Last of Hitler's Failed Bomb Plot Assassins Dies at 90

The last known survivor of the Von Stauffenberg bomb plot against Adolf Hitler at the height of World War Two has died. Philipp von Boesalager was part of the failed conspiracy against the Fuhrer being portrayed in an upcoming Tom Cruise movie.

An Earlier Second Plot

Von Boeselager, 90, died Thursday, May 1, 2008. He reportedly turned against Hitler when he received news in June 1942 that five Romany, or gypsies, had been gunned down because of their ethnic background.

Not only was Von Boeselager part of what is remembered as the July 20th plot, but he and seven other Wehrmacht officers had participated in a plot a year earlier to shoot both Hitler and SS chief Heinrich Himmler during an Eastern front visit on March 13, 1943. Boeselager was the triggerman, armed with a Walther PP which remained in his possession until his death. The assassination was cancelled when Himmler called off his trip, leaving Hitler unaccompanied and raising concerns among conspirators over the power struggle that would erupt between Himmler's SS and the army with Hitler dead. Von Boesalager would later express regret over that decision. The later Von Stauffenberg plot would not be stopped by such concerns.

The Bomb Plot

About 200 conspirators were involved in 1944's famous July 20th plot. Unlike the moral concerns that motivated the one-eyed Count Claus Von Stauffenberg and von Boeselager, most conspirators acted because they felt Hitler was losing the war, a position many historians now accept. These conspirators believed that by removing Hitler, Germany would be permitted to end the war with favorable terms.

Von Boeselager provided the explosives that were packed into a suitcase, a timer was set, and the bomb brought into a bunker at Wolf's Lair, Hitler's Eastern front military headquarters, for a briefing of Hitler on July 20, 1944. Someone, possibly even Hitler, moved the suitcase behind a pillar supporting the briefing table around which he and his briefers stood.

The Plot Collapses

As a result, Hitler's injuries were minor. They may have included nerve damage that developed into Parkinson's disease. The important fact was that the injuries were not immediately threatening and the Fuhrer's survival was broadcast over German radio, forestalling the attempt by conspirators to seize power.

Von Stauffenberg and others were immediately arrested and shot. Dozens more were arrested and executed, some hung on meathooks or hung from piano wire. The much revered Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, known as the Desert Fox from his days commanding the Afrika Corps, may not actually have been a conspirator but was caught up in the purge and forced to commit an honorable suicide. Hitler's reputed favorite general was at the time commanding German forces in embattled Normandy where the Western Allies had landed less than two months before.

Von Boeselager had been standing by to lead his troops, who'd been kept in the dark, to Berlin by horseback to participate in a seizure of the Berlin government. When the plot collapsed, he expected arrest at any moment, but miraculously, despite the massive purge in Germany, his involvement escaped discovery.

Bryan Singer is director of the Tom Cruise-starrer "Valkyrie," codename for the assassination plot, for spring 2009 release.

SOURCES

Wikipedia, "Philipp Von Boeselager"

Yahoo News, "Would-Be Hitler Assassin Dies at 90," Geraldine Schwartz (AFP)