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      Worm in the Apple German Traitors and Other Influences That Pushed the World Into War: The little-known story of the men who destroyed Adolf Hitler's Germany Friedrich Lenz 14. Views on the assassination attempt and the would-be assassins In light of the briefly popular tendency to defend the assassination attempt, albeit on the whole in very general and vague terms, the following will quote the assessments of responsible and competent individuals.
"Incidentally, I condemn the act of July 20 because, objectively speaking, it was based on a
completely incorrect assessment of the situation in terms of both foreign and domestic
policy. "To conclude, I am of the opinion that from the point of view of possible and actual consequences for the German people, the treasonous attempt of July 20 is not historically justified."
"Was the war against Germany really waged only against Hitler and his satellites? Were our cities laid waste solely and only in order to force Hitler to capitulate? Did the 'crusade in Europe', as Eisenhower was later to title his war memoirs in such good taste, really need to destroy so many churches and other works of art in both France and Germany, if the object was only to combat National-Socialism?"
"The question of whether a successful outcome of the assassination attempt and the forcible removal of Hitler would have brought about a favorable turn in Germany's fate and would have spared our people some of the misery and sacrifice they still had to endure after July 1944, cannot be answered in the affirmative. The Party and its subdivisions were still strong at that time, and even had Hitler been eliminated, it would have continued under the leadership of ruthless and fanatical brutes such as Himmler, Bormann, Goebbels etc. These would have defended themselves vigorously and probably successfully against a Beck-Goerdeler government and a 'reactionary military dictatorship'. The state apparatus - the police, propaganda and the press - were in their hands. The mood prevailing in the Wehrmacht was not uniform; most of the front-line officers, namely the young ones, regarded the attempt on Hitler's life as high treason, a breach of the oath of allegiance and of the loyalty that one owed one's Fatherland in war-time. The Waffen-SS, that highly trained and superbly outfitted elite troop of close to 600,000 men, would have become the heart of bitter front-line resistance against the domestic marauders. Party agitators, on the other hand, would have seized on the claim that treason was stabbing the valiant troops in the back, as a slogan with which to arouse the fanaticism of the masses. A successful assassination would have eliminated the dictator, Hitler, but not the dictatorship of National-Socialism. It might have shortened the war by a few months, but would have led to more destruction and severe losses of life through domestic conflict, and these costs would hardly have been less than those suffered even after July 1944 in the battles at the front and in the bombing attacks on German cities. "Through the fragmentation of the German people, the overall state of the war would have continued to deteriorate; at best, the enemies would have stood at order arms until the Germans had torn themselves apart, without then easing up at all in their demands for an unconditional surrender. A successful assassination, and a revolution triggered thereby, would not have changed a thing in this demand, in which the enemies of Germany were adamant. The suggestion that a successful coup would at least have preserved Germany's unity and a real German government will not hold water, for at that time (in the summer of 1944) the Allies had already agreed on the division of the Reich into zones to be governed autonomously by the victors."
"In terms of foreign politics, the prerequisites for a successful coup were not given. The relations of the conspirators to political authorities of the enemy nations were meager. None of the leading enemy politicians had in any way committed himself in favor of the conspirators. It is no exaggeration to say that if the attempt on Hitler's life had succeeded, the prospects of the Reich would not have been any better than they unfortunately are today. Our enemies were interested in more than the elimination of Hitler and Nazism....
"Now you will ask: so what should have happened? I can only say: there is so much talk about resistance to the Hitler regime. Which one of the writers and speakers still living today who could have gotten close to Hitler ever really offered any resistance, even once? Who dared even one single time to tell Hitler his dissentient opinion, much less to insist on this opinion face to face with the dictator? That's what should have happened! In the months during which I witnessed numerous strategic, military, technical and political discussions with Hitler, only very few people did that, and unfortunately most of these are no longer with the living. But I cannot agree to calling those people Resistance fighters who only whispered behind the scenes that they disagreed, and who only tried to incite others. This is the parting of the ways. Anyone who disagreed with Hitler had the duty to tell him so openly whenever the opportunity presented itself. This goes first and foremost and most particularly for the time during which there would still have been a point to any dissent, namely the time before the war. If someone felt certain that Hitler's policies must lead to war and that such a war must be prevented because it would be a misfortune for our people, then that person would have had to find an opportunity, before the war, to tell Hitler and the German people this in no uncertain terms - if not from within Germany, then from abroad. But did those in charge at that time ever do that?"
"They deliberated hundreds of times about how Hitler could and must be done away with. At the same time, they stood beside him at the map table many dozens of times, most of them usually had their pistols with them, and not one, not one single one of them had the courage to stand up and be Brutus. "In the end they left it up to a one-eyed, one-armed dreamer and zealot, who had turned from a fanatical National-Socialist into a fanatical National-Bolshevist and who dreamed of a sort of national soviet republic as the only hope for Germany - they left it up to this man to plant the briefcase with the British time bomb under the desk. But when Hitler survived even that, they folded their hands in resignation and waited until death came for them.... "In the middle of war they conspired towards the establishment of a monarchy and hoped to win support for this hare-brained scheme among the Communists who, incidentally, kept at a very cautious distance. They dined with the Wittelsbachers, chatted with Princess Pilar, went to tea with crown princes, and conferred for weeks and months with Frau Riegele, Göring's sister, in hopes of using this lady's influence to persuade the Reichsmarschall to participate in a putsch. Another time they toyed with the idea of collaborating with the hated Reichsführer-SS to bring about Hitler's fall, "since he has absolute power". Yes, in endless discussions they even already drafted laws which were hidden in the library of the Prussian Minister of Finance, Dr. Popitz, they formulated guidelines for handling law and order with respect to the state of siege which decreed, inter alia, that 'Party functionaries must turn in their marching boots without delay', that public gatherings and demonstrations were banned, as were strikes, and that foreign workers and prisoners-of-war were to remain at their assigned jobs for the time being. "We shook our heads in disbelief at so much naivety. What Prussian Generals and Ministers imagined revolution to be like! "But the others - and they were by far the majority - were nothing more than co-conspirators of this desire for resistance. They signed the death sentences for treason, for cowardice in the face of the enemy, and for desertion without even so much as batting an eyelid, and then went out for a conspiratorial cup of tea. With the Commanders' standard proudly displayed, mind you. Woe to any front-line soldier who had not saluted them respectfully enough as they passed!"
