A Bomb For Hitler: "Valkyrie," 2008 Tom Cruise Movie

I've done a few articles on the subject of the attempt on Hitler's life and this one provides an overview to the actual historical events, if you are interested: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/08/german-question-part-one-hundred-fifty_29.html

The problem with these kinds of pictures is that they are based upon historical events; thus, we already know the overall outcome. It's like with the various pictures about the Titanic, the ship hits an iceberg and sinks. It always ends the same. Damn! You'd think after the first movie, they'd know to stay away from icebergs! With the July 20, 1944 attempt on Hitler's life, the subject has been covered, in whole or in part, in numerous films dating back decades. Perhaps we need to have new versions to continue to show younger generations that resistance to fascism did exist, even in a totalitarian system like that of Germany under the Nazis. Notice too, I said, "based upon historical events." This doesn't mean that the movies are documentaries, but rather, that they contain scenes depicting, "to some degree," events that actually took place historically.* Movies are written, filmed and released to make money and in many cases the overall real historical events wouldn't keep people in their seats or make them want to buy tickets to a movie theater, so..... things get spiced up to hold the attention of the audience; or at least, that's what the movie studios hope. So it is with this film, "Valkyrie," although you must admit, planting a bomb near Hitler and then trying to take control of Germany from the Nazis is a story that should hold the attention of most viewers.  

"Valkyrie" (German: "Walküre")** comes from that word's use as a German code name for a military plan to secure parts or all of Germany due to any threat to German government control for any reason, including rebellion. A number of the officers with responsibilities for carrying out any such military operation were anti-Nazis, and they cleverly decided to use the plan to take over the German government FROM the Nazis, once Hitler was either arrested or killed.     

There is a large cast for this movie, and some of  the main cast members are: American actor Tom Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, British actor (from Northern Ireland) Kenneth Branagh, as Colonel (later General) Henning von Tresckow, English actor Bill Nighy as General Friedrich Olbricht, English actor Terence Stamp as General Beck,*** English actor Tom Wilkinson as Colonel General Friedrich Fromm, German actor Thomas Kretschmann as Major Otto Remer,**** English actor Jamie Parker as Stuaffenberg's military aide, Werner von Haeften, and last, but not least, The Wacko-in-Chief, Hitler, is played by English actor David Bamber.

This version of the nearly successful attempt to kill Hitler begins with Claus von Stauffenberg serving with the German army in Tunisia, where he is severely wounded. The scene shifts to Hitler visiting a group of officers, including then Colonel, and soon to be General, Henning von Tresckow,  on the Eastern Front in Russia. When Hitler boards his plane to leave, Tresckow asks one of the officers who will accompany Hitler on the flight to take a package containing a bottle of liquor with him to be delivered to another officer. The package indeed contains a liquor bottle, but it is specially fitted with a bomb. The plane flies off, and later Tresckow learns that it lands safely; that the bomb failed to go off for some reason. The bomb must now be retrieved, lest the plan by Tresckow and others be discovered. He contacts the man with the "package" and he then makes the trip to get the bomb back into his possession. When he arrives, he learns from General Friedrich Olbricht, that one of the other conspirators has been arrested for unknown reasons, but Tresckow retrieves the package containing the bomb without incident. This whole segment shows how dangerous it could be to plot against Hitler.

The badly wounded Stauffenberg is released from the hospital, minus his right hand, two fingers on his left hand and his left eye. Stauffenberg, a devout Catholic, meets General Olbricht in church, where Olbricht tells him the resistance movement needs someone like him. Stauffenberg tells him that as he lay on the ground badly wounded in North Africa, and thinking he would die, he hung on because he says he thought, "If I die, I will leave my children nothing but shame," but he also tells Olbricht that if any plot against Hitler fails, that he fears for what will happen to his wife and children at the hands of the Nazis. Stauffenberg goes to a meeting of a number of army officers of the German resistance, but he doesn't like their lack of a plan for what they will do if Hitler is successfully removed from power, as other Nazi leaders will be able to step in; so, he leaves the meeting without making a commitment to the resistance. Afterwards, Stauffenberg sees his wife and children, but the air raid sirens sound and Allied aircraft drop bombs in the area, which helps to convince Stauffenberg that something has to be done.

Stauffenberg is assigned to the German Replacement Army (German: Ersatzheer), which the Germans used to induct, train, equip and then dispatch men to combat units in need of replacements. This substantial military force also acted as a "home army," with the general assignment to help keep public order or quell any rebellion. Several officers of the Replacement Army were anti-Nazis, with some being active members of the resistance. Stauffenberg meets with a couple of high ranking resistance officials and proposes using the army plan for securing Germany during a rebellion, but to use the plan AGAINST the Nazis. The idea was that once Hitler was killed, that the resistance would tell the German military and the German public that the Nazis and Heinrich Himmler, the head of the notorious Nazi SS, are the ones responsible for Hitler's death; thus, the army will oppose the Nazis and the SS out of German patriotism. One person they will need is Colonel General Friedrich Fromm, as he is the head of the Replacement Army and he will be needed to issue orders if this plan is to be put into operation. Stauffenberg and Olbricht go to see Fromm and they make "obvious hints" about him becoming a high official in any post-Hitler army. Fromm listens, understands the "hints," but he tells them that they have all sworn an oath of loyalty to Hitler, and that as long as Hitler is alive, he will remain loyal, and that he will forget that this meeting has ever taken place. This leaves a major lose end, but the plotters move on with their plan for the use of the army to suppress the Nazis and the SS and they lay out an actual assassination plan to kill Hitler. Further, they establish who will form the new German government to replace the Nazis.
  
Stauffenberg goes to meet Hitler and takes a bomb along in his briefcase. The plotters hope to kill Hitler, Göring and Himmler at the meeting, but Himmler is not present, so the plan is canceled.***** A few days later, however, on July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg attends another meeting with the intention of carrying out the assassination, regardless of which other Nazi leaders are there. Stauffenberg puts his bomb laden briefcase under the conference table with Hitler nearby and then he leaves the room for a prearranged telephone call. The bomb goes off and Stauffenberg and his aide, Werner von Haeften, manage to get through security and head to a waiting plane to fly to Berlin, where Stauffenberg believes that "Valkyrie" is being put into effect. Once back in Berlin, nothing has happened, as none of the leading conspirators were bold enough to act, because there was no confirmation that Hitler was dead. In fact, reports come in saying that Hitler is alive. The order for Valkyrie is given without Colonel General Fromm's actual signature, and in fact, Fromm is arrested by the conspirators. Various scenes show the army forces rounding up Nazis and SS personnel, but Berlin itself is not under the control of the army as yet. An order goes out to arrest Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propagandist and one of Hitler's chief subordinates. The "Grossdeutschland" Battalion is mobilized to take Goebbels into custody and to help secure Berlin.****** As the unit arrests Nazi officials, the unit's commander, Major Otto Remer, receives a new, but conflicting order to arrest Colonel Stauffenberg. Remer and his battalion go to the Goebbels residence to arrest the Nazi. Goebbels watches the army troops arrive and he places a poison capsule into the side of his mouth. He then telephones Hitler's headquarters so that, when Remer comes into the office, Goebbels hands him the phone. On the other end is Hitler himself, who orders Remer to take the conspirators alive. When Remer leaves, Goebbels pulls the poison capsule from his mouth and swallows hard.

