Death
Plots to Kill Hitler
Hitler was not popular with many of his officers. They recognized that he was doing wrong and they were determined to stop him. More than one officer plotted against the Fuehrer. They planned to murder him and declare an armistice or surrender to the Allis. They had accepted that Germany could not win the war, and that the best thing they could do for the country was to surrender. Hitler would not hear of it, and even relieved a competent officer from command for “defeatism”.
The most famous of the plots to kill Hitler is the 20th of July Plot. The most important conspirators in the plot were Beck, Stauffenberg, Olbricht, Hoepner, and von Haefton. Stauffenberg took a briefcase with a bomb in it to a meeting at which Hitler was present. He set the briefcase down near Hitler, and left. Unfortunatley for Stauffenberg, someone moved the briefcase, so that when the bomb went off, Hitler was not killed by the explosion.
Stauffenberg and some of the other conspirators went on notify people that Hitler was dead. It was a huge mess, with no one knowing the truth. Things soon became more organized, though, when Hitler organized an investigation of the plot. Stauffenberg, Olbricht, and Haefton were shot. Beck commited suicide, and Hoepner was arrested and executed. Hundreds were questioned, and many executed for involvement in the plot.
Rommel- “The Officer’s Way”
Rommel was recuperating from serious injuries, after Allied planes bombed his car, when the 20th of July Plot failed. Rommel knew that there was a plot, but was not involved in it. Some had wanted him to be the leader in Germany after Hitler was dead, but with Rommel so ill, Stauffenberg was another possible choice.
Though at first Rommel thought Hitler was a great leader, he later revised his opinion of him. Rommel could not understand why Hitler wanted the Germans to fight to the death, even though it would gain them nothing. He was worried about what would happen to Germany. Several times, Rommel suggested to Hitler the possibility of surrender, but Hitler would not listen.
Rommel, and other such men as Stauffenberg, Beck, Strolin, Speidel, and Kluge were beginning to doubt Hitler. They discussed what to do about it, and Rommel was against murdering Hitler, because he said it would make him a martyr, and the war would continue in his memory. Rommel favored Hitler’s arrest, and trial, or simply removing him from power.
After the investigation of the 20th of July plot began, several things lead the investigators to believe that Rommel was involved in the plot, or he had a plot of his own. A man named von Hofacker admitted to telling Speidel of the plot. Both the men said that Rommel told them that he was content to play his own part to bring the plan to success. Also, a man named Stulpnagel tried to commit suicide after being summoned to Berlin. (Stulpnagel knew the summon probably meant death.) Stulpnagel only injured himself, and while recovering in the hospital, he kept repeating “Rommel”. Even though Stulpnagel was not completely in his senses at this point, the implication that Rommel was involved was still there.
While he was recovering from injuries in Herrlingen, a man from Ulm visited Rommel, and talked to him. Apparently, someone had told this man that Rommel no longer believed in victory. Rommel admitted that he did, without directly saying it. He also referred to Hitler as, “That damned fool” during the conversation. The man is thought to have written a report that hurt Rommel when he left.
On October 14, 1944, two officers visited Rommel. They were Wilhelm Burgdorf and Ernst Maisel. They talked to him for about an hour. Rommel was confronted with the evidence, which he denied. Then he was told that Hitler had given him the choice of taking poison or having a trial. If he chose the poison, his wife and son would not be harmed, Lucie would get a pension, and he would get a state funeral. If he chose the trial, he would almost surely be executed. Rommel chose the poison.
He told his wife and son what he was going to do, and told them good-bye. He got into the car with the officers. Not too far away from the house, Rommel took a cyanide pill, that killed him in about 5 minutes. The German people were told that Rommel had an accident, and he was buried with a state funeral. Hitler no longer had his best general.
