I just recently saw "Valkyrie" again starring Tom Cruise as von Stauffenberg who as most of us here know was one of the main masterminds behind the July 20, 1944 bomb plot against Hitler. What really struck me after this recent viewing is that the film portrays the motives of the conspirators to be based entirely on moral/ethical grounds. In other words "Hitler's regime is evil and horrible and we have to get rid of him".


The reality was quite different. In fact, vastly different.


Here is an excerpt I read today which largely contradicts how the film portrayed the conspirators:

"Motivation and goals of the plot
While the main goal of the plotters was to remove Hitler from power, they did so for various reasons. The majority of the group behind the 20 July plot were conservative nationalists and did not necessarily believe in democratic ideas.[11][12] Martin Borschat writes that the plot was mainly done by conservative elites who were initially integrated by the Nazi government but during the war lost their influence and were concerned about regaining it.[13]

Territorial demands towards the Allies
Among demands issued by the plotters towards the Allies were such points as re-establishment of Germany's 1914 boundaries with Belgium, France and Poland and no reparations. Plotters demands meant annexation to pre-1939 Germany of 70,000 square kilometers of non-German territory, especially the disputed Polish areas;as such the proposals couldn't have been agreed to.[14][page needed] Like most of the rest of German resistance, the July 20th plotters believed in the idea of Greater Germany and as condition for peace demanded that western allies recognize at minimum the Nazi annexations of Austria, Alsace- Sudetenland, and Polish territories, with even restoration of some of the overseas colonies. They believed that Europe should be controlled under German hegemony[15].

The overall goals towards Poland were mixed within the plotters. Most of the plotters found it desirable to restore the old German borders from 1914, while others pointed out that the demands were unrealistic and amendments had to be made.[16] Some like Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg even saw all of Poland annexed to Germany.[17]"


So in a nutshell, most of the conspirators wanted to get rid of Hitler because they saw him as incompetent and causing Germany to lose the war and they wanted to save a sinking ship and return it to glory. They did not want to get rid of him for ethical/moral reasons such as of course implementing the Final Solution and establishing a brutal totalitarian system.





Last edited by PanzerMeyer; 05/16/18 05:53 PM.

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”