Like Remer had been, other army officers are left with a decision to follow the orders coming from Stauffenberg and his associates in the War Ministry in Berlin, or to follow orders from Hitler's headquarters, where communications to elsewhere have resumed after being shut down in the aftermath of the explosion. More and more officers choose the latter, as word spreads that Hitler is not dead, as Stauffenberg had believed, although Stauffenberg at first remains in denial. The army communications center cuts the phone lines from the War Ministry and the main participants of the plot are now isolated. Remer and his men arrive and take the anti-Nazi officers into custody. Colonel General Fromm is released and he orders that the arrested officers be shot. The men are taken outside and one by one they face a firing squad. (Note: I've read somewhere, but I don't recall where, that before filming of the scene began, the film crew and actors observed a moment of silence for the real plotters executed in the scene, as the scene was filmed on the exact location of the executions in Berlin.)

* While not terribly important, I caught a mistake early on in the film. The scene showing Stauffenberg being wounded comes before the scene of the attempt to blow up Hitler's plane with a bomb hidden in a liquor bottle. In fact, the attempt on Hitler's life came in March 1943 and Stauffenberg was wounded in Tunisia in April 1943, just 4 to 5 weeks before the surrender of the Germans and Italians in North Africa to the British and American forces there. 

** "Valkyrie" is a term from Old Germanic, "perhaps" more specifically from Old Norse, for female subjects of the god "Odin"/"Wotan" who led selected fallen warriors to "Valhalla," a large hall ruled by Odin; thus, they are "super heroes." The Old Norse mythology has endured to the present, but it seems that the various gods and characters in these stories were widespread among the Germanic tribes, not just the Norse. English once had several words for "Valkyrie," including "wælcyrie," and "wælcyrge." Just my opinion, but the first seems to be more of a true English form, while the second may have come from the closely related Old Norse form "valkyrja." Old Norse and English are related languages, and Old Norse had many influences on English, as the Norse and the English often clashed. Norse speakers conquered and settled in large parts of northern and eastern England; thus, many Norse forms of existing English words, and some new words, came into English.      

*** Terence Stamp became a sensation in his first major film in the title role of "Billy Budd," a movie I went to see with my father when it was released in the early 1960s.

**** Remer survived the war and promoted right wing, fascist-like, political stances.

***** This part of the movie goes partially against history, as Stauffenberg did indeed meet Hitler, but it was at his villa above the town of Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian/Austrian Alps, not at his military headquarters in a forested area near Rastenburg in northeastern Germany. Hitler had remained at his villa, because his headquarters was being strengthened against attack. The meeting took place, but the bomb plan was called off, because Heinrich Himmler was not at the meeting. Not long thereafter, Hitler did, indeed, leave for his military headquarters where the assassination attempt would take place a few days later.

****** The "Grossdeutschland" Battalion was an elite German army unit that provided security in Berlin. It also provided personnel for ceremonial purposes in the capital. It was part of a very large overall military formation that also provided Hitler with an army security detail, as well as combat units for the front during the war. The name is usually rendered as "Greater Germany" in English, but it literally means, "Large Germany," as it goes back in German history to the debate over whether the German states would unite into a modern nation with Austria (known as the "large Germany" plan) or without Austria as a constituent part (known as the "small Germany" plan; "Kleindeutschland"). The Habsburg family that then ruled Austria had amassed a large number of territories populated by non Germans, which made this a contentious issue. After Austria was incorporated into Germany in March 1938, the term "Grossdeutschland" came into more use.     

Photo is from the 2009 2 disc Special Edition United Artists/MGM DVD 

WORD HISTORY:
Cost-This word is a contracted form of a previously prefixed word beginning with the common Latin prefix "co/con/com," which had the general meaning, "with, together." The second part is from Indo European "sta," which meant, "to stand," and it is the ancestor of a whole series of words in English and other Indo European languages, including original English word "stand," which is from its Germanic roots. The two parts gave Latin "constare," which meant, "to stand at/with;" thus also, "to consist of," ("components which makes it stand/be firm") and "to cost" ("a set/standing price or cost for something"). This then became "costare," and it passed into Latin-based French as "co(u)ster" (to cost) and the noun "co(u)st." English borrowed the noun in the early 1200s, but when the verb was borrowed is unclear to me (1390s?). An interesting tidbit: German also borrowed the verb, as "kosten," with the same meaning, "to cost," but the noun form, "Kost," by its older meaning in German of "a cost in money or effort for food" saw the meaning transfer to "food," and it is one of German's words for "food." 

Operation Valkyrie (2004): The Plot to Kill Hitler

Note: "Valkyrie" (German: Walküre) was the cover/code name of a plan by the German army to implement a form of strict martial law in case of a breakdown of order in Germany. The anti-Nazi plotters in the army cleverly decided to use this plan to take over the German government from the Nazis after Hitler had been killed (or perhaps, arrested). 

Main Cast: Colonel Stauffenberg: Sebastian Koch; Henning von Tresckow: Ulrich Tukur; Werner von Haeften: Hardy Krüger, Jr; Nina Stauffenberg (the Colonel's wife): Nina Kunzendorf; Joseph Goebbels: Olli Dittrich; Friedrich Fromm: Axel Milberg   

There have been a number of movies about the plot to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944, and this German/Austrian production should not be confused with the film "Valkyrie," starring Tom Cruise, released in 2008 (I have now posted the article on this movie as of July 17, 2018). The 2004 film's original German title was, "Stauffenberg," after the man who actually planted the bomb near Hitler that July day. Since the end of World War Two, Germans/Austrians* have struggled to come to terms with the Nazi period of their history. It has not been an easy thing to do, as fascism is a movement that is tough to define precisely, but it always mixes in ultra nationalism with other elements. Nationalism can make people highly sensitive to criticism of one's country, as some folks allow themselves to become so identified with their country, they seem to feel personally attacked and insulted by any attempt to point out real or perceived flaws in their country or its leaders. And, in this case, I mean criticisms coming from their fellow citizens, not from people outside of their country, which, when that happens, can quickly ruffle feathers and cause tempers to flare. The more distant the war's end has become, the more some younger Germans have tried to face their history. This movie is one of those attempts at such. It is available on DVD, and it has settings for the original German, with subtitles in English (or, presumably for other languages in other editions), or for dubbed English, so you will not have need to read along in subtitles.

The horrific crimes against humanity committed during the Nazi era left many postwar Germans very defensive and conflicted about their own roles during those times. Some tried to deal with it by pretending (or maybe even believing) that things weren't as bad as claimed by historians, foreign governments and survivors of Nazi terror, while others said, "I was just following orders," and others still felt some degree of shame and complicity. Traudl Junge (pronounced as if, "yung-eh" **), one of Hitler's personal secretaries during the last two and one half years of his life, felt so much guilt after the war, she had pretty serious emotional troubles, even involving hospitalization.*** This movie and others that have dealt with this subject, faced a difficult task, as it is almost impossible to show all of the feelings and motivations involved in the anti-Nazi German resistance. Further, films are made to make money, and that means movies are made to try to maintain audience interest, but actual history is not always so dramatic at every turn. The movie does correctly show that Claus von Stauffenberg, played by German actor Sebastian Koch, was supportive of Hitler for quite some time. The thing to remember about the anti-Nazis is, they were NOT saints who opposed Hitler and the Nazis from the very first, but rather, they were people who gradually saw that Hitler was exposing Germany to great danger by leading the country into an ever expanding war, and that later, Hitler's racism and murder would also drag Germany's honor and reputation into the abyss with the defeated nation. This is "essentially" Stauffenberg's own history up until about 1942, and it is so depicted in the film. He begins to learn of other officers who are more than a little troubled by the course of the war and by atrocities committed by Germans, especially in Russia. One of those officers is Henning von Tresckow, played by German actor Ulrich Tukur, who moves Stauffenberg's doubts about the Hitler regime along by providing him with an eyewitness to mass murder. The disillusioned Stauffenberg is sent to Tunisia in North Africa, where the German and Italian forces are facing the end of their military resistance to the Allies. His rising anti-Nazi feelings are reinforced when a young German officer from Stauffenberg's home province of Swabia is killed just after reporting for duty. He sees the futility of it all and he smashes Hitler's photo.

