Schwarze Kapelle
Encyclopedia
The Schwarze Kapelle was a term used by the Gestapo
to refer to a group of conspirators within the German
military who plotted to overthrow Adolf Hitler
. It included many senior officers within the Wehrmacht
.
The main axis of operations were centred in a line between Paris
-Berlin
-Smolensk
.
and Abwehr
, who feared Hitler's policies would ruin the country; by overthrowing the Nazi Party they hoped to preserve German sovereignty. Through Admiral Canaris' Abwehr they were in touch with their counterparts in Britain and other Allied and neutral nations. Elements of the Schwarze Kapelle began making overtures to Britain before war broke out and while Hitler could have been easily ousted or killed. British officials said they would not interfere with German internal affairs at that time. Many hard feelings remained from the First World War, exacerbated by Hitler's treacherous invasion
of "Rump" Czechoslovakia six months after the Munich Agreement
made the British feel they'd been taken for fools. Making deals with any Germans was not going to be an easy matter.
The conspirators were not necessarily seeking to reintegrate Germany into the family of peaceful and democratic nations. If anything, they sought to consolidate the gains Germany had already made under Hitler. Admiral Canaris, for example, had a very aggressive war record from the previous war. Thus, although Hitler had built Germany into the world's most dominant power, the conspirators were afraid his hubris would eventually destroy that dominance. Allied officials recognized, more than the conspirators themselves, that the conspirators' goals were not necessarily those of the Allies. They were also reluctant to accept the credibility of the organisation, believing it to be a front for the Gestapo
, very much due to the Venlo Incident
in late 1939, when two British agents were kidnapped yards inside Dutch territory and spirited across into Germany, where they remained in captivity until the last week of the war. The agents had gone there to meet what they thought were German military plotters against Hitler, but the Germans were actually members of the Gestapo. Thus the Allies encouraged the Schwarze Kapelle to act, but were not willing to promise anything in return. This reticence was to hamper the German opposition throughout the entire war.
By September 1938 the Schwarze Kapelle had drawn up plans for a provisional government, based on the British Constitutional Monarchy
. A coup was all ready to take place, when Munich failed, as they thought it would. A very detailed plan was to go into effect, to quell any opposition by the Gestapo or SS. The plotters thought Britain would deny Hitler the Sudetenland
, and they were certain that Hitler was not just rattling his sabers, that he would then give the order to invade the Sudetenland. The order for the coup depended on Hitler's order to invade. The conspirators were convinced such an invasion would result in a war that Germany was sure to lose, and they were bound and determined to avoid such a war. It was one moment in history in which the military of an aggressive country was specifically against starting a war. When Chamberlain caved in, the invasion was unnecessary, and the coup was aborted. During the coup Captain Friedrich Heinz was to have arranged for Hitler to be shot "resisting arrest." This was not to be the last time Heinz had such an assignment. With the Munich Agreement Hitler rose to his highest esteem yet; no coup under those circumstances could possibly hope to win the support of the German people, or even the military. Chief of Staff Franz Halder
called off all coup plans.
The plans for a provisional government were brought out of mothballs a year later, in October–November 1939, when Hitler planned a November 12 autumn attack through the neutral low countries into France. Many on the General Staff thought it would be a military disaster at that time of year. At least as many high-ranking officers were also outraged at the barbarities being reported out of Poland, fearing what it would do to German prestige. The two motivations pushed events to within hours of staging the coup. A very detailed plan was to go into effect, to quell any opposition by the Gestapo or SS. Captain Heinz was again tasked with capturing and shooting Hitler, attempting to "resist arrest." It all revolved around the Wehrmacht – if Halder, again the man needed to give the go-ahead – would set things in motion. After a meeting between Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch
and Hitler on the very day – at the very hour – of the planned coup, 1:30 pm on November 5, 1939, Halder utterly panicked after hearing von Brauchitch's account of the meeting, in which Hitler spoke of the "spirit of Zossen," meaning OKH headquarters. Halder (wrongly, it turned out) took it to mean Hitler had found them all out and thought the worst. He ordered everything shut down and all documents burned.
