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Indian Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
The briefcase that could have changed history: Inside the July plot to kill Hitler
On July 20, 81 years ago, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg came within seconds of altering the course of history. He walked into the Wolfsschanze—or Wolf's Lair—Adolf Hitler's heavily guarded headquarters in northern Poland. From this remote location, Hitler directed Nazi Germany's brutal Eastern Front campaign. Von Stauffenberg, who had lost his right arm and one eye during the war, carried a briefcase in his left hand. He entered a high-level strategy meeting with Hitler and his closest aides, placed the briefcase under the table near the Führer, and then stepped outside, ostensibly to take a phone call. Moments later, a massive explosion ripped through the room. The briefcase contained a bomb. It was the centrepiece of what would later be known as the July Plot, an audacious attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler and broker peace with the Western Allies (the US, UK, and France) in the aftermath. The plot nearly worked. The blast killed four people and injured many others. But Hitler survived, barely just. One of his aides, Heinz Brandt, had unknowingly shifted the briefcase a few feet away from Hitler shortly before the detonation, inadvertently saving his life. Von Stauffenberg returned to Berlin and tried to initiate a military coup, but the plan collapsed. He was quickly arrested and executed, along with hundreds of others, including high-ranking officers in the German Army. Deeply shaken by the betrayal, Hitler abolished the traditional army salute, replacing it with the Nazi one. It is said he never trusted his inner circle again and became increasingly paranoid in the final months of his life, culminating in his suicide in his Berlin bunker in April 1945. Had the plot succeeded, Operation Valkyrie, as it was codenamed, could have changed the trajectory of the Second World War. The Holocaust might have ended earlier. The bombings of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki might never have happened. Eastern Europe may have been spared decades of Soviet domination. Von Stauffenberg and his fellow conspirators were driven by outrage over Nazi atrocities, including the extermination of Jews, mistreatment of prisoners of war, and the overall moral collapse of the regime. Their aim was to eliminate Hitler, end the war, and restore humanity to Germany's soul. The July Plot has inspired many books and even a Hollywood film. Valkyrie (2008), starring Tom Cruise as von Stauffenberg, dramatizes the events leading up to the assassination attempt. For a fast-paced, thriller-style account of the plot, Nigel Jones' Countdown to Valkyrie is an excellent choice. Just over 300 pages, it moves briskly from von Stauffenberg's early support of Hitler to his transformation into the 'Head, Heart and Hand of the Conspiracy.' The final chapter, detailing Hitler's brutal reprisals, is intense and emotional. For a more restrained, firsthand perspective, there is Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler by Philip Freiherr von Boeselager. Also published under the title Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler, it offers a unique insider's view, though the tone is factual rather than dramatic. Boeselager focuses mostly on his and his brother's role in the plot and their miraculous escape. He also notes von Stauffenberg's doubts about whether killing Hitler was still necessary, given the regime's impending collapse. At about 200 pages, the book is short but compelling for its authenticity. Assassination attempts on Hitler were not rare, and Killing Hitler: The Plots, the Assassins and the Dictator Who Cheated Death by Roger Moorhouse tells the full story. The book opens with Maurice Bavaud, a university student who tried three times to kill Hitler before being executed. It then recounts Georg Elser's 1939 bombing in a Munich beer hall that nearly succeeded. Elser's plot killed three and injured many, but Hitler had left the venue early. He blamed British intelligence, although Elser acted alone. The near-miss only reinforced Hitler's belief in his own invincibility and divine protection. The July Plot features in just one of eight chapters, but Moorhouse's account is deeply impactful. It illustrates how even Hitler's own followers, alarmed by military defeats and the advance of Soviet forces, eventually turned against him. Moorhouse's book ends with perhaps the most ironic assassination attempt of all: one allegedly planned by Albert Speer, Hitler's close associate and later author of Inside the Third Reich. Speer, disillusioned by the Führer, later wrote: 'I, who had once wanted nothing more than to be Hitler's master builder… was thinking how to obtain poison gas to destroy the man.' While Speer's plan never materialised, Killing Hitler remains one of the most comprehensive studies of Hitler's would-be assassins—and the myth of his survival. For readers who prefer something shorter, Richard Dargie's The Plots to Kill Hitler: The Men and Women Who Tried to Change History is a neatly packaged, 200-page summary of over two dozen attempts on Hitler's life, including the July Plot. For a more dramatic and selective take, Herbert Molloy Mason's To Kill Hitler: Plots on the Führer's Life delivers a gripping narrative. Though it lacks the depth of Moorhouse's work, Mason's book builds up to the July Plot with graphic, intense detail. At 270 pages, it's a fast and riveting read, but not for the faint of heart, especially when describing Hitler's savage retribution. Just like after Elser's failed attempt in 1939, Hitler saw his survival of the July Plot as confirmation of his destiny. 'It is a sign of Providence that I must, and therefore shall, continue my work,' he declared. Little did he know, he had less than a year to live. But even in the final months, Hitler clung to the illusion of control. Ultimately, he would die by his own hand, according to most historical accounts. Hitler had a way of escaping death. But history might have taken a dramatically different path had a briefcase been left just a little closer to him on July 20, 1944.