Allied aircraft attack a German column and Stauffenberg is severely wounded; so severely, in fact, he is sent back to Germany for treatment. He loses his left eye (over which he always wore a black patch after his release from the hospital), his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand. He is now also more convinced that Hitler must be removed from power, which means Hitler will have to be killed. The anti-Nazi plotters eventually agree to have Stauffenberg make the actual move to kill Hitler, as he is on the staff of the German Replacement Army (German: Ersatzheer), the part of the army responsible for inducting, training and then sending men to units as replacements, and also responsible for the raising of new units. This gives Stauffenberg periodic access to Hitler at military conferences, and indeed, on July 20, he will again be in Hitler's presence. Plans are made to take over the German government once Hitler is dead, and on July 20 the whole operation begins with Stauffenberg and his aide flying to Hitler's military headquarters in northeastern Germany, located in a forested area of East Prussia. Stauffenberg carries the bomb into the military conference in his briefcase. After a momentary exchange with Hitler, Stauffenberg gets as close as possible to the Führer and he places the briefcase under the large conference table. Stauffenberg then exists the conference with the excuse of a telephone call. I'm not going to go into everything that happens, as much of the film deals with actual historical details, as known. When the bomb explodes, Stauffenberg is convinced that Hitler could not possibly have survived, a view quickly reinforced when he sees a body being carried out of the devastated room covered with Hitler's cloak. Stauffenberg flies back to Berlin only to learn that virtually nothing has been done to advance the take over of the government. The problem: reports that Hitler is alive! Stauffenberg tries to convince other conspirators that the Nazis are lying and that Hitler is really dead. Orders go out to military units in Berlin to ignore orders from Nazi leaders, and some SS officers and men are arrested in Vienna and Paris (which is still in German hands), but the conspirators mistakenly leave a pro-Hitler major, Otto Remer, played by Italian actor Enrico Mutti, in charge of part of one of Germany's elite army units, "Grossdeutschland." Remer is summoned to the home of Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, who then contacts Hitler directly by telephone. Hitler speaks to Remer and issues orders to put down the revolt and the major sets about doing just that. Once it is confirmed that Hitler is alive, the plot, already on life support, is left with the final acts to be played out; namely, the arrest of the army leaders of the conspiracy. General Fromm, the actual head of the Replacement Army, is, at first, arrested by the conspirators when he won't commit himself to the anti-Hitler side, but he is then freed by pro-Hitler army troops. Fromm sets about rounding up the officers in the building, including Stauffenberg.

Longtime anti-Nazi (dating back to the 1930s), General Ludwig Beck, asks that he be allowed to take his own life, but he botches it, and Fromm orders others to finish off Beck. The other officers are led outside during the early part of July 21. A vehicle's headlights are used to provide light for the executions. When Stauffenberg is led up, just before the order to fire (German: Feuer) is given, his aide, Werner von Haeften (played by Hardy Krüger, Jr.), attempts to run in front of him, and both are killed by the execution squad. We then hear a part of the actual radio broadcast of Hitler speaking about the assassination plot.***** The film ends with General von Tresckow, one of the leading conspirators, holding a hand grenade to his body to commit suicide just behind the Eastern Front, where he was stationed.             

* For the sake of simplicity; hereafter, I will use "German," in the broad ethnic sense, to include Austrians, as well as people of German ethnicity who lived in German communities in other countries back then. Switzerland and Liechtenstein are excluded, but it should be noted, some men from both countries did serve in the German armed forces during the war, including in the Waffen SS, although the overall numbers were very small. To make this clear too, however, I must also say that MANY non Germans participated in Hitler's military or in his murder apparatus, in some way.

** The German name "Junge" is closely related to the English name, "Young."   

*** For more detail about Traudl Junge, I did a three part series on her. Here are the links:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/02/traudl-junge-working-for-evil-part-one.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/02/traudl-junge-working-for-evil-part-two.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/02/traudl-junge-working-for-evil-part-three.html

**** General Friedrich Fromm has long been a controversial figure regarding the anti-Hitler conspiracy. Fromm's exact involvement with the conspirators has never really been satisfactorily explained, but he certainly generally knew of the conspiracy and he did not report it, which legally made him culpable. Since Fromm had the main conspirators in Berlin executed within hours (detractors feel Fromm 'conveniently' had these officers executed, as they knew of his complicity), it's doubtful we'll ever know everything about Fromm's participation prior to July 20, 1944. Even though the Gestapo could not make a direct link with Fromm and the conspiracy, he remained under heavy suspicion and the Nazis removed him from his military positions. Two months before the end of the war, Fromm was sentenced to death by a Nazi court for "cowardice before the enemy" (German: "Feigheit vor dem Feind;" see Word History, below). The sentence was carried out just days later.

***** As Hitler's headquarters was in an isolated part of Germany, a recording unit had to be  dispatched there by Goebbels to record Hitler's speech, then the recording was transported from there to a plane and flown to Berlin. It wasn't broadcast on German radio until late at night.  

Photo is from the 2009 The Weinstein Company DVD 

 WORD HISTORY:
Fiend-This word goes back to Indo European "pheyeh," which had the notion, "to give pain, to hurt." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "fijand," which meant, "to hate;" perhaps from the notion, "we hate someone or something that brings us pain," or perhaps even the reverse, "someone or something that causes pain, hates us." The Germanic form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "feond," which meant, "enemy" (someone we hate, someone who wants to do us harm; thus, the opposite of friend). This meaning even expanded later to mean, "the enemy of humanity, enemy of all;" thus, it was also a way of referring to, "the devil, Satan," and later to the less specific, "evil spirit." Its primary meaning of "enemy," which it shared as something of a synonym with the old form of modern "foe," began to be lost in English, when a form of the word "enemy" was borrowed from French, although "foe" has kept that meaning to this day. The notions of "evil spirit" and "someone wishing to harm us," still underlie the modern meanings of "fiend," as in the meaning of being possessed (in the sense of being "obsessed"); thus, "I'm a real music fiend," or the less flattering, "He is a dope fiend." The primary modern meaning, "someone who is evil and cruel," still connects to the old meaning, just not in the direct sense of "enemy" today. The Old English form later became "feend/fend," before what became the modern form. Other Germanic forms: German has "Feind" (enemy), Low German Saxon has "Feend" (enemy), West Frisian "fijân" (enemy), Dutch "vijand" (enemy), Danish "fjende" (enemy), Swedish and Norwegian "fiende" (enemy), Icelandic "fjandi" (enemy, but no longer the primary word for such). 

Heroes Against Hitler, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg

I first published this article on November 9, 2011.

"Colonel Claus Graf (=Count) von Stauffenberg"

The man who nearly killed Hitler was born in eastern Swabia, a part of Bavaria, although the German dialect (German: Schwäbisch or Swabian in English) is not Bavarian, but rather it is more closely related to Swiss German and Alsatian German, located in that same overall region. A devout Catholic, his religious beliefs may have had an influence on his later opposition to Hitler and the Nazis, although not all historians agree on that. His first love was the cavalry, and he became an officer, although by the mid to late 1930s, traditional horse cavalry were giving way to mechanized cavalry. Stauffenberg began to have serious doubts about Hitler when the Führer sent troops to occupy the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, after the little nation had ceded German populated regions to Germany just six months earlier. He served in the campaigns in Poland in September 1939 and in France in May-June 1940. Like many Germans, Stauffenberg favored the reclaiming of territories lost to Poland after World War One. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Stauffenberg served as a staff officer in the army high command, not in a field unit. He tried to help change or limit German ill treatment of Soviet civilians, including Jews, and Soviet prisoners of war in the early months of the German invasion, but the brutal and murderous policies pushed Stauffenberg to embrace other German officers in opposition to Hitler.

