Hans Von Dohnanyi - Resistance

Resistance

Spurred by the murders of alleged plotters of the 1934 Night of the Long Knives, "legitimised" murders carried out on government orders, without trial or sentence, Dohnanyi began to seek out contacts with German resistance circles. He made records for himself of the régime's crimes, so that in the event of a collapse of the Third Reich, he would have evidence of their crimes. In 1938, once his critical view of Nazi racial politics became known, Martin Bormann had him transferred to the Reichsgericht in Leipzig as an adviser.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Hans Oster called Dohnanyi into the Abwehr of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. Led by Wilhelm Canaris, it quite quickly became a hub of resistance activity against Hitler. Dohnanyi protected Dietrich Bonhoeffer from conscription by bringing him into the Abwehr with the claim Bonhoeffer's numerous ecumenical contacts could be useful for Germany.

In 1942, Dohnanyi made it possible for two Jewish lawyers from Berlin, Friedrich Arnold and Julius Fliess, to flee with their loved ones to Switzerland, disguised as Abwehr agents. Altogether, 13 people were able to leave Germany without hindrance, thanks to Dohnanyi's forgeries and operation known as U-7. Dohnanyi secretly went to Switzerland to make certain the refugees would be admitted. He also ensured they received money to support themselves.

During late February 1943, Dohnanyi busied himself with Henning von Tresckow's assassination attempt against Hitler and the attendant coup d'état. The bomb that was smuggled aboard Hitler's plane in Smolensk after being carried there by Dohnanyi, however, failed to go off.

On April 5, 1943, Dohnanyi was arrested at his office by the Gestapo on charges of alleged breach of foreign currency violations: he had transferred funds to a Swiss bank on behalf of the Jews he had saved. Among the transactions in question were ones with Jauch & Hübener. Bonhoeffer and Dohnanyi's wife Christine were also arrested, though she was released about a week later.

Military judge Karl Sack deliberately delayed Dohnanyi's trial, but, in 1944, Dohnanyi was delivered to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In addition, his involvement in the July 20 Plot came to light after the plan failed. Also, the Gestapo found some of the documents he had earlier saved and hidden and decided Dohnanyi was "the spiritual head of the conspiracy” against Hitler. On Hitler's orders, on April 6, 1945, Dohnanyi was condemned to death by an SS drumhead court and executed two or three days later (depending on the source), hanged by piano wire.