Sunday, November 8, 2009

Day 69 November 8, 1939

An assassination attempt is made on Hitler, on the 16th anniversary of his attempt to seize power on Nov 8, 1923 (the Beer Hall Putsch). Hitler makes his annual speech to the surviving veterans of the Putsch at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich. A time bomb has been planted by German carpenter Georg Elser in a hollowed out pillar behind the speaker's rostrum. Hitler cuts short his speech to catch the train back to Berlin as it is too foggy for him to fly. The bomb explodes at 21:20, exactly as Elser planned, but Hitler had left 13 minutes earlier. Eight people die and sixty-three are injured, sixteen of them seriously.

Elser is arrested in Konstanz, trying to cross the border into Switzerland. He is transferred to Gestapo headquarters in Berlin where he confesses under torture. He will eventually be held at the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps until April 1945, when Hitler orders his death to prevent liberation by the advancing Allies.

1 comment:

  1. Another interesting bit, I had no idea there was more than one assassination attempt on Hitler.

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