The Resistance (1939-1945) in a few documentaries (5)
The strongest and most significant military resistance by Germans during the Second World War was the assassination attempt and coup attempt of July 20, 1944, by a group around Oberstleutnant Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg.
Although the assassination attempt failed and Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were executed that very same night, the act is still considered the most important German attempt to resist the dictatorship. Germany officially commemorates him and the broader resistance on July 20th every year.
After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the National Socialists succeeded in eliminating their political opponents using brutal methods. Dissenters were silenced in various ways. At the same time, successes in economic and foreign policy gave the Nazi regime broad support among the German population.
The conservative elites in Germany tended to see National Socialism as an ally in the fight against socialism and communism. The regime's violence, the state persecution of German Jews and other minorities, and the harassment of the Christian churches therefore rarely provoked open opposition.
That early even within the Wehrmacht, there was little criticism of anything that happened under National Socialism. The military profited enormously from Hitler's rearmament policy and willingly supported his aggressive foreign policy for years.
This harmony was disrupted in early 1938 when Hitler dismissed the Reich Minister of War and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army under questionable circumstances after they had cautiously raised objections to his foreign policy
It was only the dangerous course towards wider war that Hitler pursued with almost simultaneously the annexation of Austria and the obivious military moves against Czechoslovakia that led to serious dissent, at least within parts of the military leadership.
The Chief of the Army General Staff, Ludwig Beck, tried in vain to persuade Hitler to back down and to unite the general staff in protest. When he resigned in August 1938, he left behind a small circle of like-minded officers from the Army General Staff and the military intelligence service, the Abwehr, in Berlin.
This nucleus of a military opposition soon established connections with regime critics in other parts of the state apparatus, especially in the Foreign Office. When the Sudetenland crisis intensified in September 1938, a first conspiracy to overthrow the Nazi regime emerged.
The driving force behind this particular conspiracy was Oberstleutnant Hans Oster of the Abwehr. He had the support of Beck's successor, Franz Halder, as well as the commander of the Berlin military district, Erwin von Witzleben.
The coup attempt, however, did not take place; the conspirators lacked a trigger when Hitler achieved his goals in the Sudetenland crisis without resorting to war after the Munich Agreement. Following this, Hitler's latest foreign policy triumph, the conspirators abandoned their plans for the time being.
Overthrowing a regime that enjoyed more popular support than ever before seemed hopeless. This assessment paralyzed the military opposition well into the war. The initially successful German conduct of the war meant that support for a coup d'état, especially within the Wehrmacht, was unlikely.
A new initiative launched in the autumn of 1939, which aimed to prevent an escalation of the war, therefore failed from the outset. Oberstleutnant Oster consequently went so far as to betray Germany's offensive plans in the West to foreign powers.
The German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 gave new impetus to the military opposition. The understanding grew that Germany would lose the war in the end and, with Hitler, was doomed to destruction.
The still small military opposition gained support. On the Eastern Front, a resistance group formed around Oberst Henning von Tresckow, and another in occupied Paris around the military commander there, Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel.
The center of the conspiracy against Hitler's regime remained Berlin. There, starting in 1942, a circle around General Friedrich Olbricht, in secret collaboration with Tresckow, devised new coup plans under the codename "Valkyrie".
Based on this new foundation, several assassination attempts on Hitler were prepared starting in the spring of 1943. However, all these failed miserably, but lucky enough the conspirators themselves weren't discovered.
The conspiracy gained new momentum when Oberstleutnant Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was transferred to Berlin in October 1943. His personality and function made him particularly suitable for the coup plans.
Stauffenberg's bomb attack on July 20, 1944, at the "Führer Headquarters" in East Prussia left Hitler slightly injured. The coup therefore failed to gain the necessary support within the Wehrmacht and collapsed that same day.
Only a few of the participants managed to escape the Gestapo. Most, approximately 200 people, were sentenced to death and executed by the People's Court, and uninvolved family members disappeared under the practice of collective punishment (Sippenhaft) until the end of the war.
