Remembering Stauffenberg
A Quick Reply to John Leake
Letter #219
Dear Mr. Leake,
Many thanks for writing about Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, who was undoubtedly a remarkable man worthy of thought. Given the amount of confusion (see the comments to your article) and obvious relevance of his actions for today I thought it best to reply.
The first thing that needs to be said is that Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was part of a larger resistance movement within Germany (key plotters included Beck, Olbricht & von Treskow) and his attempt was simply one of many. Indeed, the army came close to rebelling against Hitler on a number of occasions. Unfortunately for the army: the British and Americans were solidly behind Hitler (which is why they supported his move against Czechoslovakia and gave him the Czech gold) in the same way that they were solidly behind Mussolini (a British agent) and Franco. This policy has since been misconstrued as “appeasement”; it wasn’t. In fact, the British and French were themselves preparing an attack against the Soviet Union in 1940!
A weakness of the plan, which many seem to have misconstrued as “cowardice” was that Stauffenberg had to be in Berlin to issue orders shortly after the assassination attempt. He was a key figure in the Home Army (along with Olbricht) and it was their orders which set-in motion a (legal) take-over (and arrest of Nazis) by the army. This is why he had to “flee” and couldn’t commit suicide by attacking Hitler directly.
The original plan was to kill Hitler in a concrete bunker deep underground but the absence of Himmler and Goering led to its abandonment. This was an obvious error on the part of the plotters. Stauffenberg’s misfortune was that he was interrupted before he had a chance to activate the second mine (bomb), which would have killed Hitler; one bomb was simply not enough. The fact that he’d been severely injured didn’t help matters either.
Fundamentally however von Moltke, who was part of the “Kreisauer Kreis”, was right and Stauffenberg was wrong: had Hitler been assassinated the Nazis would have blamed the plotters for all subsequent military defeats.
One comment puts it pithily: “Others, and I agree, have suggested that his failure is what ultimately brought the Nazi’s down. If Hitler had been assassinated it’s probable that the missteps made by Hitler by opening up another front when he did as well as other strategic mistakes would not have occurred. The alternative result would have solidified Nazi Germany’s control over Europe. So, had the plot succeeded, we would not have had the drug addicted bumbling Hitler to provide openings for the allies to destroy him.”
Another comment worthy of mention is the following:
“It is quite instructive that out of more than 40 attempts on Hitler’s life, John Leake is singling out the one plot whose participants were high-ranking Nazis, who had actively took part in previous conquest and pillage, and who decided to try a different approach only when Hitler’s disastrous incompetence became too obvious to those who kept a few functioning brain cells. Stauffenberg, in particular, happily took part in the invasion of Poland, stating that “It is essential that we begin a systemic colonization in Poland. But I have no fear that this will not occur”. As for his real views, here is what was written by one of the few members of the resistance who survived the war:
“Stauffenberg wanted to retain all the totalitarian, militaristic and socialistic elements of National Socialism. What he had in mind was the salvation of Germany by military men who could break with corruption and maladministration with corruption and maladministration, provide an orderly military government and inspire the people to make one last great effort. Reduced to a formula, he wanted the nation to remain soldierly and become socialistic.
Stauffenberg was motivated by the impulsive passions of the disillusioned military man whose eyes had been opened by the defeat of German arms. Stauffenberg had shifted to the rebel side only after Stalingrad.”
“The difference between Stauffenberg, Helldorf and Schulenburg – all of them counts – was that Helldorf had come to the Nazi Movement as a primitive, I might almost say an unpolitical revolutionary. The other two had been attracted primarily by a political ideology. Therefore, it was possible for Helldorf to throw everything overboard at once: Hitler, the Party, the entire system. Stauffenberg, Schulenberg and their clique wanted to drop no more ballast than was absolutely necessary; then they would paint the ship of state a military gray and set it afloat again.”
The book by Hans Bernd Gisevius: “To the bitter end”, from which these quotes are purportedly drawn from, is, to a degree, accurate. Stauffenberg was inspired by Stefan George’s romanticism and was undoubtedly an idealist who had a positive attitude toward National Socialism (which nearly cost him his career in the army). Like many who believe nonsense about Global Warming, Neoliberalism, Covid, the Ukraine War etc. today, he drank the Kool Aid of his day, which was National Socialism. This doesn’t however make him a Nazi. Above all else: one needs to differentiate between those who were out and out criminals (and often foreign agents) such as Hitler (who probably worked for the British Deep State) & Himmler (who was paid by the Americans) and those who believed in the ideals of National Socialism yet who “tried to do the right thing” (e.g. Stauffenberg & von Wächter).
The only real and serious option, as Moltke pointed out (ironically it was his arrest which paved the way for Stauffenberg), was to plan for the time AFTER the end of the Nazi regime. Regardless of the courage of Stauffenberg, Beck, Olbricht & von Treskow (to name but a few) violence is NEVER the answer but merely leads to more violence. This is why peaceful resistance against the current wave of Nazism & Fascism (Digital ID & Digital Currency, the censorship, the Genocide by Jab, the Lockdowns, the Concentration Camps etc.) is the ONLY way forward.
Best,
Michael
Thank you for sharing your mesmerizing depth of knowledge. The more I know, the more I want to know of our hideous history.
Und jetzt der Nationalsozialismus im weltweiten Maßstab. Etwas für jeden!