"Let's look at it objectively. Every front-line soldier knows that in a charging battalion, for example, a Company Commander who believes that a Chief Commander misdirects the battalion and therefore shoots him in the back in plain sight of the soldiers and officers of the battalion, would never save the day in this way. Either he would immediately be shot in turn, or a bloody battle would break out between the followers of the murderer and the others. In either case the result would be outright panic, which any enemy Commander would take advantage of so as to wipe out the battalion. "Let us assume that the attempt of July 20 had succeeded. In every city to which the rebels had connections, arrest lists had already been drawn up. In some cases, Party men and the NSFO were already locked up, as for example in Vienna. Does anyone really believe that the Waffen-SS, for instance, would cheerfully have turned themselves in for arrest and execution? Does anyone really believe that the young officer corps, whose members came mostly from the Hitler Youth and had distinguished themselves at all the battle fronts, would have joined forces with those rebels, who without exception came from the reactionary sectors of the population? "The first consequence of July 20 would have been a nation-wide, bloody civil war. The Red Army would have invaded no less than the Western Allies, so as to 'restore order'."
"I don't understand what there is to discuss and argue about. On the one hand you have all those
decent fellows who, while they are not politicians with heaven knows how much influence, did
their duty because their people and their nation were in grave danger, regardless of the question
of
blame. They did their duty on the farms, in the factories, and most of all on the front lines. On
the
other hand you have a bunch of faithless traitors who were either criminals or at least
daydreaming
visionaries, and who failed in their undertaking. There is only one plain and simple decision to
be
made here: one sides either with the great mass of lowly, honest men who bravely did their duty,
or with the handful of criminals or dreamers. There is no other decision to be made. It goes
without saying that we stand by those who did their duty. Because of course that included us, as
well."
  
Worm in the Apple German Traitors and Other Influences That Pushed the World Into War: The little-known story of the men who destroyed Adolf Hitler's Germany |
a) In terms of foreign policy, no different attitude on
the part of the victorious powers could have been expected even if the assassination had been
successful. As early as November 1939, Churchill said in a radio address to the British people:
'This war is a British war and its goal is the destruction of Germany.' (Source: Sven Hedin,
America in the War of the Continents.) Note: not 'the
destruction of National-Socialism', but 'the destruction of Germany'! A single unbroken chain of
the wish for destruction leads from there to Potsdam via Casablanca, Yalta and the Morgenthau
Plan. Just read Churchill's account, in his memoirs, of his discussion with Stalin (August 1942)
about the deliberate bombing of the German civilian population; just read Churchill's cynical
speeches about the intended forcible expulsion of millions of Germans from their ancestral
homes!
If Hitler had died in 1944, his death would have changed nothing in the designs of the victors, in
their manner of warfare, or in our national fate.
"Were all the misgivings as to whether Hitler's removal could even serve to avert the misfortune
of
a lost war really unfounded? Did not the experiences which the men of July 20 themselves had
had
with the opposing nations indicate the contrary?
"The superior strength of the enemy which I have had to fight for years has now increased from
1:3 to 1:20. In light of this, it is ridiculous to think that one could simply drive to the
Führer's headquarters to kill Hitler, while just up ahead I see millions of Russians poised
to
invade Germany. Standing as I do at the leadership of an Army Group, I am answerable to the
German people, and as Army Commander I cannot for even one minute consider forcibly
effecting
a change in our leadership. Besides, I am too familiar with history not to know the disastrous
results a revolt
at the front-lines can have. I do not have the right to unsettle my soldiers through my own
disobedience. First and foremost, a front-line General must set an example for his subordinates.
If
there are plans for
such a change - which is necessary in many respects, and which I myself
would welcome - then it will have to be initiated by men at home who have the opportunity to
get
close to Hitler and who are much better able to understand and predict the political
repercussions.
I for my part must stand by my soldiers, whom I must lead and whose fate I share."
"Of course the question is often asked, what would have happened if the coup
had succeeded? No-one can say. But one thing seems certain: a very great part of the German
people still believed in
Adolf Hitler at that time and would have been convinced that the assassins had removed the one
man who might still have been able to bring the war to a relatively innocuous end. This odium
would have been attached primarily to the officer corps, the Generals and the General Staff,
already during the war but afterwards as well. The people's hatred and scorn would have turned
on
the soldiers, who through breach of their oath of allegiance had contributed to robbing the
already
beleaguered ship of state
of its captain - and in the middle of a battle for life and death, no less. It is unlikely that this
would
have made our enemies treat us better than they did after the collapse.