Separate peace then anything else, for it would kill off any chance of the Western Allies landing and taking France. Thus unless the Western Allies were confident that the coup would be unknown to Moscow, they were NOT about to have anything to do with it. Both Churchill and FDR wanted Western Allies troops on Continental Europe and that meant an invasion, and invasion that was impossible if Stalin and Hitler signed a separate peace. Thus any agreement to STOP fighting the Russians was a kiss of death to any peace agreement between the Western Allies and Germany, until Antwerp was taken in December 1944, the Western Allies did not have a single port along they path of March (Brest finally fell in the fall of 1944, but after the Allies had taken Paris). Compared to the Russians supply lines, the Western Allies supply lines were barely supplying the troops by December 1944 (and the main reasons the Western Allies advance in 1944 ended on the German-French border, the Western Allies had no supplies to go further, and until supplies were built up could not advance). It was not till the Spring of 1945 that the Supply lines were up to par and the Western Allies advanced into Germany.

My point was simple, given the situation on the Ground in 1943-1945, the Western Allies could NOT agree to any peace with Germany. Such a peace would require that the US supply Germany with oil. Oil that would have permitted the German Army to stop the Red Army, prevent any Western Invasion of Europe but leave the Western Allies with no say on Continental Europe.

Now Stalin and Hitler could have made a peace, if Hitler had been willing to give Stalin Poland and central Europe in exchange for a free hand in France and Italy. Fortunately these two men hated each other after 1941 and Europe was to small for both of them.

The conspirator hope for the Western Allies to permit them to fight the Russians AFTER a peace with the Western Allies, made no sense to FDR or Churchill. It gave them nothing, it gave Germany Europe. Germany had to give, at least the US, more, namely France (Germany would only expect to hold onto Germany). Britain had to agree to what the US wanted, Churchill was to dependent on the US for food, Guns, Materials and money to fight the was alone.

Thus my point the Conspirators plan did NOT address wanted the US wanted, nor wanted the USSR wanted. France and Poland respectively. The Conspirators had to give up one or the other (and preferably BOTH) for any hope of Peace. They were NOT in a position to do either (remember the conspiracy FAILED) during 1943, by the time they did try to kill Hitler, July 1944, the US had already landed its troops in France and Russia was entering Poland. The partition of Europe was already occurring by the success of the two armies with access to Oil and nothing the Germans could do to stop the partition.

[struggle4progress]

11. Plötzensee Memorial Center

... In 1951, the Berlin Senate decided to erect a memorial in Plötzensee .... Portions of the execution shed are torn down, and a memorial wall is erected in front of it ... http://www.gedenkstaette-ploetzensee.de/01_e.html

... 2,891 . murdered in Plötzensee during the National Socialist regime .... half . are Germans, most . sentenced to death for . resistance ... http://www.gedenkstaette-ploetzensee.de/02_e.html

... theologian and political theorist Hermann Stöhr .. drafted in 1939 . refuses military service, citing . conscience and requesting . work service instead ... Reich Military Court sentences Hermann Stöhr to death . as a conscientious objector ... http://www.gedenkstaette-ploetzensee.de/03_e.html

The attempted coup of July 20 .. has failed .... August 7 and 8 . the first trial is held .... over 50 trials . end with over 110 death sentences .... defendants are not allowed to choose their own legal counsel; they . review the charges and specifications only shortly before the proceedings ... http://www.gedenkstaette-ploetzensee.de/12_e.html
<list of names:> http://www.gedenkstaette-ploetzensee.de/13_e.html

[bean fidhleir]

14. Grüss Gott, lieber Herr. Du hast was als'n Rolle gespielt. (nt)

[Ian David]

16. Look at what people did in 1944. We can't even get impeachment on the table. n/t

[onager]

17. I was in Berlin once on 20 July...

And got to see the ceremony honoring the plotters. It's held at the "Bendler Block," formerly German General Staff headquarters on Bendler-Strasse. The street has been renamed for Stauffenberg.

The ceremony was very simple and moving. Government representatives laid wreaths, followed by citizens placing flowers.

Simple, moving and chilling. The flowers are laid at the very wall where Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were shot on the night of 20 July.

The building itself now houses a museum honoring all Germans who fought the Nazis. You walk into the museum under that famous quote from Niemoller: "First they came for the Communists..."