There was enough support from high-level military commanders (including Field Marshal
Erwin Rommel
) during both the 1938 and the 1939 plots that the chief conspirator, Abwehr head Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, was able to offer to the British end the war, if either coup took place. Ending or preventing war was, in fact, the reason for both coups. Unfortunately, the British were never really on board; the plotters never had enough confidence that Germany would be treated fairly, as opposed to 1919 and Versailles. This, plus the Stab-in-the-back legend, made it difficult for the Wehrmacht conspirators in particular (and they were central to any coup attempt) to be convinced they would not be seen as traitors; it was absolutely necessary they pick a moment when Hitler was not popular, not a genius. In their minds, a coup in Germany could only take place against Hitler when he could be successfully claimed to be taking Germany down a disastrous path. With Chamberlain's capitulation at Munich, and after the delays on attacking in the West by Hitler, the opposition's momentum never quite came in 1938 or 1939.
An attack in the spring of 1940 (six months after the original planned attack) was actually seen as the correct military move. The season was right, plus the military had been given all that time to prepare further. Many generals who had earlier seen disaster on the horizon then saw victory ahead and climbed on board with Hitler. In both September 1938 and November 1938 events evolved to make Hitler look like a genius; the plotters did not feel they could capture or kill a popular Hitler, and events conspired against them. Not until September 1941 and the stalled Operation Barbarossa
was Hitler's winning streak to falter. By then, the early plots' supporters had almost all given up. Few remained actively opposed to Hitler, but enough remained to seed the Stauffenberg attempt in 1944.
When Roosevelt announced at the Casablanca Conference, in January 1943, that the Allies would accept nothing less than unconditional surrender, Churchill and others realized this would force the Germans to fight "like rats." Canaris also realized this demand would probably doom his efforts to recruit supporters among the German generals.
The Schwarze Kapelle was prepared to move against Hitler during the Munich crisis, but Chamberlain's acquiescence made it impossible for them to recruit the Army generals whose support they needed. According to Bodyguard of Lies on March 13, 1943, Colonel Henning von Tresckow
had his adjutant Fabian von Schlabrendorff
place a time bomb aboard Hitler's plane on March 13, 1943, right after Stalingrad, but it failed to go off, despite their testing and re-testing the fuses.
failed, the Schwarze Kapelle and many, many more people were rounded up by the Gestapo and 5,000 people were put to death (the Gestapo's records showed over 7,000). Stauffenberg and three others were summarily shot that night. Most of the conspirators were put on trial, in the People's Court of Roland Freisler
, a "vile, vituperative maniac" over a period from August 1944 to February 1945. Most of the others were executed the day after their convictions by hanging from meat hooks at Plötzensee
Prison.
Schlabrendorff only escaped death because an Allied bomb was dropped on the court, killing Freisler and destroying most of the court and investigation records, just as Schlabrendorff was being led into the court building. Canaris and Oster were not tried until February 1945, and were not executed until April 9, 1945; their deaths were particularly grisly, by slow strangulation. Rommel was forced to commit suicide
. Because of his popularity with the German people, Rommel was given the choice between suicide (thus preserving his reputation as a war hero), and the persecution of his entire family and the arrest of his staff. To save his family, Rommel chose the former.
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
to refer to a group of conspirators within the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
military who plotted to overthrow Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. It included many senior officers within the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
.
Membership
Schwarze Kapelle claimed members throughout all the strategic operations of the German military and government. Those believed to have been active with the organisation included:- Ulrich von HassellUlrich von HassellUlrich von Hassell was a German diplomat during World War II. A member of the German Resistance against German dictator Adolf Hitler, Hassell was executed in the aftermath of the failed July 20 plot.- Family :...