The Hill
11-07-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Germany promised to double defense spending — now it must deliver
During the final two decades of the Cold War, many observers considered the West German military, the Bundeswehr, to be the most capable land force among the European NATO allies. Highly professional and extremely well trained, the German land forces, like the entire German military, benefitted from defense expenditures that by 1988 amounted to more than 3 percent of the country's GDP. And with an economy that was the largest in western Europe, West German defense spending was greater than that of all other NATO members, apart from the U.S., the U.K. and Turkey. The end of the Cold War resulted in a precipitous decline in defense expenditures on the part of a now-united Germany. Faced with the need to integrate the population of the former East Germany into its extremely generous welfare system, and with no clear threat to its security, Berlin's spending dropped below 2 percent in 1992 and continued to fall until it reached a low of 1.07 percent in 2005. The following year, at its Riga summit, NATO formally agreed that member states would commit to spending 2 percent of GDP on defense. German spending rose that year — but only to 1.2 percent. The paucity of German spending on defense manifested itself in the increasingly poor state of German military readiness. By 2010, the German Army's once-vaunted Leopard tanks were suffering from low availability, as significant numbers were in storage or maintenance. The Air Force's Tornado and Eurofighter aircraft were suffering from shortages of spare parts. The German fleet was aging, with few replacements and limited deployments. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates likely had Germany in mind when in 2011 he told his NATO colleagues that 'if current trends in the decline of European defense capabilities are not halted and reversed, future U.S. political leaders — those for whom the Cold War was not the formative experience that it was for me — may not consider the return on America's investment in NATO worth the cost.' Even Russia's seizure and annexation of Crimea in 2014, and NATO's reaffirmation of its 2 percent goal at the Wales summit that year, hardly made an impression on German defense spending. Indeed, it took five more years for defense spending to rise to just slightly above 1.25 percent. Only after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 did the trajectory of German spending begin to change. Five days after the Russian invasion, German Chancellor Olof Scholz — in what came to be called his 'Zeitenwende' or 'turning point' speech to the Bundestag — announced that his government would 'set up a special fund for the Bundeswehr' with 'a one-off sum of 100 billion euro for the fund. We will use this money for necessary investments and armament projects.' He added that 'we will now — year after year — invest more than 2 percent of our gross domestic product in our defense.' Germany indeed hit the 2 percent mark early in 2024 and it will reach 2.4 percent this year. Scholz's successor, Friedrich Merz, elected in May after the Scholz government was defeated in the December 2024 election, announced an even sharper jump in German defense spending, thanks to a constitutional reform that will allow government borrowing above the previous rate of 0.35 percent of GDP. Three weeks ago, Merz committed Germany to more than double its defense spending by 2029, thereby reaching NATO's new target of 3.5 percent of GDP ahead of almost all the other European NATO allies. Merz's initiative is certainly welcome, but it is not clear that he will be able to follow through on his promises. The German public remains deeply concerned about Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine, and thus far does not appear to have responded negatively to the government's plans. Nevertheless, even with less restrictive constraints on government borrowing, Merz may find it difficult to maintain the generous social welfare regime that Germans have benefitted from for decades. Any cutbacks or modification of those benefits could spur a popular backlash against the planned defense increases. Moreover, the fact that Germany is expected to continue to purchase U.S. defense products — currently totaling at least $15 billion — at a time when America is extremely unpopular throughout western Europe may intensify that backlash. Whether the fledgling Merz government will have the fortitude to withstand popular pressure over the next several years is an open question. Hopefully it will, because Germany, once NATO's fulcrum in central Europe, will remain critical to the credibility of the alliance's deterrent against a Russia whose appetite for swallowing up its neighbors continues to appear insatiable. Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy undersecretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.
