Historical Background - Rise of the Nazis

JULY 20, 1944

At about 10:15 am, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and his special missions officer, Lieutenant Werner von Haeften arrived in East Prussia at which time the two men drove the ten miles to Wolfschanze.  When Stauffenberg arrived, he was asked only to hand over his pistol.  His briefcase was not searched.  He stopped to speak with General Erich Fellgiebel, a fellow conspirator and the man who was to cut off all communications in and out of the Wolf’s Lair after the bomb exploded.  At about 11:30, Stauffenberg went to see General Wilhelm Keitel, Hitler’s Commander-in-Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces to brief the senior officer on what Claus was prepared to say to the Fuhrer.  At about noon, Keitel was informed the briefing would be delayed until 12:30.  At about 12:25, as the officers were getting ready to leave for the briefing hut, Claus asked if he could freshen up.  He needed time to assure himself Hitler was in the hut and also to set the fuse.  Claus and Haeften went into the sitting room.  A few minutes later, General Fellgiebel called for Stauffenberg. Staff Sergeant Vogel was sent to tell Stauffenberg.  As the Sergeant opened the door, he found it blocked by Claus’ back.  Vogel relayed the message and Claus answered he was on his way.  Shortly thereafter, Major John, General Keitel’s adjutant called out, “Stauffenberg, do come along!”

In the sitting room Claus and Haeften were preparing the bomb which consisted of two 975 gram lumps of German plastic explosive.  Attached to one lump were two British primer charges with 30 minute fuses.  Attached to the other lump was a single British primer charge with a 30 minute fuse.  Claus had to first remove the fuses from the primers.  Then with a pliers (specially designed for Claus because of his injuries) he had to squeeze the copper housing inside which was a glass vial filled with acid.  Released, the acid would seep into cotton then slowly eat away at a wire, releasing a spring with a striker pin, thus detonating the explosives.  Claus then had to reinsert the fuses into the primers.  Leaving the sitting room, the briefcase contained only one of the two lumps.  Haeften had the other as he went to retrieve the car to take them back to the airfield.

On their way to the briefing, John tried to take the briefcase.  Claus pulled it away from him.  Usually these meetings would be held in an underground bunker, but due to the proximity of Russian troops, an evacuation was being planned, so it was held in an above ground briefing hut with a large oak table on which maps of the various battles were laid out.  This was of critical importance to the assassination attempt’s chances of success.  In an underground bunker, the blast would be contained to a smaller area, thus magnified.

At approximately 12:40 pm, outside the door, Claus handed the briefcase to Major John and requested a place near the Fuhrer.  The two men then entered the room.  Hitler was standing with his back to the door as General Heusinger was reporting on the situation in the East.  Keitel interrupted, introducing Stauffenberg.  Hitler looked up at Claus, let the Colonel shake his hand, then said he would take his report next.  Major John asked someone near Hitler to give up his place.  Claus took a spot next to Heusinger, the only man between him and Hitler.  John placed the briefcase in front of Stauffenberg.  Claus pushed the briefcase as close to Hitler as possible, whispered something then motioned to Major John.  The two men left and Stauffenberg said he needed to speak with General Fellgiebel.  John ordered the operator to make the connection and as Claus picked up the phone, the Major left.  Claus then put down his belt and hat and left for the adjutant’s building where he met Haeften and Fellgiebel.

As Heusinger continued, Colonel Heinz Brandt found the briefcase in his way and moved it to the opposite side of the large table support, further away from the Fuhrer.  As Heusinger was finishing his report, Keitel looked up and asked, “Where’s Stauffenberg?”  General Buhle went to look in the anteroom then came back and said, “I can’t find him.  He went to make a telephone call.”  The General was continuing his report when the bomb exploded.  The roof fell in, the windows were blown out and the room was filled with smoke and flames.

Stauffenberg watched the explosion and sure that Hitler was dead, he and Haeften drove toward the entrance to Wolfschanze.  They were stopped at the last checkpoint but Stauffenberg managed to get hold of a fellow conspirator within the complex who ordered the guard to let him through.  Hitler was wounded but not seriously, and not killed as the conspirators had supposed.  But Stauffenberg and Haeften did not know this as they boarded the plane back to Berlin.  Claus thought he had seen Hitler’s body being carried out from the hut.  He believed the Fuhrer was dead and that the coup would go forward with haste.

