Schwarze Kapelle - The July Plot and Aftermath

The July Plot and Aftermath

After the July 20 Plot failed, the Schwarze Kapelle and many, many more people were rounded up by the Gestapo and 5,000 people were put to death (the Gestapo's records showed over 7,000). Stauffenberg and three others were summarily shot that night. Most of the conspirators were put on trial, in the People's Court of Roland Freisler, a "vile, vituperative maniac" over a period from August 1944 to February 1945. Most of the others were executed the day after their convictions by hanging from meat hooks at Plötzensee Prison.

Schlabrendorff only escaped death because an Allied bomb was dropped on the court, killing Freisler and destroying most of the court and investigation records, just as Schlabrendorff was being led into the court building. Canaris and Oster were not tried until February 1945, and were not executed until April 9, 1945; their deaths were particularly grisly, by slow strangulation. Rommel was forced to commit suicide. Because of his popularity with the German people, Rommel was given the choice between suicide (thus preserving his reputation as a war hero), and the persecution of his entire family and the arrest of his staff. To save his family, Rommel chose the former.