Forced Suicide - in Modern Europe

In Modern Europe

Another famous example is the forced suicide of Erwin Rommel, a field marshal in the German Army during the Second World War. After Rommel lost faith in Germany's ability to win the war, and came under suspicion for having taken part in the July 20, 1944 plot to kill Adolf Hitler, he was forced to commit suicide. Due to Rommel's popularity with the German people, Hitler gave him an option to commit suicide with cyanide or face dishonor and retaliation against his family and staff. Since the guilty verdict had already been entered, the option of facing trial was hopeless, and thus, in order to save his family and his honor, he was forced to take cyanide.

During World War II there were many forced suicides in different military and paramilitary organizations. There is evidence of military failures requiring suicide as a better option than court martial, for example in the Winter War and at the Battle of Stalingrad. Several under Adolf Hitler's regime also committed suicide. Friedrich Paulus was promoted with the implication that he would die in futile military action or commit suicide. Suicide missions, in which volunteers were asked for, are well reported in fiction, but levels of compulsion are hard to assess.