The Hitler Assassination Attempts

The Plots, Places and People that Almost Changed History

John Grehan

• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781399018913
• Topic: Geschichte
• Subtopic: Zweiter Weltkrieg

Throughout his political life, Adolf Hitler was the subject of numerous assassination plots, some of which were attempted, all of which failed. While a few of these have become well known, particularly the bomb explosions at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich in 1939 and the Stauffenberg Valkyrie attempt carried out at the Wolfsschanze on 20 July 1944, many others have received far less attention – until now. In this book, John Grehan has examined the known planned or proposed assassination attempts on Hitler, from Chicago to London and from Sweden to the Ukraine – some of which have not previously been presented to the general public by historians. All manner of methods were proposed by those willing to bring Hitler’s life to a premature and sticky end and Hitler was well aware of the danger which lurked potentially around every corner of every road, railway track, every building and even every individual. As a result, an immense, multi-layered security apparatus surrounded the Führer day and night. Despite this, and knowing the risks they faced, many people sought to kill the German leader, and some very nearly did. Yet Hitler survived, often by just a minute or a millimetre, to die ultimately of his own hand. These plots and conspiracies are detailed in this book, along with a unique collection of photographs of many of the proposed or actual assassination locations. All will be revealed in this fascinating compilation of the obscure, the fanciful and the carefully considered attempts to assassinate Hitler.

Chapter 1

Hofbräuhaus, Munich, Socialist and Communist Activists, 4 November 1921

As early as 1920 Communists in Germany had made numerous attempts to kill one of their fiercest rivals, the leader of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, known as the NSDP or Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler. One of these is known to have taken place in 1921 in Munich.

The beer halls of the Bavarian capital were the battleground of political ideas, and of rival political movements, in the turbulent years after the First World War in southern Germany. It was in these rough and dangerous back-street buildings that Adolf Hitler fought to be heard and fought his enemies. On 4 November 1921 Hitler addressed a large crowd in the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl. It was at this beer hall that, in February 1920, Hitler and the National Socialists had held their first meeting in the Festsaal, the Festival Room, on the third floor.

As it happens, we have an eyewitness to the events of that evening, Adolf Hitler himself. What he later wrote in his quasi-autobiographical book, Mein Kampf, about the incidents that took place must be taken with a large measure of salt, but his account is the most detailed available. Hitler aimed to deliver a vitriolic denunciation of the assassination the previous month of Majority Socialist Reichstag Deputy Erhard Auer, with the inflammatory title ‘Who Are the Murderers?’ Assassination as a means of political change, or to eliminate political opponents, was disturbingly commonplace in Germany, even before the turbulent 1920s. Otto von Bismarck, the ‘Iron Chancellor’ who had engineered the unification of Germany and was seen as a great national hero, had survived two assassination attempts. But it was after Germany’s defeat in the First World War, as the country sought to re-discover its identity, that politics became a particularly dangerous occupation, and by 1923 there had been more than 370 political murders.

Hitler was well aware of the dangers he faced and, at some time between 1800 and 1900 hours on the evening of his pre-arranged speech, he was informed that members of the Independent Socialist Party and the Communist Party, among other left-wing groups, intended to turn up in large numbers to break up the meeting. The Nazi Party had moved headquarters earlier that day and the telephones in the new premises had not been connected. Several earlier attempts had been made to warn Hitler by phone of the plan to disrupt his speech, but the callers had been unable to get through. Consequently, Hitler did not have time to increase the number of members of the paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, the recently-formed SA – the Sturmabteilung (or Storm Detachment) – to help control the crowd. There would be around 300 people in the Hofbräuhaus and only forty-six men of the SA to protect Hitler. Another reason why there were so few of the SA on duty that night was because it was thought that the Hofbräuhaus was too small for a major confrontation. Had it been a larger venue, we are told, a full squad of 100 men would have been present.

Hitler, though, was not the kind of man to be deterred by the threats of his enemies, and he arrived at the Hofbräuhaus at 19.40 hours, determined to deliver his speech: ‘The hall was filled, and for that reason the police had barred the entrances,’ wrote Hitler.1

Our adversaries, who had arrived very early, were in the hall, and our followers were for the most part outside. The small bodyguard awaited me at the entrance. I had the doors leading to the principal hall closed and then asked the bodyguard of forty-five or forty-six men to come forward. I made it clear to the boys that perhaps on that evening for the first time they would have to show their unbending and unbreakable loyalty to the movement and that not one of us should leave the hall unless carried out dead. I added that I would remain in the hall and that I did not believe that one of them would abandon me, and that if I saw any one of them act the coward I myself would personally tear off his armlet and his badge. I demanded of them that they should come forward if the slightest attempt to sabotage the meeting were made and that they must remember that the best defence is always attack.

I was greeted with a triple ‘Heil’ which sounded more hoarse and violent than usual.

