Erich Fellgiebel - Resistance Activities

Resistance Activities

Through his acquaintance with Colonel General Ludwig Beck, his superior, and then Beck's successor, Colonel-General Franz Halder, Fellgiebel contacted the anti-Nazi resistance group in the Wehrmacht.

In the 1938 conspiracy, he was supposed to cut communications throughout Germany while Field Marshal von Witzleben would occupy Berlin.

Fellgiebel was involved in the preparations for Operation Valkyrie and during the attempt on the Führer's life (20 July 1944) Fellgiebel tried to cut Hitler's headquarters off from all telecommunication connections, which he only partly succeeded in doing. When it became clear that the attempt had failed, Fellgiebel had to override the communications black-out he had set up.

Fellgiebel's most famous act that day was his telephone report to his co-conspirators after he was informed that Hitler was still alive: "Etwas schreckliches ist passiert! Der Führer lebt!" ("Something awful has happened! The Führer lives!").