1881–1944, German ambassadorAmbassadorAn ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
in RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
1932–1938 - Carl Goerdeler 1884–1945, mayorMayorIn many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of LeipzigLeipzigLeipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
1930–1937 - Generaloberst Ludwig BeckLudwig BeckGeneraloberst Ludwig August Theodor Beck was a German general and Chief of the German General Staff during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II....
1880–1944, the Chief of the General Staff, the OKH 1934–1938 - Dietrich BonhoefferDietrich BonhoefferDietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and martyr. He was a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plans by members of the Abwehr to assassinate Adolf Hitler...
1906–1945, the theologian - Admiral Wilhelm CanarisWilhelm CanarisWilhelm Franz Canaris was a German admiral, head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944 and member of the German Resistance.- Early life and World War I :...
1887–1945, the head of the AbwehrAbwehrThe Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only... - Hans OsterHans OsterHans Oster was a German Army general, deputy head of the Abwehr under Wilhelm Canaris, and an opponent of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. He was a leading figure of the German resistance from 1938 to 1943.-Early career:...
1887–1945, deputy head of the Abwehr - Generaloberst Franz HalderFranz HalderFranz Halder was a German General and the head of the Army General Staff from 1938 until September, 1942, when he was dismissed after frequent disagreements with Adolf Hitler.-Early life:...
1884–1972, the Chief of the Army General Staff (part of OKH) 1938–1942 - Josef MüllerJosef MüllerJosef Müller , also known as "Ochsensepp", was a German politician. He was a member of the resistance during World War II and afterwards one of the founders of the Christian Social Union...
1898–1979, CSU politician and Munich attorney, confidante of Pope Pius XII - Hans Dohnanyi 1902–1945, German Jurist, head of Abwehr's Office of Political Affairs 1939–1943
- Hans Bernd GiseviusHans Bernd GiseviusHans Bernd Gisevius was a German diplomat and intelligence officer during World War II. A strong opponent of the Nazi regime, he served as a liaison in Zürich between Allen Dulles, station chief for the American OSS and the German Resistance forces in Germany.-Pre World War II:Gisevius was born...
1904–1974, a diplomat and intelligence officer - Lieutenant Colonel Helmuth Groscurth 1899–1943, Chief of Abwehr Department II 1938–1940
- Generalmajor Erwin von LahousenErwin von LahousenGeneralmajor Erwin von Lahousen was a high-ranking Abwehr official during World War II, as well as a member of the German Resistance and a key player in attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler on March 13, 1943 and July 20, 1944.- Background :...
, 1897–1955, Chief of Abwehr Section II - General Henning von TresckowHenning von TresckowGeneralmajor Herrmann Karl Robert "Henning" von Tresckow was a Major General in the German Wehrmacht who organized German resistance against Adolf Hitler. He attempted to assassinate Hitler in March 1943 and drafted the Valkyrie plan for a coup against the German government...
, 1901–1944, chief of operations at the HQ of Kluge's Army Group Centre. - Helmut von MoltkeHelmuth James Graf von MoltkeHelmuth James Graf von Moltke was a German jurist who, as a draftee in the German Abwehr, acted to subvert German human-rights abuses of people in territories occupied by Germany during World War II and subsequently became a founding member of the Kreisau Circle resistance group, whose members...
1907–1945, great-grand-nephew of a hero of the Franco-Prussian warFranco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
of 1870 - Peter Yorck von WartenburgPeter Yorck von WartenburgPeter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg was a German jurist and a member of the German Resistance against Nazism.-Biography:...
1904–1944, lawyer, founding member of the Kreisau CircleKreisau CircleThe Kreisau Circle was the name the Nazi Gestapo gave to a group of German dissidents centered on the Kreisau estate of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke. The Kreisauer Kreis is celebrated as one of the instances of German opposition to the Nazi regime... - Adam von Trott zu SolzAdam von Trott zu SolzAdam von Trott zu Solz was a German lawyer and diplomat who was involved in the conservative opposition to the Nazi regime, and who played a central part in the 20 July Plot...
