The Plots Against Hitler
Page 46
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33. “The Führer Adolf Hitler is dead”: Ibid., 1:25–26.
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34. At 4:30 p.m., after arresting Fromm: Herber, Oberleutnant a.D. Herber, “Was ich am 20.7.1944 in der Bendlerstrasse erlebte,” BA-MA Msg 2/214, pp. 1–2; Obsert von Roell, “Über die Ereignisse des Nachm. und Abends des 20.7.1944,” 21.7.1944, BA-MA Msg 2/213, p. 1.
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35. Stauffenberg sent one of his men: Mühleisen, “Patrioten im Widerstand,” 462; Herber, “Was ich erlebte,” BA-MA Msg 2/214, pp. 1–2; Roell, “Ereignisse,” BA-MA Msg 2/213, pp. 2–3; Cords to Zeller, 23.8.1951, Otto John, “Ein Augenzeugenbericht vom 20. Juli 1944” (undated), Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/1, p. 6, ED 88/2, pp. 211–12.
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36. At around 4:15 p.m., . . . the conspirators had other prominent visitors: Gisevius, Bis zum bittern Ende, 512–14; compare with Helldorff’s apologetic testimony and also with the more detailed account offered by Bismarck, in Mühlen, Angeklagten, 225–26, 283–85.
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37. A few minutes after 5:00 p.m., the conspirators had to cope: Hans B. Gisevius, To the Bitter End, trans. Richard Winston and Clara Winston (New York: Da Capo Press, 1998), 551; Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:22; Reynolds, Treason Was No Crime, 262–63; Mühlen, Angeklagten, 235. See also Herber, “Was ich erlebte,” BA-MA Msg 2/214, p. 3; “Tagebuch des Stabsgefreiten Karl Berlin,” in Daniil E. Melnikov, 20 Juli 1944: Legende und Wirklichkeit, trans. Fritz Rehak (Berlin: Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1964), 275–76; Cords to Zeller, 23.8.1951, Zeller Papers, IfZ, ED 88/1, p. 6.
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38. he ordered his troops to march west: Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, “Mein Weg zum 20. Juli 1944 (Vortrag gehalten am 20. Juli 2002 bei den Johannitern in Wasserburg/Bayern) (unpublished manuscript, 2002), 39–40; Boeselager to Hoffmann, 19.11.1964, IfZ ZS-2118.
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39. Lt. Gen. Otto Hitzfeld, was away at a funeral: Otto Hitzfeld to Wolfgang Müller, 18.10.1966, Müller to Hitzfeld, 15.10.1966, IfZ ZS-1858, pp. 4–7, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zs/zs-1858.pdf.
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40. Jacob . . . was ignorant of the correct communication procedures: Hoffmann, Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat, 531–32; Allen W. Dulles (OSS Bern) to Brigadier General Thomas J. Betts (London), 21.7.1944, in American Intelligence and the German Resistance to Htiler, ed. Jürgen Heideking and Christof Mauch (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1996), 236.
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41. ordered “a relentless attack on the SS”: Wolfgang Müller, Gegen eine neue Dolchstoßlüge: Ein Erlebnisbericht zum 20 Juli 1944 (Hannover: Verlag “Das andere Deutschland,” 1947), 44; Hitzfeld to Müller, 18.10.1966, Müller to Hitzfeld, 15.10.1966, IfZ ZS-1858, pp. 4–7.
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42. Gisevius, though, was uneasy: Gisevius, Bis zum bittern Ende, 527–28.
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43. Many obeyed the counterorders: FBIS, NARA, Rg.263, SA 190, R 23, C 34, S7, box 92, CCB1; Herber, “Was ich erlebte,” BA-MA Msg 2/214, pp. 2–3; Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:104–8.
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44. One of the deputies of General Esebeck: Ludwig Jedlinka, Das Einsame Gewissen: Der 20 Juli in Österreich (Vienna: Verlag Herold, 1966), 56; Hoffmann, Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat, 575.