Early in 1943 Stauffenberg was sent to Tunisia in North Africa, where German and Italian forces, under the operational control of Field Marshal Rommel, were trying to prevent the total loss of North Africa to the Allies. Just a month before the final Axis surrender there, Stauffenberg was severely wounded, losing his right hand, two fingers on his left hand, and his left eye, over which he eventually wore a black patch. It took several months in the hospital and further convalescence at home before Stauffenberg was able to resume service, this time as a staff officer at the headquarters of the Ersatzheer (Replacement Army), which was located in Berlin.* The Replacement Army had a number of anti-Nazi conspirators and plans for a takeover of Germany were developed, but most were not put into operation, while others failed, or had to be changed due to important Nazi leaders not being present. Eventually Stauffenberg carried a bomb-laden briefcase into Hitler's headquarters in northeastern Germany. The briefcase was placed under the conference table, just a short distance from Hitler, and Stauffenberg excused himself by saying he had to make a phone call. Just a few minutes later the bomb exploded, but Hitler, though shaken and bruised, survived, as one of the officers had moved the briefcase to the other side of the table support, and thus further away from Hitler, with the table support deflecting some of the direct affects of the blast. Stauffenberg witnessed the explosion from a distance and managed to get through the headquarters' security, convinced Hitler was dead. He flew back to Berlin and found that plans for the takeover of the government had not really moved, as many conspirators were uncertain about Hitler's death. Word came that Hitler was very much alive and Colonel General Fromm, the commander of the Replacement Army, and aware of the plot,** now tried to save himself by having Stauffenberg and other conspirators arrested, tried and executed in the early morning hours of July 21, 1944. There is a memorial in the courtyard where Stauffenberg and the other plotters were executed. Its heading reads: "Here Died For Germany" ("Hier Starben Für Deutschland"), and then it lists the names of the executed men. These men and hundreds more were executed for the attempt to kill Hitler. They weren't perfect, and many had supported Hitler earlier, but they saw evil and tried to do stop it. That makes them heroes in my book.

The information I've provided here is very basic. There are numerous detailed books on the July 20 plot, as well as the overall German Resistance movement. A very good source, and one I used, is by German historian Joachim Fest, "Plotting Hitler's Death, The Story of the German Resistance," Metropolitan Books, New York, 1996, published in the original German as "Staatsstreich, Der Lange Weg zum 20. Juli," Berlin, 1994 (translation:. "Coup, The Long Way (or Path) to July 20")

For more, see my article in "The German Question" series on the plot:
http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/08/german-question-part-one-hundred-fifty_29.html

* The Replacement Army was in charge of inducting men into the army and then training and equipping them for service with units in the field. Germany was divided into numerous military districts (Wehrkreise), with various training units stationed in each district under the control of the Replacement Army. Collectively these units totaled many hundreds of thousands of men. A number of anti-Nazi conspirators were in high positions in the Replacement Army, and they planned to use these substantial forces to secure control of Germany by disarming SS units and other Nazi formations, if Hitler were arrested or killed.

** Fromm's depth of involvement in the plot has been a subject of debate (after all, he had some of the main conspirators killed), but by all accounts, he knew of the plot and did not report it. That certainly implicated him. The Gestapo investigation did not uncover direct evidence against Fromm, but he was removed from the army a couple of months later. Just two months before the war ended, Fromm was sentenced to death by the Nazi court and the sentence was carried out only days later (by firing squad). Even with the walls crashing down around them, the Nazis pursued their enemies at home.

WORD HISTORY:
My/Mine-"My" is simply a shortened form of "mine," which was used to show possession by being placed before nouns. Both go back to Indo European "meyn." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "minaz," which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "min" (long "i" sound). By the 1100s or early 1200s, the shortened form had developed as its own distinctive word to show possession, "mi," and later "my," although "min" (also "myn") stuck around for quite awhile for use before words beginning with a vowel; thus it is still found in old Bibles. Of course "mine" is still with us to show possession, but instead of showing possession before a noun, it comes afterward: "That is my book," but "That book is mine." Common throughout the other Germanic languages: West Frisian "myn," Dutch "mijn," German "mein," but in Bavarian dialect "mei," Low German Saxon "mien," Icelandic "minn," Swedish, Norwegian and Danish "min."

Heroes Against Hitler (Overview)

On July 20, 1944 the German Resistance nearly killed Adolf Hitler at his military headquarters near the city of Rastenburg, in the province of East Prussia in (then) northeastern Germany. After the war, East Prussia was divided between Poland and the U.S.S.R. In honor of those who attempted to rid the world of "the nutcase in chief," I'm republishing this article, which I first published on October 31, 2011 as part of a series "Heroes Against Hitler."  

"Heroes Against Hitler" Part One/"Overview"

In Hitler's Germany resistance to the government and to the Nazi Party was not easily accomplished, especially on an organized basis. A person confiding anti-Nazi feelings to anyone, even to a family member, could bring about their own arrest and imprisonment in a concentration camp, or even their own execution. The Gestapo (the secret police) had agents throughout society, and Nazi supporters were apt to report people of anti-Nazi sentiment to the police. Even citizens less than thrilled with the Nazis might report others for "inappropriate" remarks, simply out of fear of guilt by association. Much of the more serious resistance to Hitler came from within the ranks of the army. One reason for this was the army was such a respected institution in German society, even Hitler had to tread lightly where it was concerned, and it was several years into his rule before he really felt confident enough to try to dominate the army.*

With army leaders thus having a bit more freedom of expression than other segments of society, this provided a kernel of resistance to the Nazis. Further, many of the army's officers, especially the higher ranks, came from some part of the German nobility, a group never collectively quite as supportive of Hitler, with some members actually being hostile to the Nazis.** Initially though, the army was supportive of Hitler due to his desire to expand the army and to restore Germany's lost territories and position in Europe; however, as Hitler's policies became increasingly aggressive, many in the upper levels of the army began to worry that he would get Germany into a war with Britain and France, a war, they believed, Germany would lose. This was especially true over Czechoslovakia, but when Hitler came away with a settlement over the German areas of the little nation, without a war, the resistance within the army diminished. Other members of the army, and of the armed forces intelligence service, known as the "Abwehr," contained not only men concerned about Hitler getting Germany into a war, but these men were really more "anti-Nazis" in general; and thus they were opposed to the regime, including to its anti-Jewish policies.

Hitler's successes early in the war kept a lid on resistance, but the failure to capture Moscow in 1941, and most certainly the catastrophic defeat at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43, energized the German resistance, as many desperately wanted to save Germany from total defeat and annihilation as a matter of patriotism and morality.*** Various plans were developed, including one in 1943, where a bomb, disguised as a bottle of liquor in a box, was carried aboard Hitler's plane in Russia. The bomb failed to explode, seemingly because of the cold temperature in the cargo hold, and the supreme nutcase lived to bring death and destruction to millions more. Of course, the most famous attempt on Hitler's life came on July 20, 1944. That day Colonel Graf (Count) Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg attended a meeting at Hitler's military headquarters in a heavily forested area of East Prussia in northeastern Germany. Stauffenberg carried two bombs in his briefcase, but he was only able to activate one of the bombs due to time constraints and fear of discovery. Upon entering the meeting, Stauffenberg placed the briefcase beneath the conference table and told officers nearby he had a telephone call to make and that he would return shortly. One of the officers found the briefcase was in his way as he leaned over to see the maps spread out on the table. He moved the briefcase to the opposite side of the heavy table support; that is, AWAY from Hitler, who was not far away. This action undoubtedly saved Hitler's life, as the force of the explosion went in the opposite direction from the sturdy table support.

