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Oster conspiracy

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TheOster Conspiracy(German:Septemberverschwörung,lit. 'September Conspiracy'), also called theSeptember Conspiracy,of 1938 was a proposed plan to overthrow GermanFührerAdolf Hitlerand theNazi regimeif Germany went to war withCzechoslovakiaover theSudetenland.It was led byGeneralmajorHans Oster,deputy head of theAbwehr,and other high-ranking conservatives within theWehrmachtwho opposed the regime for behavior that was threatening to bring Germany into a war that they believed it was not ready to fight.[1]They planned to overthrow Hitler and the Nazi regime through a storming of theReich Chancelleryby forces loyal to the plot to take control of the government, who would either arrest or assassinate Hitler, and restore the Monarchy underPrince Wilhelm of Prussia,the grandson ofWilhelm II.

Hans Oster in 1939

Background

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The plot was organised and developed by thenOberstleutnantHans Osterand MajorHelmuth Groscurthof theAbwehr.[2]They drew into the conspiracy such people asGeneraloberstLudwig Beck,GeneralWilhelm Adam,[3]GeneraloberstWalther von Brauchitsch,GeneraloberstFranz Halder,AdmiralWilhelm Canaris,andGeneralleutnantErwin von Witzleben.The working plan was for CountHans-Jürgen von Blumenthalto lead a storm party into the Reich Chancellery and kill Hitler. It would then be necessary to neutralize the Nazi Party apparatus in order to stop them from proceeding with the invasion ofCzechoslovakia,which they believed would lead to a war that would ruin Germany.[4]

In addition to these military figures, the conspirators also had contact with Secretary of StateErnst von Weizsäckerand the diplomats Theodor Kordt,Erich KordtandHans Bernd Gisevius.Theodor Kordt was considered a vital contact with the British on whom the success of the plot depended; the conspirators needed strong British opposition to Hitler's seizure of the Sudetenland. However,Neville Chamberlain,apprehensive of the possibility of war, negotiated at length with Hitler andeventually concededstrategic areas of Czechoslovakia to him. Poland also invaded Czechoslovakia on 1 October 1938. This destroyed any chance of the plot succeeding, as Hitler was then seen in Germany as the "greatest statesman of all times at the moment of his greatest triumph", and the immediate risk of war had been neutralized.[2]

Participants[5]

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The Conspirators

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The Nazis

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The British

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Others

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Aftermath

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The plotters survived to become leaders ofGerman resistance to Hitler and Nazismduring theSecond World War.Oster himself was on active duty until 1943, when placed under house arrest after other Abwehr officers were caught helping Jews to escape Germany.[6]He and Canaris were executed by hanging inFlossenbürg concentration campon 9 April 1945.

See also

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References

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  1. ^Jones 2009,pp. 73–74.
  2. ^abMueller 2017.
  3. ^Hans Magnus Enzensberger:Hammerstein oder Der Eigensinn. Eine deutsche Geschichte.Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp 2008,ISBN978-3-518-41960-1
  4. ^Jones 2009.
  5. ^Parssinen, Terry (2012).The Oster Conspiracy of 1938: The Unknown Story of the Military Plot to Kill Hitler and Avert World War II.Random House. pp. 20–22.ISBN1448114802.
  6. ^Thomsett, Michael (2016).The German Opposition to Hitler: The Resistance, the Underground, and Assassination Plots (1938-1945).Crux Publishing.ISBN978-1909979376.

Bibliography

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