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45. Major General Brehmer . . . led the occupation: Schramm, Aufstand der Generale, 139–40.
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46. Soldiers from the security regiment: Walter Bargatzky, “Zwei Stunden und eine verratene Chance,” in Mühlen and Bauer, Der 20. Juli 1944 in Paris, 214. For Hitler’s own view of the “unprecedented” nature of the events in Paris, see Felix Gilbert, ed., Hitler Directs His War: The Secret Records of His Daily Military Conferences (New York: Oxford University Press, 1950), 104. Bargatzky probably began collecting the material in 1943. See the editor’s introduction in Mühlen and Bauer, 9; and Teuchert’s testimony in the same collection, 183, 187.
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47. “a very moral man, staunch German patriot”: Quoted in Schramm, Aufstand der Generale, 25. For the French version, see Henri Navarre, Le temps des vérités (Paris: Plon, 1979), 150–51.
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48. For a while, it seemed as though the conspirators: Hoffmann, Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat, 535.
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49. Major Remer now turned to the most important task: Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 2:639–40; Domarus, Hitler, 2126. Remer’s own testimony, apologetic through and through, has to be read with caution. Contrary to his self-serving version of the events, he did comply with the orders of the conspirators until his conversation with the Führer. In his radio broadcast on July 26, Goebbels brought forth a more accurate version of that conversation, but he skipped the inconvenient fact that Remer initially threatened to arrest him. See FBIS, NARA, Rg.263, SA 190, R 23, C 34, S7, box 93, H4.
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50. Around 7:00 p.m., Field Marshal Witzleben finally arrived: Gisevius, To the Bitter End, 558–59; Hoffmann, Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat, 615–16; compare Otto John’s testimony to U.S. intelligence, reported in William A. Kimbel (OSS Washington) to OSS Director William J. Donovan, 15.9.1944, in Heideking and Mauch, American Intelligence, 285.
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51. “You must hold firm”: Gisevius, To the Bitter End, 555. Compare with Otto John’s account of these telephone conversations: “Augenzeugenbericht,” Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/2, p. 217.
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52. The hesitancy, even timidity, of Hoepner: Gisevius, To the Bitter End, 558–59; “Stenogram,” 81, 122.
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53. Shortly afterward, Beck called Kluge: Schramm, Aufstand der Generale, 110.
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54. In a last attempt to find out the truth: Ibid., 116–20.
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55. “My hands are tied”: Ibid., 130–31; Gotthard von Falkenhausen, “Bericht über Vorgänge in Paris am 20 Juli” (undated), Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/1, p. 57. Falkenhausen heard about the conversation from Hofacker on July 21 at 3:00 a.m.
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56. “This denial, Stülpnagel knew, was untrue”: Constantine FitzGibbon, The Shirt of Nessus (London: Cassell, 1956), 208.
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57. the officers sat at a silent candlelit dinner: Hans Speidel, We Defended Normandy, trans. Ian Colvin (London: Jenkins, 1951), 132.
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58. Stülpnagel . . . told Kluge that he had already ordered: Schramm, Aufstand der Generale, 133, 135.
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59. We climbed the stairs to room 405: Bargatzky, “Letzte Runde in Paris,” 155.
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60. Even then, Stülpnagel briefly considered: Ibid.; Boineburg-Langsfeld, “Als Kommandant,” 162; Zeller, Geist der Freiheit, 413. Some of the younger, more radical conspirators in Paris wanted even then to radicalize the putsch with summary executions of the captive SS leaders, but Stülpnagel did not agree. Even Hofacker was reluctant to execute such a radical plan. See Bargatzky, “Erinnerungen,” IfZ, Z S-203, p. 13; compare with Falkenhausen, “Bericht,” Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/1, pp. 57–58.
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61. Around midnight, Stülpnagel finally surrendered: Bargatzky, “Letzte Runde in Paris,” 156; Schramm, Aufstand der Generale, 170–75.