Next I'll do a little biography of some of the key members of the German resistance to Hitler. These men deserve our respect, as they tried to get that son-of-a-bitch, and they gave their lives in that effort. Understand, these men were NOT perfect and it took some of them quite some time to open their eyes to the evil doings of Hitler and the Nazi regime.

* The 1934 purge of the Storm Troopers by Hitler was largely (but not exclusively) an attempt to placate the army, which was uneasy over a possible takeover of the army by the Nazi Storm Trooper organization (commonly called the "SA," for "Sturmabteilung").

** There were Nazi Party members and supporters from the nobility, but I'm saying the overall support was less than from many other groups or segments in German society.

*** By this time there was general knowledge among many in the military of crimes committed in other countries, especially in the Soviet Union, against civilians, including Jews; thus many in the resistance not only wanted to save Germany from catastrophic defeat, but they also wanted to put a halt to the atrocities and to restore Germany's honor. (Note: Initially, removing Hitler in some way can be seen as the main basic objective, but as the military leaders learned of numerous atrocities, the realization developed that not only was it important to eliminate Hitler, but it was necessary to remove other Nazi leaders too; that is, that the government had to be taken over. Further, many of the plotters undoubtedly feared that the deteriorating war against the Soviet Union could bring communist domination of Germany and much of Europe, if the Russians weren't soon held back.)  

WORD HISTORY:
Boat-This word goes back to Indo European "bheid," which meant "to split," which by extension had the notion of "split wood into planks to make something, woodworking." This gave Old Germanic "bait(an)," which apparently meant "water going vessel made from planks." Now, it is "possible" this only remained, or took this semantic course, in North Germanic, and then it was borrowed into Old English,^ a West Germanic language, as apparently the other West Germanic languages, and even Old French, borrowed forms of "boat" from English, or perhaps from Old Norse; at least in some cases, with French, especially, being a likely candidate, as Old Norse speaking raiders, often called "Northmen," frequently landed along the coast of what is now France, eventually settling in one particular area thereafter named for them, "Normandy." Anyway, Old English had 'bat," with a long "a," with the meaning "boat." This then became "boot" with a long "o" sound, and then "bot," (also long "o") before the modern spelling. Low German "Boot" (long "o" sound) was likely borrowed from English (then it was borrowed by High German as modern "Boot," long 'o'), plus Dutch "boot" was probably borrowed from English. West Frisian has "boat," but this may have the same basic history as the English word, not because of the spelling, although Frisian is the closest living relative of English, along with some Low German dialects, but rather, like English, Frisian had much contact with Old Norse and the word likely came to Frisian by way of Old Norse. Forms of the word are common in the North Germanic languages, all directly from their Old Norse ancestor: Icelandic has "bátur," Norwegian has "båt," Swedish has "båt," and Danish has "båd."

^ Norse raiders harassed the English coast, even settling in some areas, and providing English with a reinforcing shot of Germanic vocabulary, although from the North Germanic branch. Old Norse had "beit," which meant "boat," an important word for a seafaring people. The Frisians also had much contact with Old Norse.

Traudl Junge, Working For Evil, Part Two

During her interviews, Traudl Junge was asked about how much Hitler and other Nazi leaders talked about Jews. She said the subject was really not discussed, at least not around her or the other secretaries, but it's important to remember a couple of things here. First, neither Traudl Junge nor the other secretaries were involved in Hitler's meetings with Nazi leaders, where the subject most certainly would have been discussed. Second, the Nazis talked in "code," if you will; that is, they used euphemisms about their plans or ongoing operations to murder German and other European Jews, and indeed other people too. Terms like "resettlement" and "final solution" were used in place of "shipping Jews off to be killed" or "extermination." They KNEW what they were doing was an abomination, otherwise, they wouldn't have tried to hide it. Traudl also mentioned how Hitler would tell subordinates to just follow his orders about whatever the subject, that he assumed all responsibility, as if, Traudl noted, "one person can assume the conscience of another." After the war, and really up to recent times, apologists for Hitler have noted that no written order, signed by Hitler, was ever found among the many tons of captured Nazi records ordering the extermination of Europe's Jews. Hitler was a psychopath, but that didn't make him unaware of his criminality. Somewhere deep inside that disturbed mind was the reality of wrongdoing on an incomprehensible scale.

Traudl did cite one telling incident, which took place in 1943 at Hitler's villa, "the Berghof," above the town of Berchtesgaden. She admits that she only heard about it from others who were present, including her husband, who was one of Hitler's personal aides. The Schirachs had been invited to the Berghof, at Henriette von Schirach's request, to see and dine with Hitler. The husband, Baldur, had been head of the Hitler Youth in the 1930s and then the Gauleiter (Nazi Party district leader) of Vienna, and if you've seen any of the documentaries on the Nazi Hitler Youth, you've undoubtedly seen Baldur von Schirach in the films or still photos from that time. By the way, Schirach was under lots of American influence from both sides of his family, as his mother was an American and his paternal grandfather served in the Union army during the American Civil War, and Baldur grew up speaking both English and German. At the time of the dinner with Hitler, Henriette von Schirach had recently been in Amsterdam, where she had witnessed the brutal round up of Dutch Jewish women, who were then packed into railway cars and sent to the "east," which was another Nazi euphemism for "sending Jews to their death," as the extermination camps, designed to kill Jews and others as quickly as possible, were located primarily in Poland. "Auschwitz," the most infamous of all, was located there, and others were too. Mrs. Schirach told Hitler the terrible things she had witnessed in Amsterdam, adding that people there felt these Jews would never be heard from again. She apparently was under the impression that Hitler was unaware of such things. The conversation at the dinner table stopped, Hitler momentarily went silent, then he told Mrs. Schirach not to get involved in matters that she didn't understand, adding that she was "too sentimental." Hitler abruptly arose from the table, left the room and did not return, nor did the Schirachs ever return to Hitler's company, as he never invited them back *

Traudl Junge also talked and wrote extensively about the plot to kill Hitler in July 1944, when a bomb was carried into a temporary conference room by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg inside his briefcase. She and the other secretaries had been out swimming in one of the nearby lakes and they returned to their rooms, located near to where Hitler was holding a major military conference. An explosion shook their building, but at first they thought a deer may have stepped on a landmine. They heard the commotion outside and were told that a bomb had exploded in the military meeting. Since initially they did not know if Hitler had been killed, they fretted about what would happen to them without Hitler. She mentioned how conditioned they had all been to Hitler's thoughts on everything and the idea that he might have been killed left them badly shaken. One of Hitler's aides finally told them Hitler had not been seriously injured and that they could even visit him, which they did. Traudl mentioned how funny he looked, as his hair was still standing on end from the blast and his trouser legs were in tatters. The more ominous thing, however, was that he took his survival as a sign he was  destined to fulfill his "mission," and she noted that she had often thought before this incident, that one day Hitler would say, "Alright, I can't win the war, so I'll make peace," but after he survived the bomb plot, she said he seemed more determined than ever to win or take everyone and everything down with him.