1909–1944, a descendant on his mother's side of the first chief justice of the USA - Ernst von WeizsäckerErnst von WeizsäckerErnst Freiherr von Weizsäcker was a German diplomat and politician. He served as State Secretary at the Foreign Office from 1938 to 1943, and as German Ambassador to the Holy See from 1943 to 1945...
1882–1950, permanent head of the German foreign office from 1938 to 1943 - Erich KordtErich KordtErich Kordt , was a German diplomat who was involved in the German Resistance to the regime of Adolf Hitler.-Career:...
1903–1969, head of German Foreign Office's Ministerial Bureau - Hasso von Etzdorf Foreign Office Liaison to the OKH 1939–1944
- Fabian von SchlabrendorffFabian von SchlabrendorffFabian Ludwig Georg Adolf Kurt von Schlabrendorff , was a German jurist, soldier and member of the resistance against Adolf Hitler....
1907–1980, Adjutant to General Hennig von Tresckow - Claus Schenk Graf von StauffenbergClaus Schenk Graf von StauffenbergClaus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg commonly referred to as Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was a German army officer and Catholic aristocrat who was one of the leading members of the failed 20 July plot of 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler and remove the Nazi Party from...
1907–1944, a great-grandson of August von GneisenauAugust von GneisenauAugust Wilhelm Antonius Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau was a Prussian field marshal. He was a prominent figure in the reform of the Prussian military and the War of Liberation.-Early life:...
, a devout Roman Catholic, an officer in a cavalry regiment in peacetime and a distinguished staff officer in war - General Carl-Heinrich von StülpnagelCarl-Heinrich von StülpnagelCarl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, was a German general and a member of the July 20 Plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.-Early life:...
1886–1944, Military commander of the Wehrmacht in Paris. - General Erich FellgiebelErich FellgiebelFritz Erich Fellgiebel was a career German Army officer and a "July 20th" conspirator in the plot to assassinate Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.-Military career:...
1886–1944, General of the Communications Troops - Fieldmarshal Erwin von WitzlebenErwin von WitzlebenJob-Wilhelm Georg Erdmann Erwin von Witzleben was a German army officer and in the Second World War an Army commander and a conspirator in the July 20 Plot.-Early years:...
1881–1944 - General Erich HoepnerErich HoepnerErich Hoepner was a German general in World War II. A successful panzer leader, Hoepner was executed after the failed 20 July Plot in 1944.- Life :Hoepner was born in Frankfurt an der Oder, Brandenburg...
1886–1944 - General Friedrich OlbrichtFriedrich OlbrichtGeneral Friedrich Olbricht was a German general and one of the plotters involved in the attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia on 20 July 1944.-Early life:...
1888–1944, Chief of the Armed Forces Replacement Office
The main axis of operations were centred in a line between Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
-Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
-Smolensk
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
.
Activities
The Schwarze Kapelle were patriotic Germans, including many in the higher echelons of the WehrmachtWehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
and Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
, who feared Hitler's policies would ruin the country; by overthrowing the Nazi Party they hoped to preserve German sovereignty. Through Admiral Canaris' Abwehr they were in touch with their counterparts in Britain and other Allied and neutral nations. Elements of the Schwarze Kapelle began making overtures to Britain before war broke out and while Hitler could have been easily ousted or killed. British officials said they would not interfere with German internal affairs at that time. Many hard feelings remained from the First World War, exacerbated by Hitler's treacherous invasion
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
German occupation of Czechoslovakia began with the Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known collectively as the Sudetenland, under terms outlined by the Munich Agreement. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's pretext for this effort was the alleged privations suffered by...
of "Rump" Czechoslovakia six months after the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
made the British feel they'd been taken for fools. Making deals with any Germans was not going to be an easy matter.