Then I advanced through the hall and could take in the situation with my own eyes. Our opponents sat closely huddled together and tried to pierce me through with their looks. Innumerable faces glowing with hatred and rage were fixed on me, while others with sneering grimaces shouted at me together. Now they would ‘Finish with us. We must look out for our entrails. To-day they would smash in our faces once and for all.’ And there were other expressions of an equally elegant character. They knew that they were there in superior numbers and they acted accordingly.

Yet we were able to open the meeting; and I began to speak. In the Hall of the Hofbräuhaus I stood always at the side, away from the entry and on top of a beer table. Therefore, I was always right in the midst of the audience …

Before me, and especially towards my left, there were only opponents, seated or standing. They now began to order litre mugs of beer, one after the other, and to throw the empty mugs under the table. In this way whole batteries were collected. I should have been surprised had this meeting ended peacefully.

Despite numerous interruptions, Hitler was able to speak for about an hour and a half before a man jumped on a seat and shouted ‘Freedom’.2 It was the signal Hitler’s opponents had been waiting for.

‘In a few moments the hall was filled with a yelling and shrieking mob,’ continued Hitler.

Numerous beer-mugs flew like howitzers above their heads. Amid this uproar one heard the crash of chair legs, the crashing of mugs, groans and yells and screams.

It was a mad spectacle. I stood where I was and could observe my boys doing their duty, every one of them.

There I had the chance of seeing what a bourgeois meeting could be.

The dance had hardly begun when my Storm Troops, as they were called from that day onwards, launched their attack. Like wolves they threw themselves on the enemy again and again in parties of eight or ten and began steadily to thrash them out of the hall. After five minutes I could see hardly one of them that was not streaming with blood. Then I realized what kind of men many of them were, above all my brave Maurice Hess, who is my private secretary today, and many others who, even though seriously wounded, attacked again and again as long as they could stand on their feet. Twenty minutes long the pandemonium continued. Then the opponents, who had numbered seven or eight hundred, had been driven from the hall or hurled out headlong by my men, who had not numbered fifty. Only in the left corner a big crowd still stood out against our men and put up a bitter fight. Then two pistol shots rang out from the entrance to the hall in the direction of the platform and now a wild din of shooting broke out from all sides. One’s heart almost rejoiced at this spectacle which recalled memories of the War.

At that moment it was not possible to identify the person who had fired the shots. But at any rate I could see that my boys renewed the attack with increased fury until finally the last disturbers were overcome and flung out of the hall.

About twenty-five minutes had passed since it all began. The hall looked as if a bomb had exploded there. Many of my comrades had to be bandaged and others taken away. But we remained masters of the situation.

Hitler continued his speech and only declared the meeting over when he decided he had said enough and made his point.3

Eventually, the police arrived and closed down the meeting. It is said that the police found 150 smashed steins as well as chairs and tables, and the hall was strewn with lengths of brass pipe, brass knuckles and other weapons. There is little doubt that the target of the beer mugs was Hitler and, had his opponents’ aim been more accurate, they could have caused him serious harm. It is said that the man who fired the gun had taken the loaded weapon into the Hofbräuhaus with the express intention of killing Hitler.4 He might have been the first man who sought to shoot Hitler but he would not be the last.

Chapter 2

Thuringia, 1923, Persons Unknown; Tübingen, 1923, Persons Unknown; Feldherrnhalle, Munich, 9 November 1923, Bavarian Police

As the Nazi Party continued to grow in both numbers and notoriety, its leader was the subject of three known attempts on his life in 1923.

In April of that year Hitler and his friend, the German-American businessman Ernst Hanfstaengl, were driving in Hitler’s green Selve with Nazi Party devotee Emil Maurice at the wheel. At a town on the outskirts of Leipzig, an area largely controlled by Communists, they were stopped at a roadblock manned by ‘Red’ militia. Hanfstaengl showed the Communists his Swiss passport and in a broad German-American accent told them he was a paper manufacturer from abroad who had come to visit the Leipzig fair. The other two men with him were his chauffeur and his valet. The ruse worked and they were allowed to pass through. As they drove away, a relieved Hitler commented that, ‘They would have had my head.’1

Of the three actual assassination attempts made that year, one occurred in Thuringia where shots were fired at Hitler from a crowd. Shots were again fired at Hitler in Leipzig, this time at Hitler’s car, as was the case in the third attempt which took place in Tübingen. In none of these instances were the perpetrators known, and these would seem to be opportunistic, rather than planned assassination efforts.

Despite such opposition, the time seemed ripe for Hitler to make his bid for power. The German economy was collapsing under the burden of the massive First World War reparations that had to be paid to the Allied nations, and inflation within the Weimar Republic was spiralling out of control. With prices of even the most basic of items reaching astronomical sums – even a postage stamp cost five billion marks – the German currency had lost all credibility, and individuals found that their life savings were worth nothing. There were food riots in the streets with workers being paid in what had become a virtually worthless currency. A change was needed, and Hitler believed the moment had come for the Nazi Party to lead that change.