"Es lebe das heilige Deutschland!"
[media=https://youtu.be/cCy5_hwDVGU]
Although the assassination attempt failed and Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators were executed that very same night, the act is still considered the most important German attempt to resist the dictatorship. Germany officially commemorates him and the broader resistance on July 20th every year.
After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the National Socialists succeeded in eliminating their political opponents using brutal methods. Dissenters were silenced in various ways. At the same time, successes in economic and foreign policy gave the Nazi regime broad support among the German population.
The conservative elites in Germany tended to see National Socialism as an ally in the fight against socialism and communism. The regime's violence, the state persecution of German Jews and other minorities, and the harassment of the Christian churches therefore rarely provoked open opposition.
That early even within the Wehrmacht, there was little criticism of anything that happened under National Socialism. The military profited enormously from Hitler's rearmament policy and willingly supported his aggressive foreign policy for years.
This harmony was disrupted in early 1938 when Hitler dismissed the Reich Minister of War and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army under questionable circumstances after they had cautiously raised objections to his foreign policy
It was only the dangerous course towards wider war that Hitler pursued with almost simultaneously the annexation of Austria and the obivious military moves against Czechoslovakia that led to serious dissent, at least within parts of the military leadership.
The Chief of the Army General Staff, Ludwig Beck, tried in vain to persuade Hitler to back down and to unite the general staff in protest. When he resigned in August 1938, he left behind a small circle of like-minded officers from the Army General Staff and the military intelligence service, the Abwehr, in Berlin.
This nucleus of a military opposition soon established connections with regime critics in other parts of the state apparatus, especially in the Foreign Office. When the Sudetenland crisis intensified in September 1938, a first conspiracy to overthrow the Nazi regime emerged.
The driving force behind this particular conspiracy was Oberstleutnant Hans Oster of the Abwehr. He had the support of Beck's successor, Franz Halder, as well as the commander of the Berlin military district, Erwin von Witzleben.
The coup attempt, however, did not take place; the conspirators lacked a trigger when Hitler achieved his goals in the Sudetenland crisis without resorting to war after the Munich Agreement. Following this, Hitler's latest foreign policy triumph, the conspirators abandoned their plans for the time being.
Overthrowing a regime that enjoyed more popular support than ever before seemed hopeless. This assessment paralyzed the military opposition well into the war. The initially successful German conduct of the war meant that support for a coup d'état, especially within the Wehrmacht, was unlikely.
A new initiative launched in the autumn of 1939, which aimed to prevent an escalation of the war, therefore failed from the outset. Oberstleutnant Oster consequently went so far as to betray Germany's offensive plans in the West to foreign powers.
The German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 gave new impetus to the military opposition. The understanding grew that Germany would lose the war in the end and, with Hitler, was doomed to destruction.
The still small military opposition gained support. On the Eastern Front, a resistance group formed around Oberst Henning von Tresckow, and another in occupied Paris around the military commander there, Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel.
The center of the conspiracy against Hitler's regime remained Berlin. There, starting in 1942, a circle around General Friedrich Olbricht, in secret collaboration with Tresckow, devised new coup plans under the codename "Valkyrie".
Based on this new foundation, several assassination attempts on Hitler were prepared starting in the spring of 1943. However, all these failed miserably, but lucky enough the conspirators themselves weren't discovered.
The conspiracy gained new momentum when Oberstleutnant Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was transferred to Berlin in October 1943. His personality and function made him particularly suitable for the coup plans.
Stauffenberg's bomb attack on July 20, 1944, at the "Führer Headquarters" in East Prussia left Hitler slightly injured. The coup therefore failed to gain the necessary support within the Wehrmacht and collapsed that same day.
Only a few of the participants managed to escape the Gestapo. Most, approximately 200 people, were sentenced to death and executed by the People's Court, and uninvolved family members disappeared under the practice of collective punishment (Sippenhaft) until the end of the war.
"Es lebe das heilige Deutschland!"
[media=https://youtu.be/cCy5_hwDVGU]