The conspirators were not necessarily seeking to reintegrate Germany into the family of peaceful and democratic nations. If anything, they sought to consolidate the gains Germany had already made under Hitler. Admiral Canaris, for example, had a very aggressive war record from the previous war. Thus, although Hitler had built Germany into the world's most dominant power, the conspirators were afraid his hubris would eventually destroy that dominance. Allied officials recognized, more than the conspirators themselves, that the conspirators' goals were not necessarily those of the Allies. They were also reluctant to accept the credibility of the organisation, believing it to be a front for the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, very much due to the Venlo Incident
Venlo Incident
The Venlo Incident was a covert German Sicherheitsdienst engineered capture of two British SIS agents on 9 November 1939....
in late 1939, when two British agents were kidnapped yards inside Dutch territory and spirited across into Germany, where they remained in captivity until the last week of the war. The agents had gone there to meet what they thought were German military plotters against Hitler, but the Germans were actually members of the Gestapo. Thus the Allies encouraged the Schwarze Kapelle to act, but were not willing to promise anything in return. This reticence was to hamper the German opposition throughout the entire war.
By September 1938 the Schwarze Kapelle had drawn up plans for a provisional government, based on the British Constitutional Monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
. A coup was all ready to take place, when Munich failed, as they thought it would. A very detailed plan was to go into effect, to quell any opposition by the Gestapo or SS. The plotters thought Britain would deny Hitler the Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
, and they were certain that Hitler was not just rattling his sabers, that he would then give the order to invade the Sudetenland. The order for the coup depended on Hitler's order to invade. The conspirators were convinced such an invasion would result in a war that Germany was sure to lose, and they were bound and determined to avoid such a war. It was one moment in history in which the military of an aggressive country was specifically against starting a war. When Chamberlain caved in, the invasion was unnecessary, and the coup was aborted. During the coup Captain Friedrich Heinz was to have arranged for Hitler to be shot "resisting arrest." This was not to be the last time Heinz had such an assignment. With the Munich Agreement Hitler rose to his highest esteem yet; no coup under those circumstances could possibly hope to win the support of the German people, or even the military. Chief of Staff Franz Halder
Franz Halder
Franz Halder was a German General and the head of the Army General Staff from 1938 until September, 1942, when he was dismissed after frequent disagreements with Adolf Hitler.-Early life:...
called off all coup plans.
The plans for a provisional government were brought out of mothballs a year later, in October–November 1939, when Hitler planned a November 12 autumn attack through the neutral low countries into France. Many on the General Staff thought it would be a military disaster at that time of year. At least as many high-ranking officers were also outraged at the barbarities being reported out of Poland, fearing what it would do to German prestige. The two motivations pushed events to within hours of staging the coup. A very detailed plan was to go into effect, to quell any opposition by the Gestapo or SS. Captain Heinz was again tasked with capturing and shooting Hitler, attempting to "resist arrest." It all revolved around the Wehrmacht – if Halder, again the man needed to give the go-ahead – would set things in motion. After a meeting between Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch
Walther von Brauchitsch
Heinrich Alfred Hermann Walther von Brauchitsch was a German field marshal and the Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres in the early years of World War II.-Biography:...
and Hitler on the very day – at the very hour – of the planned coup, 1:30 pm on November 5, 1939, Halder utterly panicked after hearing von Brauchitch's account of the meeting, in which Hitler spoke of the "spirit of Zossen," meaning OKH headquarters. Halder (wrongly, it turned out) took it to mean Hitler had found them all out and thought the worst. He ordered everything shut down and all documents burned.
