On March 21, 1943, exactly 80 years ago, Rudolf-Christoph von Gersdorff, a German army officer willing to die to liberate his country from the shadow of Nazism, attempted an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler. Between 1943 and 1944 there were at least five assassination attempts against him. This was the second. Although his plan failed – like the others – his plan is a testament to the opposition to Nazism within German military lines and the courage of those trying to change Germany’s future.
Gersdorff began his military career in Germany in 1925 in the 7th Cavalry Regiment and became regimental adjutant in Breslau in 1933. In 1938 he was transferred to the War Academy in Berlin and took part in the occupation of the Sudetenland (territories of Czechoslovakia that Germany wanted to annex). Later, in 1939, his unit was used in the invasion of Poland and served as a staff officer in the offensive against France.
From 1941 he became a counter-intelligence officer in Army Group Center, where he joined a group of conspirators formed by the Einsatzgruppe B (one of the paramilitary death squads in Nazi Germany).
Among the conspirators was Henning von Tresckow, a key figure in the German Army resistance, who was recruited by Friedrich Olbricht, the head of the bureau, who was also involved in plots to overthrow Hitler and organize a coup that gave a clear structure to it defined what the government would look like after his death.
Originally, Tresckow’s plan to assassinate Hitler was to be carried out from Berlin under Olbricht’s leadership. On March 13, the dictator visited soldiers on the Eastern Front in Smolensk. There, after a signal, a group of officers would shoot at him simultaneously. However, Günther von Kluge, a commander at the center, asked Tresckow to call off the plan, pointing out that it was too early and that since Heinrich Himmler (a key figure in the SS and one of Hitler’s closest men) was not present, they this also tried to kill), a civil war threatened between the SS and the German Wehrmacht.
After Tresckow failed, he attempted another assassination by planting a bomb on a plane carrying Hitler. However, it was not ignited.
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The plan of the 21st
After Tresckow’s plan failed, Gersdoff signaled that he was prepared to give his life for Germany in another assassination attempt. On March 21, 1943, Hitler visited the Arsenal in Berlin, an old armory that housed Soviet weapons. This visit was part of Heroes’ Remembrance Day, a folk festival commemorating those killed in military conflicts. Since the dictator was so important, he was supposed to spend a lot of time in this place, which made it ideal to carry out another plan.
Adolf Hitler visiting the special exhibition of Russian looted weapons in the Berlin Arsenal, where Rudolf Christoph von Gersdorff attempted to assassinate him.ullstein bild Dtl. (via Getty Images)
Gersdorff was the guide for Hitler’s visit to the arsenal. Earlier, the officer had procured explosives, which he put in his coat pockets and detonated within 10 minutes. His plan was to throw himself at Hitler in a hug that would result in an explosion killing them both and possibly others present, including Heinrich Himmer, Hermann Göring, Wilhelm Keitel, and Karl Dönitz, all close to Hitler would.
However, the Nazi leader walked through the museum quickly, in less than 10 minutes, which prevented the attack from being carried out. Gersdorff kept the bombs and was able to defuse them at the last moment. He was then sent to the Eastern Front to avoid suspicion.
Gersdorff also procured explosives, which were later used in another assassination attempt by another conspirator, Claus Schenk Graf von Sauffenberg.
The officer was one of the few conspirators to survive the war. Others were imprisoned and tortured. Thanks to his silence, Gersdorff escaped arrest and execution.
after the war
After the war, Gersdoff served in the US Army Historical Division, where German generals wrote World War II operational studies.
Considered a traitor by some officers, he was expelled from the Bundeswehr, the West German armed forces, preventing him from continuing his military career.
Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff. ullstein picture (via Getty Images)
He dedicated his life to charity in the Order of Saint John, a branch of a Catholic military order, and founded a humanitarian organization that in 2017 had 37,000 active volunteers and more than 1.3 million registered members.
Although views of Gersdorff have been positive due to his involvement in the opposition to Hitler, his image has been reassessed in recent years. Historian Joannes Huerter of the Institute for Contemporary History in Munich points out that many of the conspirators were initially informed about and collaborated in the first mass murders because these crimes would appear less horrific when weighed against the opportunity the Soviets had defeat Union. When they realized that the military risk was not worth it and that the killings were becoming genocide, they reconsidered their position.
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