For more on the failed bomb plot against Hitler, see my article, "Heroes Against Hitler/Stauffenberg":

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/11/german-military-leadersheroes-against.html 

Next, the final part and the end in Berlin, but Traudl Junge finds herself.

* At the Nuremberg Trials in 1946, Baldur von Schirach was convicted of "crimes against humanity," primarily for transporting thousands of Viennese Jews "to the east," and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He served the entire sentence and was released in 1966  He "claimed" he didn't know about the extermination camps, and that he thought Jews were being sent to live in ghettos in eastern Europe, which was criminal enough. It "may" have been an act of "denial," rather than of actually "not knowing" (there is a difference), but I must admit, I've never read all that extensively about von Schirach to give a firm opinion, but it seems rather difficult to believe he didn't at least hear the rumors that circulated about the mass killings, just as his wife saw the mistreatment and heard opinions offered in Amsterdam. Of course, even if he did firmly know about the atrocities, it is unlikely he could have done anything, because once such a criminal regime is allowed into power, it is very difficult to remove it. The key is to keep such people out of power and marginalized at the fringes of the political system, as there will always be extremists, but when they come to be accepted as just politicians and anything like mainstream, this is the beginning of accepting them into governing positions. Von Schirach denounced Hitler as a mass murderer during his trial, and after his release from prison he did speak against Hitler and Nazism, but that's scant consolation to those whose loved ones suffered and died.

 

More in Part Three, the final part, and the end in Berlin ...

 

Photo is from the paperback edition of "Bis zur letzten Stunde" (Until the Last Hour) by Traudl Junge, with cooperation from Melissa Müller, published in paperback in 2003 in German (there have been English language editions also), although there have been various printings since the original paperback. This is the 8th German paperback printing from 2011 from List Taschenbuch.

WORD HISTORY:

Team-This word goes back to Indo European "deuk," which meant "pull" and by extension "lead" (for example, a leader pulls people in his/her direction on issues). This gave its Old Germanic offspring "taugjanan," with the same meaning (it is also the ancient ancestor of "tow," as in "pull something," and "tug"). This then produced Germanic "taumaz," meaning "something that pulls," which came to be associated with animals that pulled carts/wagons, or with the reins used to equip animals for such. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "team," but pronounced in two distinct syllables, "te-am." which meant "animals harnessed together to pull a wagon or cart," and this later became "teme/tem," before the modern version. Later, the notion of animals working together to pull a wagon brought the extended meaning, "people working together toward a common objective," which also came to be applied to players of sporting events. The verb form developed from the noun in the 1500s, although it is sparsely used in American English, and then often as "team up with." Dutch, West Frisian and German all borrowed "team" directly from English, with the meaning "group working together and sports team." The other Germanic languages have: German has "Zaum" (the "Z" is pronounced "ts"), which means "bridle gear for animals," Low German Saxon and Dutch have "Toom," with that same meaning; West Frisian has "team" (also = bridle), Danish and Norwegian have "tømme" (rein), Icelandic "taumur" (=bridle/rein), Swedish has "töm" (rein).

Heroes Against Hitler, Stauffenberg

"Colonel Claus Graf (=Count) von Stauffenberg"

This was first published 11/9/11, edited somewhat, with an additional photo, 7-20-22


The man who nearly killed Hitler was born in eastern Swabia, a part of Bavaria, although the German dialect is not Bavarian, but rather it is more closely related to Swiss German and Alsatian German, located in that same overall German-speaking region. A devout Catholic, his religious beliefs seem to have had an influence on his later opposition to Hitler and the Nazis, although not all historians agree on that. His first love was the cavalry, and he became an officer, although by the mid to late 1930s, traditional horse cavalry were giving way to mechanized cavalry. Stauffenberg began to have serious doubts about Hitler when the fanatical furious Führer sent troops to occupy the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, after the little nation had ceded German populated regions to Germany just six months earlier. Stauffenberg served in the campaigns in Poland in September 1939 and in France in May-June 1940. Like many Germans, Stauffenberg favored the reclaiming of territories lost to Poland after World War One. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Stauffenberg served as a staff officer in the army high command, not in a field unit. He tried to help change or limit German ill treatment of Soviet civilians, including Jews, and Soviet prisoners of war in the early months of the German invasion, but the brutal and murderous policies pushed Stauffenberg to embrace other German officers in opposition to Hitler.

Early in 1943 Stauffenberg was sent to Tunisia in North Africa, where German and Italian forces, under the operational control of Field Marshal Rommel, were trying to prevent the total loss of North Africa to the Allies. Just a month before the final Axis surrender there, Stauffenberg was severely wounded, losing his right hand, two fingers on his left hand, and his left eye, over which he eventually wore a black patch. It took several months in the hospital and further convalescence at home before Stauffenberg was able to resume service, this time as a staff officer at the headquarters of the Ersatzheer (Replacement Army), which was located in Berlin.* The Replacement Army had a number of anti-Nazi conspirators and plans for a takeover of Germany were developed, but most were not put into operation, while others failed, or had to be changed due to important Nazi leaders not being present. Eventually Stauffenberg carried a bomb-laden briefcase into Hitler's headquarters in northeastern Germany. The briefcase was placed under the conference table, just a short distance from Hitler, and Stauffenberg excused himself by saying he had to make a phone call. Just a few minutes later the bomb exploded, but Hitler, though shaken and bruised, survived, as one of the officers had moved the briefcase to the other side of the table support, and thus further away from Hitler. Stauffenberg witnessed the explosion and managed to get through the headquarters' security, convinced Hitler was dead. He flew back to Berlin and found that plans for the takeover of the government had not really moved, as many conspirators were uncertain about Hitler's death. Word came that Hitler was very much alive and Colonel General Fromm, the commander of the Replacement Army, and aware of the plot,** now tried to save himself by having Stauffenberg and other conspirators arrested, tried and executed in the early morning hours of July 21, 1944. There is a memorial in the courtyard where Stauffenberg and some of the other main plotters were executed. Its heading reads: "Here Died For Germany" ("Hier Starben Für Deutschland"), and then it lists the names of the executed men (see photo below). These men and hundreds more were executed for the attempt to kill Hitler. They weren't perfect, and many had supported Hitler earlier, but they saw evil and tried to stop it. That makes them heroes in my book.

For more, see my article in "The German Question" series on the plot:
http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/08/german-question-part-one-hundred-fifty_29.html

* The Replacement Army was in charge of inducting men into the army and then training and equipping them for service with units in the field. Germany was divided into numerous military districts (Wehrkreise), with various training units stationed in each district under the control of the Replacement Army. Collectively these units totaled many hundreds of thousands of men. A number of anti-Nazi conspirators were in high positions in the Replacement Army, and they planned to use these substantial forces to secure control of Germany by disarming SS units and other Nazi formations, if Hitler were arrested or killed.

** Fromm's depth of involvement in the plot has been a subject of debate (after all, he had some of the main conspirators killed), but by all accounts, he knew of the plot and did not report it. That certainly implicated him. The Gestapo investigation did not uncover direct evidence against Fromm, but he was removed from the army a couple of months later. Just two months before the war ended, Fromm was sentenced to death by the Nazi court and the sentence was carried out only days later (by firing squad). Even with the walls crashing down around them, the Nazis pursued their enemies. 

