Insane Assassination Attempts to Kill Hitler

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Early Assassination Attempts (1932-1933)

1932 Hotel Kaiserhof Poisoning: Hitler and staff fell ill after dinner in Berlin
- Cause: poison in food
- Hitler least affected due to vegetarian diet
- No suspects identified or arrested
February 1932 Poisoned Letter: Sent from France by German politician Ludwig Assner
- Bavarian State Parliament member attempted assassination
- Plot thwarted by acquaintance who forewarned Hitler
- Letter intercepted before reaching target

1934 Beppo Römer Plot: Vengeance for Night of Long Knives extrajudicial executions
- Römer openly shared assassination intentions
- Reported to Gestapo before attempt
- Imprisoned at Dachau concentration camp
Dr. Helmut Mylius Conspiracy: Head of right-wing radical middle-class party
- Infiltrated 160 men into SS ranks to gather intelligence on Hitler's movements
- Gestapo discovered conspiracy, arrested participants
- Mylius escaped due to Nazi connections
Lieutenant Colonel Noel Mason-MacFarlane Plan (1934-1939): British military attaché to Berlin Embassy
- Proposed sniper stationed in Embassy drawing room
- Clear view of Charlottenburg Palace for Hitler's April 20th birthday parade
- British government refused - Lord Halifax believed diplomacy still possible
1935 Maritz Group Coup: German Foreign Office officials attempted military takeover
- Failed to remove Hitler from power
Dr. Paul Joseph Stürmer Resistance Group: Businessmen, university professors, government workers
- Assisted multiple assassination attempts including Römer's plots

December 20, 1936: Helmet Hirsch suicide bombing attempt
- Former Jungenschaften member (dissolved by Nazis)
- Jewish, barred from Nazi youth movement
- Joined Black Front (socialist splinter group opposing Nazis)
- Carried bomb in suitcase to Nazi headquarters in Nuremberg
- Gestapo intercepted (possible tip-off or double agent)
- Bomb designed to kill Hirsch as well as destroy building
- Arrested for treason, executed by guillotine 1937
- American citizenship didn't save him despite family/ambassador efforts

November 1937: Mental patient Joseph Thomas confessed intent to shoot Hitler and Hermann Göring
Unknown SS Impersonator: Attempted assassination at Berlin rally
Oster Conspiracy (1938): Led by General Major Hans Oster
- High-ranking Wehrmacht conservatives concerned about Czechoslovakia war
- Believed Germany unprepared for world war
- Planned to overthrow/arrest/assassinate Hitler, reinstate German monarchy
- Abandoned when war seemed less likely

Maurice Bavaud: Swiss theology student tracked Hitler across Germany
- Believed Hitler threatened Switzerland and humanity
- Bought pistol in late 1938
- November 1938: Attempted shooting during Beer Hall Putsch commemoration parade
- Disguised as Swiss press member, gained grandstand access
- Crowd stood up blocking view when Hitler approached
- Ran out of money stalking Hitler, caught on train to Paris
- Interrogated by Gestapo, sentenced to death
- Executed by guillotine in Berlin prison 1941

General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski: Led Polish Army retaliation
- Hid 500+ kg TNT in ditch in Wasa
- Planned to detonate during Hitler's Victory Parade
- Parade diverted to different route at last moment

Carpenter's 35-night operation: Spent full 35 nights secretly working at Munich Beer Hall
- Constructed time bomb, hid in hollowed-out pillar next to speaking platform
- Set to detonate during Hitler's annual speech
- Hitler started early, finished at 21:07, left 13 minutes before 21:20 detonation
- 8 killed, 60+ seriously injured
- Elser arrested, held at Dachau, executed on Hitler's direct orders April 1945

Erich Kordt: German diplomat and resistance fighter
- Former Oster Conspiracy member
- Worked with officer Hasso von Etzdorf
- Planned explosives in Berlin location
- Plan failed due to increased security after Elser's bombing

Released 1939: Immediately resumed anti-Nazi activities
- Worked with Solf Circle resistance group
- Received funding from Nikolaus von Halem (businessman/lawyer/resistance fighter)
- Tracked Hitler's movements through Berlin City Commandant contact
- Plot discovered by Gestapo, arrested again
- Sentenced to death June 1944, executed at Brandenburg-Görden prison

Three Generals Conspiracy: Hubert Lanz, Hans Speidel, Henning Graf Sponeck
- Planned for Hitler's visit to army detachment camp in Ukraine
- Sponeck would surround Hitler's escort with tanks
- Plan: arrest Hitler, or destroy with tanks if resistance
- Hitler cancelled visit, plan abandoned

Eastern Front Visit: Hitler due to visit troops after Battle of Stalingrad
Plan 1: Intercept and kill Hitler en route from airport to army base in Smolensk, Russia
- Dropped due to armed SS guard protection
Plan 2: Lunch assassination - officers would draw pistols on signal
- Failed when Hitler didn't join for lunch
Plan 3: Explosive Cointreau liquor case
- Presented case of Cointreau triple sec to Hitler's aide
- Claimed it was payment for lost bet to another officer
- 30-minute timer bomb in cargo hold of Hitler's plane
- Freezing conditions caused package to ice up, failed to detonate
- Co-conspirator recovered bomb before discovery

General Major Rudolph Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff: Planned suicide bombing
- Hitler attending exhibition of captured Soviet weaponry in Berlin
- Gersdorff tasked with showing Hitler around as weapons expert
- Rigged pair of grenades with 10-minute delayed timers, hid in coat
- Plan: embrace Hitler as explosives detonated
- Hitler completed exhibition in under 10 minutes, left before detonation
- Gersdorff escaped to bathroom, defused explosives
- Transferred to Eastern Front to avoid Gestapo suspicion

Major Axel von dem Bussche: Witnessed SS massacre of 3,000+ Jewish civilians
- 6+ feet tall, blond, blue-eyed - epitome of Nazi Aryan ideal
- Selected to model new Wehrmacht winter uniforms for Hitler
- Viewing scheduled at Wolf's Lair (Poland) - Hitler's secret military headquarters
- Plan: slip grenade in pocket, blow up when Hitler approached
- Allied bombing raid destroyed uniform transport train night before
- Viewing postponed, then cancelled
Ewald von Kleist: Similar uniform modeling plan
- Also postponed and eventually cancelled

Most Famous Attempt: Led by Lieutenant Colonel Klaus von Stauffenberg
- Co-conspirators: Henning von Tresckow, officers from Oster Conspiracy
- Codenamed Operation Valkyrie
- Goal: assassinate Hitler, seize German government control, win Allied favor
- Warned Gestapo might be onto them, running short on time
- Stauffenberg concealed bomb in briefcase under conference table
- Another officer unknowingly moved briefcase behind table leg
- Bomb detonated but table leg shielded Hitler
- Hitler suffered only minor injuries
- 4 killed, 133 injured in blast
- Stauffenberg executed by firing squad after fleeing Berlin
- Tresckow took own life
- ~5,000 officers and civilians rounded up and executed by Gestapo

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