There was enough support from high-level military commanders (including Field Marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
) during both the 1938 and the 1939 plots that the chief conspirator, Abwehr head Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, was able to offer to the British end the war, if either coup took place. Ending or preventing war was, in fact, the reason for both coups. Unfortunately, the British were never really on board; the plotters never had enough confidence that Germany would be treated fairly, as opposed to 1919 and Versailles. This, plus the Stab-in-the-back legend, made it difficult for the Wehrmacht conspirators in particular (and they were central to any coup attempt) to be convinced they would not be seen as traitors; it was absolutely necessary they pick a moment when Hitler was not popular, not a genius. In their minds, a coup in Germany could only take place against Hitler when he could be successfully claimed to be taking Germany down a disastrous path. With Chamberlain's capitulation at Munich, and after the delays on attacking in the West by Hitler, the opposition's momentum never quite came in 1938 or 1939.
An attack in the spring of 1940 (six months after the original planned attack) was actually seen as the correct military move. The season was right, plus the military had been given all that time to prepare further. Many generals who had earlier seen disaster on the horizon then saw victory ahead and climbed on board with Hitler. In both September 1938 and November 1938 events evolved to make Hitler look like a genius; the plotters did not feel they could capture or kill a popular Hitler, and events conspired against them. Not until September 1941 and the stalled Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
was Hitler's winning streak to falter. By then, the early plots' supporters had almost all given up. Few remained actively opposed to Hitler, but enough remained to seed the Stauffenberg attempt in 1944.
When Roosevelt announced at the Casablanca Conference, in January 1943, that the Allies would accept nothing less than unconditional surrender, Churchill and others realized this would force the Germans to fight "like rats." Canaris also realized this demand would probably doom his efforts to recruit supporters among the German generals.
The Schwarze Kapelle was prepared to move against Hitler during the Munich crisis, but Chamberlain's acquiescence made it impossible for them to recruit the Army generals whose support they needed. According to Bodyguard of Lies on March 13, 1943, Colonel Henning von Tresckow
Henning von Tresckow
Generalmajor Herrmann Karl Robert "Henning" von Tresckow was a Major General in the German Wehrmacht who organized German resistance against Adolf Hitler. He attempted to assassinate Hitler in March 1943 and drafted the Valkyrie plan for a coup against the German government...
had his adjutant Fabian von Schlabrendorff
Fabian von Schlabrendorff
Fabian Ludwig Georg Adolf Kurt von Schlabrendorff , was a German jurist, soldier and member of the resistance against Adolf Hitler....
place a time bomb aboard Hitler's plane on March 13, 1943, right after Stalingrad, but it failed to go off, despite their testing and re-testing the fuses.
The July plot and aftermath
After the July 20 PlotJuly 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of several groups in the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi-led German government...
failed, the Schwarze Kapelle and many, many more people were rounded up by the Gestapo and 5,000 people were put to death (the Gestapo's records showed over 7,000). Stauffenberg and three others were summarily shot that night. Most of the conspirators were put on trial, in the People's Court of Roland Freisler
Roland Freisler
Roland Freisler was a prominent and notorious Nazi lawyer and judge. He was State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice and President of the People's Court , which was set up outside constitutional authority...
, a "vile, vituperative maniac" over a period from August 1944 to February 1945. Most of the others were executed the day after their convictions by hanging from meat hooks at Plötzensee
Plötzensee
Plötzensee is a small glacial lake in Berlin. It is situated near the Rehberge public park in the former borough of Wedding, now a part of Mitte. The name stems from Plötze, one name for the roach in German, as the lake formerly teemed with it....
Prison.
Schlabrendorff only escaped death because an Allied bomb was dropped on the court, killing Freisler and destroying most of the court and investigation records, just as Schlabrendorff was being led into the court building. Canaris and Oster were not tried until February 1945, and were not executed until April 9, 1945; their deaths were particularly grisly, by slow strangulation. Rommel was forced to commit suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. Because of his popularity with the German people, Rommel was given the choice between suicide (thus preserving his reputation as a war hero), and the persecution of his entire family and the arrest of his staff. To save his family, Rommel chose the former.