Shortly after the explosion, Fellgiebel cut off two of the five communication banks.  Then, seeing Hitler alive, he failed to cut off the other three and did not inform Generals Beck and Olbricht, the two leaders of the coup in Berlin either of his lack of action or if Hitler was alive or dead as per the coup plans.  Even though Hitler was alive, these “mistakes” cost the coup any momentum and likely sealed the plotters’ fates.

The conspirators including General Olbricht, General Beck, Field Marshal von Witzleben and General Hoepner met at the offices of the Home Army awaiting word from Fellgiebel that Hitler was dead.  The call never came.  Between 3:30 and 3:45, Haeften called from the airfield in Berlin to say he and Stauffenberg had arrived and demanded to know why no car had been sent.  Lieutenant Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, General Olbricht’s Chief of Staff, who had answered the phone, wanted to know whether Hitler was alive or dead.  Haeften insisted he was dead and on that note, the Valkyrie orders were issued commanding the local garrisons to seize control of Berlin.

Stauffenberg and Haeften arrived shortly before 5:00.  Berthold was there for a short time before he left.  Claus was asked by Beck whether Hitler was alive or dead.  Claus insisted the Fuhrer was dead.  Olbricht told Claus that he had spoken with his superior, General Fromm.  General Fromm had spoken to Keitel who had insisted that Hitler was alive.  Claus went to Fromm’s office and told Fromm that Keitel was lying as usual.  Olbricht broke in with news that the proclamation of a State of Emergency had already been issued.  At that, Fromm, livid with rage, demanded to know who issued the order.  Olbricht replied that it was his Chief of Staff Mertz von Quirnheim.  Fromm demanded to see him immediately at which point, Stauffenberg admitted to having planted the bomb himself.  Fromm replied, “…the attempt has failed.  You must shoot yourself.”  Stauffenberg retorted, “I shall do nothing of the kind.”  Olbricht then tried to convince Fromm of the need for action, that it was the only chance they would get to overthrow Hitler.  Enraged, Fromm told them they should consider themselves under arrest.  Instead, the conspirators announced that it was Fromm who was under arrest and as he went for his gun, he was subdued and placed in the office next door under guard.  But the door remain unlocked.

At this point, it was 5:30.  Furiously the conspirators tried to take control of Berlin but already things were falling apart.  News of Hitler’s survival was spreading and as such, important men did not act. From 6 until 10, Claus was on the phone almost constantly, trying to get military leaders in the field to act.  In many cases the orders from Berlin arrived at the same time as the news of Hitler’s survival.  In Vienna and Prague, SS battalions were rounded up by army commanders.  In Paris, the SS establishment was arrested but then released as news of Hitler’s survival reached the leaders there.  Between 10 and 11, loyalists on Fromm’s staff attacked the conspirators.  Stauffenberg was shot in the shoulder and he, Beck, Fromm, Olbricht, Mertz, and Haeften were put under arrest.  At that point, Beck requested to keep his pistol.  Fromm agreed and Beck tried to shoot himself but failed only grazing his head.  Meanwhile Fromm told the other four men they had time to write letters if they wanted.  Fromm left and as the others wrote, Claus remained defiantly silent.  Fromm returned and in a summary court martial sentenced them to death.  Claus took full responsibility and asked that he be the only one executed.  Fromm denied the request.  He ordered a firing squad to take them into the courtyard to be shot.  As they were taken out, Beck requested to try to kill himself again.  Again, he failed.  The others were lined up in front of a sand pile against the wall.  As the bullets rang out, Claus cried, “Long Live our Sacred Germany.”  After the executions, Fromm ordered Beck shot.  The bodies of the conspirators were taken to a cemetery and buried.  Himmler ordered them dug up on July 21, and the bodies were cremated.

Courtyard of Bendlerstrasse Today

Photo by Adam Carr

Berthold was later tried and convicted by the “People’s Court” on August 10, 1944 and hung that same day.  General Fromm, for his foreknowledge of the attempt, was tried and executed on March 12, 1945.  On July 21, Nina von Stauffenberg learned of her husband’s death.  On the night of July 22nd-July 23rd, the SS took a pregnant Nina away and placed her in detention.  On August 17, the children were taken as well.  On January 17, 1945, Nina gave birth to her and Claus’ daughter, Konstanze in a Nazi maternity detention center.