Unaltered photo of the plaque honoring some of the prominent leaders who tried to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944. It is mounted at the Bendler Block Memorial in Berlin, where these men were executed by the Nazis. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

My/Mine-"My" is simply a shortened form of "mine," which was used to show possession by being placed before nouns. Both go back to Indo European "meyn." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "minaz," which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "min" (long "i" sound). By the 1100s or early 1200s, the shortened form had developed as its own distinctive word to show possession, "mi," and later "my," although "min" (also "myn") stuck around for quite awhile for use before words beginning with a vowel; thus it is still found in old Bibles. Of course "mine" is still with us to show possession, but instead of showing possession before a noun, it comes afterward: "That is my book," but "That book is mine." By the way, some German dialects, like their English cousin, use a shortened form of "mein," as "mei," essentially pronounced like English "my." Common throughout the other Germanic languages: West Frisian "myn," Dutch "mijn," German "mein," but in Bavarian dialect "mei," Low German Saxon "mien," Icelandic "minn," Swedish, Norwegian and Danish "min."

Heroes Against Hitler, Part One, Overview

This was first published 10/31/11


"Heroes Against Hitler" Part One/"Overview"

In Hitler's Germany resistance to the government and to the Nazi Party was not easily accomplished, especially on an organized basis. A person confiding anti-Nazi feelings to anyone, even to a family member, could bring about their arrest, imprisonment in a concentration camp, and even death. The Gestapo (the secret police) had agents throughout society, and Nazi supporters were apt to report people of anti-Nazi sentiment to the police. Even citizens less than thrilled with the Nazis might report others for "inappropriate" remarks, simply out of fear of guilt by association. Much of the resistance to Hitler came from within the ranks of the army. One reason for this was, the army was such a respected institution in German society, even Hitler had to tread lightly where it was concerned, and it was several years into his rule before he really felt confident enough to try to dominate the army.*

With army leaders thus having a bit more freedom of expression than other segments of society, this provided a kernel of resistance to the Nazis. Further, many of the army's officers, especially the higher ranks, came from some part of the German nobility, a group never collectively quite as supportive of Hitler, with some members actually being hostile to the Nazis.** Initially though, the army was supportive of Hitler due to his desire to expand the army and restore Germany's position in Europe; however, as Hitler's policies became increasingly aggressive, many in the upper levels of the army began to worry that he would get Germany into a war with Britain and France, a war, they believed, it would lose. This was especially true over Czechoslovakia, but when Hitler came away with a settlement over the German areas of the little nation, without a war, the resistance within the army diminished. Other members of the army, and of the armed forces intelligence service, known as the "Abwehr," contained not only men concerned about Hitler getting Germany into a war, but these men were really more "anti-Nazis," in general; and thus they were opposed to the regime, including its anti-Jewish policies.

Hitler's successes early in the war kept a lid on resistance, but the failure to capture Moscow in 1941, and most certainly the catastrophic defeat at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43, energized the German resistance, as many desperately wanted to save Germany from total defeat and annihilation as a matter of patriotism and morality.*** Various plans were developed, including one in 1943 where a bomb, disguised as a bottle of liquor in a box, was carried aboard Hitler's plane in Russia. The bomb failed to explode, seemingly because of the cold temperature in the cargo hold, and the supreme nutcase lived to bring death and destruction to millions more. Of course, the most famous attempt on Hitler's life came on July 20, 1944. That day Colonel Graf (Count) Schenk von Stauffenberg attended a meeting at Hitler's military headquarters in a heavily forested area of East Prussia in northeastern Germany. Stauffenberg carried two bombs in his briefcase, but he was only able to activate one of the bombs due to time constraints and fear of discovery. Upon entering the meeting, Stauffenberg placed the briefcase underneath the conference table and told officers nearby he had a telephone call to make and would return shortly. One of the officers found the briefcase was in his way as he leaned over to see the maps spread out on the table. He moved the briefcase to the opposite side of the heavy table support; that is, AWAY from Hitler, who was not far away. This action undoubtedly saved Hitler's life, as the force of the explosion went in the opposite direction from the table support.

Next I'll do a little biography of some of the key members of the German resistance to Hitler. These men deserve our utmost respect, as they tried to get that son-of-a-bitch, and they gave their lives in that effort.

* The 1934 purge of the Stormtroopers by Hitler was largely (but not exclusively) an attempt to placate the army, which was uneasy over a possible takeover of the army by the Nazi Stormtrooper organization (commonly called the "SA," for "Sturmabteilung").

** There were Nazi Party members and supporters from the nobility, but I'm saying the overall support was less than from many other groups in German society.

*** By this time there was general knowledge among many in the military of crimes committed in other countries, especially in the Soviet Union, against civilians, including Jews; thus many in the resistance not only wanted to save Germany from catastrophic defeat, but also wanted to restore its honor. (Note: Initially, removing Hitler in some way can be seen as the main basic objective, but as the military leaders learned of numerous atrocities, the realization developed that not only was it important to eliminate Hitler, but it was necessary to remove other Nazi leaders too; that is, that the government had to be taken over. Further, many of the plotters undoubtedly feared that the deteriorating war against the Soviet Union could bring communist domination of Germany and much of Europe, if the Russians weren't soon held back.)  

WORD HISTORY:
Boat-This word goes back to Indo European "bheid," which meant "to split," which by extension had the notion of "split wood into planks to make something, woodworking." This gave Old Germanic "bait(an)," which apparently meant "water going vessel made from planks." Now, it is "possible" this only remained, or took this semantic course, in North Germanic, and then was borrowed into Old English,^ a West Germanic language, as apparently the other West Germanic languages, and even Old French, borrowed forms of "boat" from English, although French may have borrowed the word from Old Norse, as Norse raiders, called "Northmen," frequently landed along the coast of what is now France, eventually settling in one particular area now named after them, "Normandy." Anyway, Old English had 'bat," with a long "a," with the meaning "boat." This then became "boot" with a long "o" sound, and then "bot," (also long "o") before the modern spelling. German and Low German "Boot" (long "o" sound), plus Dutch "boot" were borrowed from English. West Frisian has "boat," but this may have the same basic history as the English word, not because of the spelling, although Frisian is the closest living relative of English, along with some Low German dialects, but rather, like English, Frisian had much contact with Old Norse. Forms of the word are common in the North Germanic languages: Icelandic has "bátur," Norwegian has "båt," Swedish has "båt," and Danish has "båd."

^ Norse raiders harassed the English coast, even settling in some areas, and providing English with a reinforcing shot of Germanic vocabulary, although from the North Germanic branch. Old Norse had "beit," which meant "boat," an important word for a seafaring people. The Frisians also had much contact with Old Norse.

The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-One

Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Four/B
"German Heroes: The Plot Against Hitler"

Resistance (German: "Widerstand") to Hitler and the Nazis was not easy for the average German, nor any German for that matter. Spies reported the least little things to Nazi authorities, and this could result in imprisonment or even death for the perpetrator. Here is where fear also took over. By instilling fear in people, Germans were careful in just about everything they said, and some undoubtedly even reported "unwise" statements to the authorities made by neighbors, fearful that if they didn't report it, and the person who made the statement was found out anyhow, they themselves might be implicated. It was a vast circle of fear. It is not easy for most people to oppose their own country, and Germans were much the same, especially once the war started. Still, some searched their souls and decided that resistance to Hitler and criminality was more important than Germany's war effort under the Nazi regime. And again, there was always that fear of being found out. During the war, Sophie Scholl, her brother, Hans, and a friend, Christoph Probst, were arrested for distributing leaflets at the University of Munich urging Germans to resist the Nazis and the war. They were "tried" before a Nazi court (see below) and beheaded shortly after the sentencing. There are several memorials and honors to this young courageous German woman and the other young Germans who tried to fight evil, and who gave their lives doing so. I hope all of you will be interested enough to read more about these German heroes, or to watch the movie, "Sophie Scholl-The Final Days," a German language movie, with English subtitles. (Note added 12/8/22: To be clear, opponents of the Nazi regime were NOT perfect people, and I doubt that any of them will ever be proposed for sainthood. Many had been supportive of Hitler until the war turned against Germany, while others were opposed to Hitler much earlier, especially around the time of the crisis over the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia; but even then, one of the main objections to Hitler was that he was going to get Germany into a war it was not prepared to fight. Some were outright Nazis. So, there were seldom, if ever, any high sounding ideals, rather for military people it was a very simple and practical feeling that the country was not ready to fight a major war. On the other hand, the reality with these people was, they chose to oppose Hitler, at whatever time during his rule, under very dangerous circumstances, and indeed, many paid with their lives for their decision. Would we rather that they had remained loyal to the fanatical furious Führer?)  

