28. Spiegelbild, 34.
29. Manfred Messerschmidt, “Militärische Motive zur Durchführung des Umsturzes,” Schmädecke and Steinbach, Widerstand, 1034.
30. Rüdiger Altmann, Der wilde Frieden: Notizen zu einer politischen Theorie des Scheiterns (Stuttgart, 1987), 200.
31. Zeller, Freiheit, 531.
32. Alexander Stahlberg, Die verdammte Pflicht: Erinnerungen, 1932-1945 (Berlin and Frankfurt, 1994), 456ff.
33. Rothfels, Opposition, 87.
34. Karl Otmar von Aretin, cited in Ulrich Cartarius, Opposition gegen Hitler (Berlin, 1984), 26.
35. Kunrat von Hammerstein, Spähtrupp (Stuttgart, 1963), 295.
36. Meding, Mut, 52. Stauffenberg’s widow, Countess Nina Schenk von Stauffenberg, said something similar: “On the whole, what happened was probably best for the cause” (288).
A NOTE ON THE TEXTS
The following works cited in their German editions in the notes are available in English translation.
Balfour, Michael, and Julian Frisby. Helmuth von Moltke: A Leader against Hitler.
London, 1972.
Bracher, Karl Dietrich. The German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects
of National Socialism. New York, 1970.
Buchheim, Hans, et al. Anatomy of the SS State. Trans. Richard Barry, Marian
Jackson, and Dorothy Lang. New York, 1968.
Ciano, Galeazzo. The Ciano Diaries, 1939-1943. Ed. Hugh Gibson. New York, 1947.
Domains, Max. Hitler: Speeches and Proclamations, 1932-1945. London, 1990.
Fest, Joachim, Hitler. Trans. Richard and Clara Winston. New York, 1973.
--------. The Face of the Third Reich. Trans. Michael Bullock. New York, 1970.
Francois-Poncet, Andre. The Fateful Years: Memoirs of a French Ambassador in
Berlin, 1931-1938. New York, 1949.
Gisevius, Hans Bernd. To the Bitter End Trans. Richard and Clara Winston. Boston,
1947.
Halder, Franz. The Halder War Diary, 1939-1942. Ed. Charles Burdick and Hans-
Adolf Jacobsen. Novato, 1988.
Hassell, Ulrich von. The von Hassell Diaries: The Story of the Forces against Hitler
inside Germany, 1938-1944 Boulder, 1944.
Hoffmann, Peter. German Resistance to Hitler. Cambridge, Mass., 1988.
--------. Hitler’s Personal Security. Cambridge, Mass, 1979.
Höhne, Heinz. Canaris: A Biography of Hitler’s Chief of Espionage Trans. J.
Maxwell Brownjohn. New York, 1979.
Kramarz, Joachim. Stauffenberg: The Architect of the Famous July 20th Conspiracy to
Assassinate Hitler. Trans. R. H. Barry. New York, 1967.
Moltke, Helmuth James von. Letters to Freya, 1939-1945. Ed. and trans. Beate Ruhm
von Oppen. New York, 1990.
Rothfels, Hans. The German Opposition to Hitler: An appraisal. Chicago, 1962.
Schlabrendorff, Fabian von. Revolt against Hitler. New York, 1982
Schöllgen, Gregor. A Conservative against Hiller: Ulrich von Hassell, Diplomat in
Imperial Germany, the Weimar Republic, and the Third Reich, 1881-1944 Trans. Louise Willmot. New York, 1991.
Speidel, Hans. Invasion 1944: Rommel and the Normandy Campaign. Chicago, 1950.
Stahlberg, Alexander. Bounden Duty. The Memoirs of a German Officer, 1932-1945
Trans. Patricia Crampton. New York, 1990.
Steinert, Marlis G. Hitler’s War and the Germans: Public Mood and Attitude during
the Second World War. Ed. and trans. Thomas E. J de Witt Athens, Ohio, 1977.
Stern, Fritz. Dreams and Delusions: The Drama of German History. New York, 1987.
Trial of Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal 42 vols.
Nuremberg, 1947-49.
van Roon, Ger.German Resistance to Hitler Count von Moltke and the Kreisau
Circle. Trans. Peter Ludlow. New York, 1971.
Vassiltchikov, Maria. Berlin Diaries, 1940-1945 London, 1986.
Wilmot, Chester. The Struggle for Europe Westport, 1972.
Zeller, Eberhard. The Flame of Freedom. The German Struggle against Hitler Trans.
R. P. Heller and D. R. Masters. London, 1967.
CHRONOLOGY
1933
Jan. 30 Hitler appointed chancellor
Feb. 3 Hitler meets with commanders of the Reichswehr for the
first time
Feb. 27-28 Reichstag fire. Government issues emergency decree “to
protect the people and the state”
March 5 Reichstag elections. Nazis receive 43.9 percent of the vote
March 21 Potsdam Day celebrations, intended to show unity of
Prussianness and National Socialism
March 23 Enabling Act passed
Apr. 1 Boycott of Jewish businesses
Apr. 7 Act to Restore a Professional Public Service passed
May 2 Trade unions disbanded and German Labor Front founded
June-July Political parties dissolved
July 20 Concordat with Vatican signed
1934
April 24 People’s Court established
June 30 Night of the Long Knives. Liquidation of SA leaders and
other political opponents begins
Aug. 2 Hindenburg dies. General Werner von Blomberg orders
Reichswehr to swear loyalty to Hitler. Hitler granted unlimited power as “Führer and chancellor”
1935
Jan. 2 Admiral Wilhelm Canaris takes over as chief of Military
Intelligence
March 4-5 Synod of the Confessional Church decides to denounce Nazi racial theories and the “new heathens” from the pulpit. Seven hundred pastors arrested
March 16 Reintroduction of universal conscription
Aug. on Wave of arrests directed against socialist resistance group Beginning Anew
Sept. 15 Nuremberg laws enacted
Oct. Wave of arrests by the Gestapo. By May 1936, over seven thousand seized for political reasons
1936
March 7 German troops march into the demilitarized Rhineland
May 26 Campaign against monasteries and convents. Morals charges brought against 276 members of religious orders for alleged homosexuality
May 28 Whitsun declaration of the Confessional Church condemns Nazi racial policies
Aug. The Socialist Front in Hannover, one of the largest northern German resistance groups, headed by Werner Blumenberg, broken up by Gestapo
Nov. Gestapo arrests members of the left-wing socialist organization Red Fighters
1937
Jan. 30 Enabling Act extended for four years. Hitler withdraws Germany’s signature from the discriminatory clauses of the Treaty of Versailles
March 14 Papal encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (With Deepest Anxiety) condemns Nazi policy toward the church. Mass arrest of clergymen, expropriation of church publishing houses and presses