New York Times
26-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Germany Wants Recruits. But ‘No One Wants Their Children in the Army.'
On a rain-soaked morning in late May, dozens of parents gathered on the outskirts of Rüthen, a small town in western Germany, to watch their children race go-karts around a slalom track. Behind them, flanked by two olive-drab supply trucks, stood a contingent of recruiters from the German Army. In between races, the children climbed around the vehicles, followed by recruiters eagerly gauging their interest in one day joining their ranks. The children smiled. Many parents did not. 'I think it's terrible that they advertise to kids,' said Manuel Fleigner, a civil servant. 'No one wants their children in the army.' Germany has long sought to extinguish the militarism that fueled its calamitous history during World War II. But now, facing a growing threat from Russia and the prospect of reduced American support, the government is desperate to change that. It is finding the challenge formidable. In a survey in June by the Forsa Institute, only 17 percent of Germans said they would defend their country if attacked. 'Younger people don't really see the purpose of why they should put their lives at risk for Germany,' said Aylin Matlé, a fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
NBC Sports
25-06-2025
- Health
- NBC Sports
Victoria Carl, No. 2-ranked cross-country skier, says cough syrup error caused positive test
German Victoria Carl, the second-ranked female cross-country skier this past World Cup season, says she tested positive for a banned substance after the World Cup season due to being given the wrong cough syrup. Carl, 29, tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol in an out-of-competition test some time after she competed at the CISM Winter Military World Games in Switzerland in late March, according to the German Ski Association (DSV). Clenbuterol was an ingredient in a cough syrup that was prescribed and administered to Carl by a German Army doctor to treat acute spastic bronchitis on March 26, according to the DSV. But a different cough syrup — without clenbuterol — was originally ordered. A pharmacy mistakenly delivered the wrong cough syrup. No other medication was available at the time of Carl's acute illness, according to the DSV. 'The attending military doctor administered the drug under great time pressure, but failed to point out the doping-relevant ingredient or to submit an emergency application for a therapeutic exemption,' according to a translation of the DSV release. Athletes can apply for a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) to use medication with a banned substance. A TUE 'will not afford you a competitive advantage, but rather ensure you can compete in a proper state of health,' according to the World Anti-Doping Agency. When being drug tested, athletes are required to list medications they've taken in the past seven days. Carl said she listed the cough syrup she took, not knowing at the time that it contained a banned substance. 'I was ill, had severe coughing fits, and took the medication on medical advice,' she said in the release. 'I disclosed everything — I was unaware that it contained a prohibited substance. I very much hope that the circumstances will be understood and fairly assessed.' The case is now in the hands of a national anti-doping agency. The DSV hopes that Carl does not receive a ban, saying she is an 'innocent athlete.' In 2022, Carl won Olympic team sprint gold and relay silver medals. This past season, she placed second to American Jessie Diggins in the World Cup overall standings, taking into account results across short- and long-distance races and in the classic and freestyle techniques. Carl made four individual race podiums, all second- and third-place finishes. The World Cup season ended March 23.
Washington Post
25-06-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
German cross-country skier and Olympic champion Victoria Carl fails doping test
BERLIN — German cross-country skier Victoria Carl has tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol, the German skiing association said Wednesday. The 29-year-old Carl, who won gold in the cross-country team sprint alongside Katharina Henning at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, failed the test after her final race at the Military World Games in March. She also finished second in the overall World Cup standings last season. The skiing association, known by its German acronym DSV, said Carl's positive test for clenbuterol arose after she was given the wrong cough syrup to treat acute spastic bronchitis by a German army doctor. 'This is a regrettable isolated incident that arose from an unfortunate combination of organizational and medical circumstances – not from any intent to deceive the athlete,' the DSV said. The DSV published a statement from the German army's medical service saying the skier was erroneously given the combination drug Spasmo Mucosolvan containing ambroxol and clenbuterol instead of Mucosolvan containing just ambroxol. Germany's National Anti-Doping Agency has initiated proceedings. The DSV and German army said they're hoping for the athlete's 'complete acquittal.' The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games open on Feb. 6. ___ AP skiing:
