by Danny Orbach
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27. “Soon you will be in hell”: Jacobsen and Zimmermann, 20 Juli 1944, 175.
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28. Moltke wrote . . . that he stood before Freisler: Helmuth James von Moltke, A German of the Resistance: The Last Letters of Count Helmuth James von Moltke (London: Oxford University Press, 1946), 39–40, 49. On American attempts to save Moltke, see OSS director Charles S. Cheston to Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, 20.1.1945, in American Intelligence and the German Resistance to Hitler, ed. Jürgen Heideking and Christof Mauch (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1996), 360–61.
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29. “You should look at the Germanic Sagas”: Jacobsen and Zimmermann, 20 Juli 1944, 172; Huppenkothen trial, pp. 138–42, Deutsch Papers, series 1, box 3, folder 2.
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30. “By the fence in front of my window”: Meding, Courageous Hearts, 187; Konstanze von Schulthess, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg: Ein Porträt (Munich: Pendo, 2008), 25, 36, 80.
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31. Nina was not the only one to be arrested: Felicitias von Aretin, Die Enkel des 20 Juli 1944 (Leipzig: Faber & Faber, 2004), 30; Schulthess, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, 25, 36, 80.
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32. In fact, the Gestapo had been planning for a long time: For example, see “Underground Organizations in the Wismar and Hamburg Areas, Germany, 8/44,” NARA 110903 S, 6.19.
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33. “I suddenly saw Ambassador Ulrich von Hassell”: Hans B. Gisevius, To the Bitter End, trans. Richard Winston and Clara Winston (New York: Da Capo Press, 1998), 582.
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34. In early August 1944 . . . Hassell heard a knock: Ibid., 584–85.
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35. The SS uniform of Nebe would no longer protect him: The evidence suggests that SS authorities, at least initially, were at odds about Nebe’s disappearance, or at the very least attempted to keep the suspicions against him secret to avoid public embarrassment. He was formally expelled from the SS only on November 30, 1944. See Himmler to Herff, 30.11.1944, BA, SSO/345A, pp. 142–43, 144–45, 148–49; see also Huppenkothen trial, 158–59, Anklageschrift gegen Dr. Hans Böhm und andere, 23.3.1945, 3–14, Deutsch Papers, series 1, box 3, series 3, box 2, rounds 3 and 4 Material.
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36. Gisevius was still roaming around Germany: Goerdeler’s network of friends and shelterers, by contrast, relied on former resistance fighters, and was therefore discovered and eliminated in the days following July 20. See Reinhard Gördeler, “Die letzten Tage meines Vater,” Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/1, pp. 167–68.
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37. Temporarily, he took refuge with friends: National Socialist authorities were completely oblivious to Gisevius’s presence in Berlin. On August 8, Klaterbrunner reported to Bormann that he managed to escape to Switzerland two days after the failure of the coup (July 22). This fact explains why Gisevius was hunted less rigorously than Goerdeler. See Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:174.
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38. Dr. Carl Goerdeler . . . moved from one acquaintance to another: Ibid., 167–68, 217–23; Albrecht Fischer, “Erlebnisse vom 20. Juli 1944 bis 8. April 1945,” 9.10.1961, IfZ, ZS-1758, p. 5.
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39. The Nazi press promised one million marks: Völkischer Beobachter, 3.8.1944.
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40. While Goerdeler was waiting for his meal: Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:222–23. For the Schwarzel affair, see the verdict in her trial in Justiz und NS-Verbrechen: Sammlung deutscher Strafurteile, wegen nationalsozialistischer Tötungsverbrechen, 1945–1999, ed. Fritz Bauer (Amsterdam: University Press Amsterdam, 1968), vol. 1, http://www1.jur.uva.nl/junsv/Excerpts/032inhalt.htm.
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41. In a series of lengthy confessions: Franz Xaver Sonderegger to Freiherr von Siegler, Dr.Helmut Krausnick, and Dr. Hermann Mau, 14.10.1952, IfZ, ZS-0303-1, p. 43, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zs/zs-0303_1.pdf; Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:232.
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42. “In his eyes it was not a coup d’état”: Gerhard Ritter, Carl Goerdeler und die deutsche Widerstandsbewegung (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1954), 415.
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43. “His [the attorney’s] defense was a disgrace”: Sabine Gillmann and Hans Mommsen, Politische Schriften und Briefe Carl Friedrich Goerdelers (Munich: Saur, 2003), 2:1152.
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44. “All that he had striven for”: Klemens von Klemperer, German Resistance to Hitler: The Search for Allies Abroad (Oxford: Clarendon Press), 395.
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45. “God knows . . . that I risked everything”: Gillmann and Mommsen, Politische Schriften und Briefe, 2:1248.
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46. “How much pain did I cause my beloved wife”: Ibid., 2:1226.
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47. “I hereby implore the statesmen”: Ibid., 2:1229.
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48. “This war was criminal”: Ibid., 2:1127–29, 1236–37. The emphasis is Goerdeler’s.
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49. “Tomorrow I go to the hangman”: Ludwig Rosenberg, “Wilhelm Leuschner,” in Das Zwanzigste Juli: Alternative zu Hitler?, ed. Hans J. Schultz (Stuttgart: Kreuz Verlag, 1997), 165.
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50. “I fought for Germany”: Dr. Ing. Werner Kennes, “Stellungnahme zu Wolfgang Müller: ‘Gegen eine neue Dolchstoßlüge,’ ” 27.8.1947, BA-MA BAarch PERS N/124/10. Goebbels was deeply suspicious of Fromm already on July 23; see Goebbels,Tagebücher, 23.7.1944, 5:2084.
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51. “I have come to say goodbye”: Desmond Young, Rommel (London: Collins, 1972), 235.
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52. “I saw Rommel in the back seat”: Niederschrift über die Aussage des Heinrich Doose, vor CIC 101 30.5.1945, Berchtesgaden Records, UPEN-RBML.
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53. “a vicious hand, my Führer”: Kluge’s speech was quoted in FBIS, NARA, Rg.263, SA 190, R 23, C 34, S7, box 92, CCA1 CCC1. For the National Socialist suspicions against him, see Schreiben Bormann, Führerhauptquartier, 17.8.1944, Scheurig Papers, IfZ ZS/A 0031-4, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zsa/ZS_A_0031_04.pdf, p. 128.
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54. Colonel Gersdorff . . . turned up at the headquarters: Rudolf-Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, Soldat im Untergang (Frankfurt am Main: Ullstein, 1977), 151–52.
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55. “Both of us, Rommel and I”: Bengt von zur Mühlen and Frank Bauer, eds.,Der 20. Juli 1944 in Paris: Verlauf, Hauptbeteiligte, Augenzeugen (Berlin: Chronos, 1995), 242.
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56. At the Nuremberg Trials, General Jodl recalled: Nuremberg Blue, 15:403–4; Felix Gilbert, ed., Hitler Directs His War: The Secret Records of His Daily Military Conferences (New York: Oxford University Press, 1950), 101.
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57. On July 27, the National Socialists “took care” of the scattered remnants: Schlabrendorff, Secret War Against Hitler, 311–12.
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58. “I have committed treason”: Scheurig, Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, 192; Schlabrendorff, Secret War Against Hitler, 324–25; compare with the testimony of Schlabrendorff on April 26–27, 1966, in a West German court: “Zeugenaussage Fabian von Schlabrendorffs im Rahmen des Ermittlungsverfahrens gegen Hans-Joachim Rehse vom 26./27. April 1966,” in Ramm, Der 20. Juli, 499.
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59. One of the lawyers turned: Gerhard Ringshausen, Widerstand und christlicher Glaube angesichts des Nationalsozialismus (Berlin: Lit, 2008), 229; Schlabrendorff, Secret War Against Hitler, 325.
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60. “After I finished speaking”: “Zeugenaussage Fabian von Schlabrendorffs,” 500–502.
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61. Still, after Schlabrendorff was led back: Schlabrendorff, Secret War Against Hitler, 328.
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62. “No one gets out of here alive”: Georg Thomas, “20 Juli 1944,” BA-MA Msg 2/213, p. 12.
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63. Gisevius, as usual, had be
en luckier: Gisevius, To the Bitter End, 591.
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64. he raised his arm “limply in response”: Ibid., 596.
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65. Canaris was still fighting a pitched battle: Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:407; Franz Sonderegger, “Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Walter Huppenkoth,” 14.1.1951, IfZ, ZS-0303-1, p. 10, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zs/zs-0303_1.pdf.
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66. But in April, the Gestapo commissioners searched: A detailed list of the contents of the Zossen safe can be found in Sonderegger, “Ermittlungsverfahren,” 14.1.1951, IfZ, ZS-0303-1; see also Abschrift Huppenkothen, IfZ ZS 0249-1, p. 35; Georg Thomas, “20. Juli 1944,” 20.7.1945, BA-MA Msg 2/213, p. 8.
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67. the man who combined the “purity of a dove”: Naval Attaché, Stockholm to D.N.I., 16.8.1945, “Fate of Admiral Canaris,” NA, FO 371/47341; Huppenkothen trial, VT1 144–50, 56–57, VT5, 54, Deutsch Papers. Kaltenbrunner was proud of his part in the exposure of Canaris to his last day; see his testimony at Nuremberg, Nuremberg Blue, 22:378.
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68. he swallowed poisoned food: Dohnanyi to his wife, 8.3.1945, Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/1, pp. 26–27.
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69. Canaris’s Danish neighbor later testified: Heinz Höhne, Canaris, trans. J. Maxwell Brownjohn (London: Secker & Warburg, 1979), 596; Ramm, Der 20 Juli, 343–44; Huppenkothen trial, VT1 163–66, VT2 113–14, 138–41, 53–54, VT5, 54–56, Deutsch Papers, series 1, box 3, folder 2; Ringshausen, Widerstand und christlicher Glaube, 230.
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70. Schlabrendorff was supposed to die with them: Halder, “Protokoll der öffentlichen Sitzung der Spruchkammer München X, BY 11/47, am 15.9.1948,” BA-MA Msg 2/213.
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71. As he entered the hotel: Fabian von Schlabrendorff, Revolt Against Hitler: The Personal Account of Fabian von Schlabrendorff, trans. and ed. Gero von Gaevernitz (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1948), 23–25.
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72. Maj. Joachim Kuhn was released: Peter Hoffmann, Stauffenbergs Freund: Die tragische Geschichte des Widerstandskämpfers Joachim Kuhn (Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck, 2007), 161–67.
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73. Countess Nina von Stauffenberg gave birth: Schulthess, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, 80–86.
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20. Motives in the Twilight
1. Many observers and scholars have argued: Shlomo Aharonson, “Hitler: Ha-Ketsinim Ha-Shotim” in Ha-Hitnagdut La-Nazism (Jerusalem: Koebner Institute for German History, 1984), 63–64; Hannsjoachim W. Koch, In the Name of the Volk: Political Justice in Hitler’s Germany (London: Tauris, 1989), 212.
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2. “During the war’s first two years”: Sabine Gillmann and Hans Mommsen, Politische Schriften und Briefe Carl Friedrich Goerdelers (Munich: Saur, 2003), 2:1241.
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3. Recall that Stauffenberg was certain: Joachim Kuhn, “Eigenhändige Aussagen,” in Peter Hoffmann, Stauffenbergs Freund: Die tragische Geschichte des Widerstandskämpfers Joachim Kuhn (Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck, 2007), 190; Peter Hoffmann,Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905–1944 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 152; Christian Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg: Eine Biographie (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1971), 256–57; Rudolf-Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, “History of the Attempt on Hitler’s Life (20 Jul. 1944),” Historical Division Headquarters, United States Army Europe, Foreign Military Studies Branch, USAMHI, p. 20; Hans Herwarth von Bittenfeld, “Meine Verbindung mit Graf Stauffenberg” (newspaper clipping, 18.7.1969), Deutsch Papers, series 3, box 2, rounds 3 and 4 Material.
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4. A third common argument holds: Johannes Hürter’s controversial article is the newest publication in this school of thought. See Johannes Hürter, “Auf dem Weg zur Militäropposition: Tresckow, Gersdorff, der Vernichtungskrieg, und der Judenmord; Neue Dokumente über das Verhältnis der Heeresgruppe Mitte zur Einsatzgruppe B im Jahr 1941,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 3 (2004): 527–62.
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5. As was noted long ago by Quentin Skinner: Quentin Skinner, “Meaning and Understanding,” History and Theory 8, no. 1 (1969): 8–12.
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6. Some of them, for example, believed that several of the principles: Hans A. Jacobsen, ed., “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung”: Die Opposition gegen Hitler und der Staatsstreich vom 20. Juli 1944 in der SD-Berichterstattung: Geheime Dokumente aus dem ehemaligen Reichssicherheitshauptamt(Stuttgart: Seewald, 1984), 1:447–57.
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7. Gersdorff argued that the primary impetus: Gersdorff, History, USAMHI, p. 7; Axel von dem Bussche, “Eid und Schuld,” in Axel von dem Bussche, ed. Gevinon von Medem (Mainz: Hase & Koehler, 1994), 135.
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8. Resistance fighters like Hans von Dohnanyi: Winfried Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben: Eine Rettungsaktion für vom Holocaust Bedrohte aus dem Amt Ausland/Abwehr im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Frankfurt am Main: Hain, 1993), 309–10; Gerhard Ritter, Carl Goerdeler und die deutsche Widerstandsbewegung (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1954), 211–12; Ulrich von Hassell, Die Hassell-Tagebücher, 1938–1944: Aufzeichnungen vom anderen Deutschland, ed. Friedrich Freiherr Hiller von Gärtringen (Munich: Goldmann, 1994), 62.
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9. the conspirators made no distinction: Such dichotomies unfortunately exist even in new, otherwise sophisticated studies. See, for example, Eckart Conze et al., Das Amt und die Vergangenheit: Deutsche Diplomaten im Dritten Reich und in der Bundesrepublik (Munich: Karl Blessing Verlag, 2010), 296.