The military was in something of a different category. With many German officers coming from the nobility, there was a tendency by these men to look down on some of the Nazi thugs as, well.... THUGS! Highly respected by the German public, officers enjoyed sort of a club of their own; thus, much of the organized resistance to Hitler came from the German military, with some government officials also involved. General Ludwig Beck, one of the early opponents of the regime, resigned prior to the war, when he felt Britain and France were too timid in dealing with Hitler. He may have resigned his military position, but he remained active in conspiracies to remove Hitler from power, including the option of assassinating the Nazi leader. As the war went down hill, military officers knew first hand that Germany stood a good chance of losing the war, no matter what all the Nazi propaganda told the public. They also knew a good deal about atrocities committed by Germans as part of Nazi policy, especially in Russia. Still, they had sworn an oath to Hitler personally, and that oath was not easily overcome by many, even with the knowledge that the oath had been given to a criminal.

There were various plots against Hitler, but the most famous plot came very near to killing him. It took place on July 20, 1944 at Hitler's military headquarters in northeastern Germany, near Rastenburg, in the province of East Prussia. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg* carried a bomb inside his briefcase into a military conference that day. He was to give a report at the conference, but excused himself "for a phone call" just moments before the bomb went off. The bomb, activated by acid that ate through a trip wire, exploded under the conference table, but Hitler was only injured; one of the other officers having moved Stauffenberg's briefcase to the other side of the stout table support so he could see the maps better.** Stauffenberg left the compound and flew to Berlin fully believing Hitler was dead. Other conspirators in Berlin and elsewhere (including Paris and Vienna), mainly army officers, awaited confirmation that Hitler had indeed been killed. Some Nazi officials were taken into custody in various locations across Germany and in occupied territories. A group of army soldiers was sent to arrest propagandist Joseph Goebbels, but Goebbels cleverly put a call through to Hitler, who told the officer in charge, Major Otto Remer, that he was very much alive, and that the officer and his troops were to arrest the conspirators instead. With Hitler still alive, the plot fell apart. Later that night, Hitler addressed the German nation by radio from his headquarters (the speech had been recorded by Hitler earlier and then transported from the headquarters for broadcast). Secret agent reports showed the attack to be generally unpopular with the German public, which saw the attack as "unpatriotic" in a time of war (fascists LOVE to wrap themselves in patriotism and claim that acts specifically against them are actually acts against the country).

Stauffenberg, Beck, field marshals, generals, mayors and hundreds of others were executed as a consequence. Those arrested were put on "trial" before the Volksgerichtshof, the so called "People's Court,*** led by fanatical Nazi judge, Roland Freisler, who screamed insults at defendants. The proceedings were filmed, as were the resulting executions.

Anyone suspected of having participated in, or having known about, the plot, was arrested. Field Marshal Rommel's name was mentioned by some conspirators under interrogation, although apparently he was not actively involved, and his family later maintained that Rommel wanted Hitler arrested, but did not support killing him. Whatever the case, Rommel, home on leave to recover from injuries,**** was visited by German officers who brought an ultimatum with them. Hitler gave Rommel the choice of killing himself, and being given full military honors, as having died from his wounds, or of being arrested and tried, in which case there would be no guarantees for the safety of his wife and son. Some choice! Rommel chose to take his own life, and Hitler at least kept his word. Rommel was given a hero's funeral, with none other than Field Marshal von Rundstedt, the most respected of German generals, giving a eulogy. Rundstedt, upon later learning the truth about Rommel's death, lamented that he had believed the Nazi story that Rommel had died of his injuries.

As I noted above, please read more or watch documentaries or docu-dramas (one of the more recent ones starring Tom Cruise) to learn more about these German heroes. Historians usually choose to dwell upon all of the negatives about the Germans during the Nazi period, with good reason, and I know I have too in these most recent articles, but we can't forget that there were Germans who tried to stop the madness that had enveloped their country. They saw evil and they tried to stop it. We all should be very proud of them. It is not without reason Germans have placed a memorial plaque at the site of the executions of Stauffenberg and four others of the main conspirators against Hitler. The heading to the plaque reads: "Hier starben für Deutschland" ("Here died for Germany"); it then lists the names of the men: Colonel General Ludwig Beck; General of Infantry Friedrich Olbricht; Colonel Claus Count Schenk Von Stauffenberg; Colonel Albrecht Ritter Mertz Von Quirnheim; First Lieutenant Werner Von Haeften.   

* Stauffenberg, who also carried the noble title "Graf;" that is, "Count," had been severely wounded in North Africa in 1943, losing his right hand, two fingers on his left hand, and his left eye, over which he wore a black patch. No one could claim he hadn't sacrificed for his country, but he made the ultimate sacrifice by opposing Hitler, as he was executed in Berlin early on July 21, 1944, on orders of General Fromm, the commander of the Replacement Army, which was headquartered in Berlin.

** The military conferences normally took place in a concrete bunker, but it was being refurbished and strengthened against potential air attack. On July 20th the conference was held in a wooden conference room, with the windows open, due to the heat of July. Various experts have noted that Hitler, and probably all present, likely would have died if the conference had been in the usual concrete bunker, as the force of the blast would not have easily escaped, which is what happened with the wooden conference room and open windows. As it happened, four people died out of more than 20 in the conference room, and Hitler only suffered some contusions and bruises, plus a damaged eardrum.

*** The "People's Court" was a Nazi invention. It was set up early in Hitler's rule to get around the legal court system in place under the Weimar Republic. It was truly a "Nazi court system," and few people were ever acquitted after going before this court, with the verdicts in most cases, being determined beforehand.

**** Rommel was the commander of a German army group in France. In July of 1944, during the Normandy campaign, his staff car was strafed by an Allied aircraft. The car crashed and Rommel suffered severe injuries, especially to his skull and face.

WORD HISTORY:
Plot-This word is a mystery word. It appears in English circa 1000, although that doesn't necessarily mean it didn't exist in spoken English before that time. Where it came from is unknown. Its recorded history shows that initially it meant "parcel of land," a meaning still present in English to this day. From this meaning also came "a plan of grounds, a map." In this meaning, the "plan" part became the part that stuck, and from the notion of "calculating the dimensions for a map or sketch," we have its meaning, "scheme, plan" and also, "a story line, the major plan of a book or script." The verb was derived from the noun in the 1500s. It appears the English word was reinforced by French "complot," which had the general meaning "plans joined together (often secretly)." This was borrowed from French in the 1500s, and its ultimate origins are also unknown, but it goes back to "compeloter," with the meanings "com"="combine," and "peloter"="ball;" thus "combine into a ball, put together." In English, undoubtedly under the influence of the native word "plot," the "com" prefix, denoting "combined, joining," was dropped from the French borrowing. German too borrowed this word from French, as "Komplott," and it means "a plot, a scheme."