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.
Read more about this topic: Schwarze Kapelle
Famous quotes containing the words july, plot and/or aftermath:
“Children are as destined biologically to break away as we are, emotionally, to hold on and protect. But thinking independently comes of acting independently. It begins with a two-year-old doggedly pulling on flannel pajamas during a July heat wave and with parents accepting that the impulse is a good one. When we let go of these small tasks without anger or sorrow but with pleasure and pride we give each act of independence our blessing.”
—Cathy Rindner Tempelsman (20th century)
“The plot! The plot! What kind of plot could a poet possibly provide that is not surpassed by the thinking, feeling reader? Form alone is divine.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“The aftermath of joy is not usually more joy.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)