July 20 plot
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| July 20 plot | |
|---|---|
| Name | 20 July 1944 plot |
| Caption | Claus von Stauffenberg |
| Date | 20 July 1944 |
| Location | Wolfsschanze, Berlin, Germany |
| Target | Adolf Hitler |
| Type | Attempted assassination, coup d'état |
| Perpetrators | Claus von Stauffenberg, Erwin Rommel (alleged), Ludwig Beck, Henning von Tresckow |
| Motive | Overthrow of Nazi Party leadership and negotiation with Western Allies |
July 20 plot was a 1944 attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler and trigger a coup by elements of the German Army and civilian conservatives to remove the Nazi Party from power. The conspiracy involved senior officers from the Wehrmacht, aristocratic conservatives, and bureaucrats aiming to negotiate an armistice with the Western Allies and resist the Soviet Union. The plan culminated in a bomb placed at Wolfsschanze by Claus von Stauffenberg and a simultaneous coup in Berlin centered on the Replacement Army headquarters.
Background
By 1944, the strategic situation for Nazi Germany had deteriorated after defeats at Stalingrad, the Battle of Kursk, and the Allied landings in Normandy. Opposition coalesced among former Kaiserreich conservatives, Prussian aristocracy, and anti-Nazi officers influenced by events like the July Revolt and the Brest-Litovsk legacy; figures such as Ludwig Beck, formerly of the Wehrmacht General Staff, and staff officers who had served in the Eastern Front became pivotal. Contacts with émigré politicians, diplomats acquainted with Winston Churchill's War Cabinet thinking, and military leaders aware of the Yalta Conference stakes shaped plans to seek terms with the United Kingdom and United States rather than capitulate to the Soviet Union. Earlier plots such as the aborted 1938 plans involving Hans Oster and the Kreisau Circle intellectual network informed conspiratorial methods and legal rationales drawn from figures like Carl Goerdeler and Helmuth James von Moltke.
Conspirators and Organisation
Key military conspirators included Claus von Stauffenberg, Henning von Tresckow, Friedrich Olbricht, Ludwig Beck, Erwin von Witzleben, and Gottfried von Bismarck-Schönhausen; civilian partners included Carl Goerdeler, members of the Kreisau Circle such as Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, and officials from the Abwehr like Hans Oster. The plot drew on networks in the OKH and the Replacement Army under commanders like Friedrich Fromm and officers in the Heer staff. Coordination relied on secure communications between regional commanders in Dresden, Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Berlin, and involved plans to seize key institutions including the Reich Ministry of Aviation, the Gestapo offices, and the Reichstag liaison. International diplomacy strands intersected with contacts in Madrid and émigrés previously connected to Foreign Office exile circles.
The Assassination Attempt and Coup Plot
On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg carried an explosive device into a briefing at the Wolfsschanze headquarters near Rastenburg where Adolf Hitler met with senior commanders including Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, and Erwin Rommel (rumored recipient of conspiratorial sympathy). The device detonated, killing officers such as Heinz Brandt and wounding others; Hitler survived with minor injuries. Simultaneously in Berlin the conspirators activated Operation Valkyrie, a contingency plan originally drafted by the Replacement Army and later adapted by Friedrich Olbricht and Henning von Tresckow to mobilize reserve units against the SS and Gestapo. Units under generals such as Erwin von Witzleben and staff officers in Potsdam sought to seize telephone exchanges, arrest key Nazi Party leaders, and proclaim a new government led by Carl Goerdeler or Ludwig Beck while seeking immediate contact with Allied commanders.
Immediate Aftermath and Repression
When news reached Berlin that Adolf Hitler had survived, loyalist elements in the SS and SD under figures like Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich's network—though Heydrich was deceased—moved quickly to retake command. Friedrich Fromm vacillated and ultimately condemned conspirators to protect his position; communications between regional commands collapsed as the Gestapo and RSHA reasserted control. The Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and senior leaders such as Joseph Goebbels exploited the failed coup to stage mass rallies and use the Volkssturm narrative to rally public support, while Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl coordinated military loyalty. Arrests spread through Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, and Vienna as the Gestapo rounded up suspected officers, bureaucrats, and civilian sympathizers.
Trials, Executions, and Legal Consequences
The regime conducted swift show trials at the Volksgerichtshof presided over by Roland Freisler, where many conspirators faced coercive proceedings, denunciations, and death sentences. Prominent figures executed included Claus von Stauffenberg, Ludwig Beck, Friedrich Olbricht, Erwin von Witzleben, Hans Oster (already arrested), and civilian leaders like Carl Goerdeler and Peter Yorck von Wartenburg. Executions occurred at sites such as Plötzensee Prison and other locations, often by hanging or firing squad, and sentences extended to families and associates under policies echoing measures used after the Röhm Purge. The purges affected careers across institutions like the Wehrmacht, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, and the Foreign Office, with subsequent legal decrees tightening control and accelerating persecution of suspected dissidents.
Legacy and Commemoration
Postwar assessments in the Federal Republic of Germany and among historians debated motives of conspirators—whether conservative monarchist restorationists or committed democrats—and their contacts with the Allies and the Soviet Union. Memorials and ceremonies at Plötzensee Prison, the Bendlerblock in Berlin, and plaques in Munich commemorate figures such as Claus von Stauffenberg, Henning von Tresckow, and Ludwig Beck; museums in the Bundeswehr and institutes like the German Historical Museum examine the plot within narratives of resistance and collaboration. Scholarly works by historians associated with institutions like Oxford University, Harvard University, and the Free University of Berlin continue to analyze archives from the Nazi Party era, the OKW files, and testimonies from survivors, shaping public memory debated in contexts including Denazification and European integration.