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62. The telephone, wrote Gisevius, still worked: Gisevius, To the Bitter End, 569.
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63. Ironically, Colonel Müller from Döberitz showed up: Müller, Gegen eine neue Dolchstoßlüge,45–46.
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64. Most of the guards at the Bendlerstrasse: Cords to Zeller, 23.8.1951, Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/1, p. 6; Friedrich Georgi, “Abschrift-Bernau, 21.7.1944, 00.10,” in Helena P. Page, General Friedrich Olbricht: Ein Mann des 20. Juli (Bonn: Bouvier, 1994), appendix.
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65. The clock struck eleven: “Tagebuch des Stabsgefreiten Karl Berlin,” 276; Herber, “Was ich erlebte,” BA-MA
Msg 2/214, p. 7; Cords to Zeller, 23.8.1951, Friedrich Georgi, Abschrift, 26.9.1947, Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/1, pp. 6, 91–92; Gerstenmaier, “Der 20. Juli 1944,” BA-MA Msg 2/213, p. 6(27); Delia Ziegler, “Wer schoss auf Stauffenberg,” Die Welt, BA-MA Msg 2/213 (last page).
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66. General Fromm . . . faced the conspirators: The description is based on a synthesis of several eyewitness accounts: Herber, “Was ich erlebte,” BA-MA Msg 2/214, p. 7; H. L. Bartram, “20. Juli 1944,” BA-MA Msg /2/214, p. 6; “Stenogram,” 117–18; Hoffmann, Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat, 622–23; Zeller, Geist der Freiheit, 398. On Fromm’s intentions, see also Sönke Neitzel, Abgehört: Deutsche Generäle in britischer Kriegsgefangenschaft 1942–1945 (Berlin: Propyläen, 2005), p. 351.
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67. Beck asked for permission: There are multiple versions of this exchange between Beck and Fromm, but the description of the events is essentially similar. For some of the versions, see Zeller, Geist der Freiheit, 398; “Tagebuch des Stabsgefreiten Karl Berlin,” 277; H. L. Bartram, “20. Juli 1944,” BA-MA Msg /2/214, p. 6.
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68. Fromm was ready for his next move: “Stenogram,” 118; Dr. Ing. Werner Kennes, “Stellungnahme zu Wolfgang Müller: ‘Gegen eine neue Dolchstoßlüge,’” 27.8.1947, BA-MA BAarch PERS N/124/10; H. L. Bartram, “20. Juli 1944,” BA-MA Msg /2/214, p. 6.
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69. Eyewitnesses said that the four stood calmly: Zeller, Geist der Freiheit, 399.
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70. A short while later: Otto Skorzeny, Skorzeny’s Special Missions: The Memoirs of the Most Dangerous Man in Europe (London: Robert Hale, 1957), 116–17; Herber, “Was ich erlebte,” BA-MA Msg 2/214, p. 9.
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71. “For the third time an attempt on my life has been planned”: The full text of the speech was published in several Western newspapers on July 21. The English translation quoted here is from the British Times, 21.7.1944. For the German original, see Jacobsen and Zimmermann, 20 Juli 1944, 185–89, and compare to a U.S. intelligence report on the speech: FBIS, NARA, Rg.263, SA 190, R 23, C 34, S7, box 92, CCA1-2.
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72. The assassination attempt . . . “failed due to amateurish dilettantism”: Frank Stern, “Wolfsschanze versus Auschwitz: Widerstand als deutsches Alibi?,” Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft 42, no. 7 (1997): 645.
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73. “[Maj. Bernhard] Klamroth said”: Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:483 (emphasis in original). Gotthard von Falkenhausen, by contrast, mentioned three reasons for the coup’s failure: Hitler did not die on July 20; Rommel was injured on July 17; and Kluge was weak and undecided. See Gotthard von Falkenhausen to Eberhard Zeller, 29.11.1945, Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/1, p. 34.
