Attempts on Hitler’s Life

1921 Beer Hall Putsch

We could argue that the very first attempt on Hitler’s life was at the Beer Hall Putsch. This happened in November 1921 and he was arrested and imprisoned. He was relatively unknown then.  But when he made a speech, several opponents drew pistols and fired.

1932 Ludwig Assner

Assner sent Hitler a poisoned letter but an acquaintance of Assner’s tipped Hitler off. Earlier in the year there seems to have been an attempt to poison  Hitler and his crew. However, Hitler didn’t even become ill as he stayed with his vegetarian diet.

1934 Beppo Römer

Römer vowed to assassinate Hitler but never got round to it.

1934 Helmut Mylius

Mylius was a right wing radical who conspired against Hitler but the plans of the conspiracy were exposed.     

1935 Marwitz group

Officials of the German Foreign Office thought Hitler should be stopped and distributed letters saying that now was the time to act.  

1936 Helmut Hersch

Hercsh planted two suitcases full of explosive in the Nazi headquarter but they were discovered before they went off.

1937 unknown SS man

This man tried to kill Hitler at a rally.

1938 Hans Oster and Helmut Groscurth

Hoster and Groscurth with the help of a few others planned to overthrow Hitler but gave up when the Munich Agreement was signed, avoiding the immediate threat of war.  

1938 Maurice Bavaud

Bavaud bought a gun and started stalking Hitler. He was actually protected by people surrounding Hitler making the Nazi salute. Bavaud was finally executes in 1941.

1938 Käthe Edler

Edler could have killed Hitler but it never occurred to her.

1939 Georg Elser

Elser created a bomb that indeed went off as planned. Eight people were killed and several injured but Hitler escaped.

1939 Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski

He attempted to detonate explosives during Hitler’s victory parade in Warsaw.

1939 Erich Kordt

Kordt hatched an assassination plot but had to abandon it.

1939-1943 Noel Mason-Macfarlane

Mason-Macfarlane thought of killing Hitler with a sniper but never got round to it.

1943 Henning von Tresckow

This was another attempt at a bomb. Henning was a disillusioned military officer. He handed a member of Hitler’s staff a parcel containing two bottles of Cointreau. The bomb did not go off on as planned. Tresckow manage to retrieve the parcel and found that the bomb had had a defective fuse.

1943 Rudolff von Gertsdorf    

Gertsdorf was willing to become the bomb himself this time. Security was however too tight and he manged to extract himself form the bomb before it went off.

1943 Hubert Lanz, Hans Speidel, Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz

The planned to arrest Hitler during a visit to the Ukraine.

1944 – Stauffenberg

Several German officers, disgruntled after the D-Day  landings, decided to attempt another bomb and then get the Reserve Army to dismantle the line of command.

However, someone moved the bomb and although it went off and killed four men, it only left Hitler with non-life-threatening injuries.  

1944 Eberhard von Breitenbuch

Breitenbuch planned to shoot Hitler in the head at a conference. However, he was no allowed into the conference.

 

One source mentions forty-four attempts.

Why didn’t they succeed?

Were they badly planned?

Was Hitler’s security too efficient?

Were they plotter found out too soon?

And was Käthe Edler really the only woman who was even in any position to do anything?