He had read of Mussolini’s National Fascist Party’s march on Rome in October 1922. Thousands of Blackshirts had entered the Italian capital, forcing the incumbent government of Luigi Facta to cede power to the populist movement. It was Hitler’s inspiration. He saw himself leading the National Socialists to Berlin where he would be propelled into the Chancellery on an overwhelming tide of popular support.

First, though, he had to seize power in Bavaria, which Hitler declared could become an autonomous region of Germany. In speech after speech, attended by ever-increasing numbers, Hitler roused the disaffected Bavarians to calls for revolution and separation from Berlin. His powerful right-wing policies appealed to the traditionally conservative police and army, and the Bavarian government had difficulty in ordering its forces to curb Hitler’s dangerously subversive language and, often brutal, tactics when challenged.

In fact, it was the actions of the Weimar government which gave Hitler the opportunity he sought. Concerned at Hitler’s growing popularity, General Otto von Lossow, the head of the Reichswehr in Bavaria, was instructed to clamp down on Hitler’s activities and shut down his party’s newspaper the Völkischer Beobachter. Lossow refused and was dismissed by the authorities in Berlin. This interference in local affairs angered the Bavarians still further. It also prompted Lossow to suggest that the Bavarians should march on Berlin and throw out the Republican politicians.

This led to the declaration of a state of emergency by Lossow in which he, State Commissar Gustav von Kahr and Colonel Hans Ritter von Seisser, the chief of the Bavarian state police, took over control of the Bavarian regional government.

In reality, Hitler had no wish to see Bavaria separated from the rest of the country, but the turmoil that was being created, which he had largely helped to manufacture, was the ideal setting for the Nazis to make their move to take over the regional government as the first step in seizing power in Berlin.

Hitler began to plot. He would use the words of the separatists against them. Their actions could certainly be considered treasonous and so the Nazis would step in to restore order and legitimacy, taking over power in the process. By this time the Nazi Party was the strongest and best organised of the anarchical groups with a following of some 55,000 angry Bavarians. It also had the backing of General Erich Ludendorff, who had led the German Army in the First World War before resigning shortly before the Armistice. After the war Ludendorff had taken up a political career on the far right and saw Hitler as an ally. Hitler and his followers were now a force to be reckoned with but just how they were to seize power remained unresolved. Then fate leant a hand.

It was announced that Commissar von Kahr was to hold a public meeting (which he called a ‘patriotic demonstration’) in which he would spell out the objectives of the new regime. On the podium with von Kahr would be Lossow, Seisser and Minister President Eugen von Knilling. The meeting offered Hitler the chance to take all these men at gunpoint and persuade them to accept his leadership. If they refused, they would be bundled away and imprisoned.

Hitler knew that he could not achieve power in Bavaria without the support of these powerful and, now that they had defied Berlin, popular, men and if they did not co-operate with him he knew his chances of a successful coup were slim. But his party members were growing increasingly vocal in their demands for action. If he did not act soon Hitler might find his influence waning. The date of the patriotic demonstration was 9 November. It would always be remembered in German history as the date of the Beer Hall Putsch.

By the time that Hitler arrived at the 3,000-capacity Bürgerbräukeller every seat had been taken. As with every gathering those days in Munich there was a possibility that there would be trouble and 125 municipal policemen were there to control the crowd. On their way by truck were 603 SA, with their field-grey windjammers and swastika armbands. Hitler advised the police on guard at the door that they would be wise not to try and impede his stormtroopers when they entered the building. At 20.30 hours the trucks emptied and the well-armed Nazis surrounded the building and waited for the signal. That signal was the arrival of the Führer’s personal 100-strong, steel-helmeted bodyguard.

Led by Captain Hermann Göring, the bodyguard, armed with machine pistols, entered the hall. The police in the hall made a token attempt to block the Nazis but, on being ordered out of the way, they meekly stood back. With his Browning pistol in his hand, Hitler, accompanied by a small group of supporters, which included Rudolf Hess, pushed his way through the throng towards the speaker’s platform.

There was uproar, tables were overturned as people began either to try to stop Hitler or to leave the hall. Brownshirts, however, had blocked both the front and rear exits. Hitler could not push his way through the melee, so he fired a shot into the ceiling and called out, ‘Quiet!’

The crowd was stunned into silence: ‘The National Revolution has begun!’ Hitler shouted. ‘No one may leave the hall. Unless there is immediate quiet I shall have a machine-gun posted in the gallery. The Bavarian and Reich governments have been removed and a provisional national government formed. The barracks of the Reichswehr and police are occupied. The Army and the police are marching on the city under ...