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74. Operation Valkyrie was planned methodically: For the secrecy measures embedded in “Valkyrie,” see Stellv. Generalkommando XX.A.K (Wehrkreiskommando XX), Abt. Ib/Org. Nr. 217/42 g.Kdos, “Betr. Einsatz Walküre,” 14.5.1942, BA-MA RH/53/20, 27, p. 83. They were not overwritten in subsequent versions of the order.
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19. The Shirt of Nessus
1. “Now they will all fall upon us”: Fabian von Schlabrendorff, The Secret War Against Hitler, trans. Hilda Simon (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994), 294–95.
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2. “You know, . . . as Beck’s subordinate”: Joachim Kuhn, “Eigenhändige Aussagen,” in Peter Hoffmann, Stauffenbergs Freund: Die tragische Geschichte des Widerstandskämpfers Joachim Kuhn (Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck, 2007), 186–87.
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3. Even at this hour . . . he felt responsible: Bodo Scheurig, Henning von Tresckow: Ein Preuße gegen Hitler; Biographie (Berlin: Propyläen, 1987), 218. The records of Tresckow’s phone conversations indicate that he left for his last journey at around 10:00 a.m. on July 21. See “Ferngespräche von 21.7.1944,” Scheurig Papers, IfZ ZS-1 0031-4, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zsa/ZS_A_0031_04.pdf, pp. 149–52.
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4. “I do not wish to give our enemy the pleasure”: Eberhard von Breitenbuch, “Erinnerungen,” Scheurig Papers, IfZ ZS/A 0031-2, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zsa/ZS_A_0031_02.pdf, p. 54; compare with Breitenbuch’s later version in his memoirs, Erinnerungen eines Reserveoffiziers, 1939–1945: Aufgeschrieben zur Kenntnis meiner Kinder (Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 2011), 157–59.
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5. Tresckow entered a staff car: Scheurig, Tresckow, 219.
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6. Most of the conspirators present in the Bendlerstrasse: Peter Hoffmann, Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat: Der Kampf der Opposition gegen Hitler (Munich: Piper, 1985), 627; Detlef Graf von Schwerin, Dann sind’s die besten Köpfe, die man henkt: Die junge Generation im deutschen Widerstand (Munich: Piper, 1991), 413.
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7. “Had we believed in eternity”: Helmuth Arnz, “Abschrift einer Niederschrift über den General der Nachrichtentruppen Erich Fellgiebel,” Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/1, p. 5.
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8. Gen. Karl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel . . . knew that his hour: Walter Bargatzky, “Persönliche Erinnerungen an die Aufstandsbewegung des 20. Juli 1944 in Frankreich,” 20.10.1945, IfZ, ZS-203, p. 14.
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9. Hermann Kaiser . . . was arrested on July 21: Huppenkothen trial, 37–38, Deutsch Papers, USAMHI, series 1, box 3, folder 2.
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10. The conspirators were not left in peace: 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), 1:16–17, 19, 399–404. It is almost unbelievable, but some scholars have taken Schlabrendorff’s fictitious testimony seriously. See, for example, Ronald Rathert, Verbrechen und Verschwörung: Arthur Nebe; Der Kripochef des Dritten Reiches (Münster: Lit, 2001), 117.
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11. Yet the conspirators were broken one by one: Horst Mühleisen, “Patrioten im Widerstand”: Carl-Hans Graf von Hardenbergs Erlebnisbericht,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 14, no. 3 (January 1993): 467.
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12. Life in the Gestapo prison was hard: Wolfgang Müller, Gegen eine neue Dolchstoßlüge: Ein Erlebnisbericht zum 20 Juli 1944 (Hannover: Verlag “Das andere Deutschland,” 1947), 113–17; Dorothee von Meding, Courageous Hearts: Women and the Anti-Hitler Plot of 1944, trans. Michael Balfour and Volker R. Berghahn (Providence, R.I.: Berghahn Books, 1997), 62; Huppenkothen trial, 1VT: 129–138, 2VT: 102–1, 28–30, 62–5, VT3: 3–13, 18, Deutsch Papers, series 1, box 3, folder 2.