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10. “The morality that motivated the resistance fighters”: Klaus-Jürgen Müller, “Über den ‘militärischen Widerstand,’ ” in Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus, ed. Peter Steinbach and Johannes Tuchel (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1994), 275; Ger van Roon, “Hermann Kaiser und der deutsche Widerstand,” Vierteljahrschefte für Zeitgeschichte 24, no. 3 (July 1976): 273.
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11. Most conspirators were not exclusively patriots: Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:431.
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12. Dr. Carl Goerdeler wrote how tormented he was: Ritter, Carl Goerdeler, 211–12.
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13. In the diary of Ulrich von Hassell: Hassell,Tagebücher, 14, 15, 16, 19, 79, 100, 104, 114, 115, 120, 152, 156, 221, 227, 365.
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14. Stauffenberg indicated that the “treatment of the Jews”: Kuhn, “Eigenhändige Aussagen,” 190; Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 152; Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 382; Gersdorff, History, USAMHI, p. 20; Bittenfeld, “Meine Verbin-dung” (newspaper clipping, 18.7.1969), Deutsch Papers, series 3, box 2, rounds 3 and 4 Materials.
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15. “Morality . . . is the most profound basis”: Roon, “Hermann Kaiser,” 273.
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16. “Dead tired, but I did not sleep all night”: Hermann Kaiser, Mut zum Bekenntnis: Die geheimen Tagebücher des Hauptmanns Hermann Kaiser, 1941, 1943, ed. Peter M. Kaiser (Berlin: Lukas Verlag, 2010), 474.
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17. Kaiser wrote that Goerdeler had reported: Ibid., 446, and compare with 230.
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18. the feeling of misery pervading his journal: Ibid., 292.
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19. “I could not overcome my humiliation”: Ibid.
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20. “I believe that Kleist did not know”: Schlabrendorff to Scheurig (interview, 19.9.1965), Scheurig Papers, IfZ ZS/A 31-8, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zsa/ZS_A_0031_08.pdf, p. 5.
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21. In fact he opposed them: Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, 457–58.
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22. Virulently anti-Semitic, violent, and corrupt: Ted Harrison, “‘Alter Kämpfer’ im Widerstand: Graf Helldorff, die NS-Bewegung und die Opposition gegen Hitler,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 45, no. 3 (July 1997): 385–423.
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23. Helldorff told the Gestapo that he agreed: Jacobs
en, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:449, 451, 453.
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24. this SS officer was nothing but an opportunist: Ronald Rathert, Verbrechen und Verschwörung: Arthur Nebe; Der Kripochef des Dritten Reiches (Münster: Lit, 2001), 194.
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25. “The military obedience . . . finds its limits”: Wolfgang Foerster, Ein General kämpft gegen den Krieg: Aus nachgelassenen Papieren des Generalstabchefs Ludwig Beck (Munich: Münchener Dom-Verlag, 1949), 103.
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26. “What good are our tactical and other capabilities”: Bodo Scheurig, Henning von Tresckow: Ein Preuße gegen Hitler; Biographie (Berlin: Propyläen, 1987), 201–2.
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27. Tresckow indeed disobeyed the Commissar Order: Fabian von Schlabrendorff, The Secret War Against Hitler, trans. Hilda Simon (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994), 124. On Tresckow’s opposition to the Commissar Order, see also Engel to Scheurig, 4.5.1972, Karl-Heinz Wirsing, “Bericht” (December 1970), Scheurig Papers, IfZ ZS/A 0031-2, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zsa/ZS_A_0031_02.pdf, p. 103, ZS/A 0031-3, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zsa/ZS_A_0031_03.pdf, p. 211.
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28. “The German Resistance Movement was not a profession”: Nuremberg Green, 13:398. Tresckow had a very similar approach; see Eggert to Scheurig, Scheurig Papers, IfZ ZS/A 0031-2, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zsa/ZS_A_0031_02.pdf, p. 82; Gersdorff to Scheurig (interview), 17.3.1970, IfZ ZS/A 0031-2, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zsa/ZS_A_0031_02.pdf, p. 141.
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29. contrary to the story told by Count Boeselager: Philipp von Boeselager, interview with the author, 15.7.2003; and his book (with Florence Fehrenbach and Jerome Fehrenbach), Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler by Its Last Member, trans. Steven Rendall (New York: Vintage, 2010), 124.
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30. he . . . did not willingly cooperate with the murderers: Christian Streit, “Angehörige des militärischen Widerstands und der Genozid an den Juden im Südabschnitt der Ostfront,” in NS Verbrechen und der militärische Widerstand gegen Hitler, ed. Gerd R. Ueberschär (Darmstadt: Primus, 2000), 99. Streit refers to a minimum number of 6,329 victims, most of them murdered after Stülpnagel was replaced by Hoth. For comparison, 55,000 and 57,000 victims were murdered at the same time in Manstein’s and Reichenau’s territories, respectively.