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13. “This time, . . . the trials will be quickly concluded”: Wilhelm Scheidt, “Gespräche mit Hitler,” Echo der Woche, 9.9.1949; compare with Joseph Goebbels,Tagebücher, 1924–1945, ed. Ralf Georg Reuth, 2nd ed. (Munich: Piper, 1992), 23.7.1944, 5:2084–86.
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14. Through “Courts of Honor”: “Von Tresckow, Henning,” BA-MA BAarch PERS 6/301112; “Bildung eines Ehrenhofes zur Überprüfung der Beteiligten am Attentat vom 20.7.1944 (2.8.1944, doc. 346),” in Führer-Erlasse, 1939–1940, ed. Martin Holl (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1997), 439; Heinz Guderian, Erinnerungen eines Soldaten (Heidelberg: Vowinckel, 1951), 313–14. On the proceedings of the courts of honor, see the taped testimony of Lieutenant General Kirchheim in British captivity, though as a member of the court, he was naturally apologetic: Sönke Neitzel, Abgehört: Deutsche Generäle in britischer Kriegsgefangenschaft 1942–1945 (Berlin: Propyläen, 2005), pp. 370-77.
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15. The president of the tribunal was Dr. Roland Freisler: Helmut Ortner, Der Hinrichter: Roland Freisler, Mörder im Dienste Hitlers (Vienna: Zsolnay, 1995), 132–33, 136.
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16. “If you deny [that you’re a swine,]”: “Stenogram der ersten Volksgerichtshofverhandlung vom 7/8 August 1944,” in Die Angeklagten des 20 Juli vor dem Volksgerichtshof, ed. Bengt von zur Mühlen (Berlin: Chronos, 200
1), 83.
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17. Freisler was not an independent judge: Ortner, Der Hinrichter, 127–28; Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1936–1945: Nemesis (New York: Norton, 2000), 10–11, 22.
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18. these ends were intimately tied: Ortner, Der Hinrichter, 107, 136.
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19. “the court has only one duty”: “Stenogram,” 53, 97, 99–103. Only one of the lawyers, Hagne’s attorney Dr. Gustav Schwarz, courageously tried to do his duty in good faith. During the trial, he did almost everything possible to save his client from the rope. For discussion on the role of the defense attorneys and the difficulties they faced, see Arnim Ramm, Der 20 Juli vor dem Volksgerichtshof (Berlin: Gaudig & Veit, 2007), 236–41.
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20. “Witzleben . . . was revealed in the trial”: Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:180.
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21. “He pushed back the thought”: Ibid., 1:181; Huppenkothen trial, 173–74, Deutsch Papers USAMHI, series 1, box 3, folder 2.
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22. When asked by Freisler why he failed to join: Hans A. Jacobsen and Erich Zimmermann, eds., 20 Juli 1944 (Bonn: Berto Verlag, 1960), 173; Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:181. English translation from Peter Hoffmann, The History of the German Resistance, 1933–1945, trans. Richard Barry (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1985), 526.
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23. “In the name of the German People!”: “Stenogram,” 119.
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24. The conspirators were hanged slowly: Brigitte Oleschinski, Plötzensee Memorial Center (Berlin: Gedenkstätte deutscher Winderstand, 2002), 5.
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25. “Hitler put on his spectacles”: Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, with François d’Alançon, In the Bunker with Hitler, 23.7.1944–29.4.1945 (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006), 68–69.
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26. “We took this deed upon ourselves”: Mühlen, Angeklagten, 302. The protocol of Schulenburg’s trial is probably lost for good. The only information we have on the trial is based on a letter by a German journalist who was able to speak with one of those present, an SS guard. He submitted his findings (in code) to Schulenburg’s wife. See Ulrich Heinemann, Ein Konservativer Rebell: Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg und der 20. Juli (Berlin: Siedler, 1990), 171–72.