Fabian von Schlabrendorff

Fabian von Schlabrendorff (born 1 July 1907 in Halle an der Saale; died 3 September 1980 in Wiesbaden) trained as a lawyer, later joining the German Army. As a lieutenant in the reserves, he was promoted to adjutant to Colonel Henning von Tresckow, a major leader in the resistance against Adolf Hitler. He joined the resistance and acted as a secret liaison between Tresckow in Russia and Ludwig Beck, Carl Goerdeler, Hans Oster, and Friedrich Olbricht in Berlin, taking part in various coup d'état plans and attempts. Image File history File links Fabian_von_Schlabrendorff. ... Image File history File links Fabian_von_Schlabrendorff. ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Halle (also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish from Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia) is the largest town in the German Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. ... September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years). ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Wiesbaden is a city in central Germany. ... Army The German Army (German: Heer ) is the land component of the Bundeswehr (Federal Defence Forces) of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Henning von Tresckow (January 10, 1901 – July 21, 1944) was a Major General in the German Wehrmacht. ... Widerstand (German: resistance) is the name given to the resistance movements in Nazi Germany. ... Hitler redirects here. ... Ludwig Beck General Ludwig Beck (June 29, 1880- July 21, 1944) was Chief of Staff of the German Armed forces during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II. Born in Biebrich in the Rhineland, he was educated in the conservative Prussian military tradition. ... Carl Friedrich Goerdeler Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (July 31, 1884 _ February 2, 1945) was a conservative German politician and opponent of the Nazi regime. ... Hans Oster (August 9, 1887 – April 9, 1945) was a career officer in the Wehrmacht and a dedicated opponent of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. ... General Friedrich Olbricht Friedrich Olbricht (born 4 October 1888 in Leisnig, Saxony; died 21 July 1944 in Berlin) was a German general and one of the plotters involved in the attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolfs Lair in East Prussia on 20 July 1944. ... For other uses, see Berlin (disambiguation). ... A coup détat (pronounced ), or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government through unconstitutional means by a part of the state establishment that mostly replaces just the top power figures. ...

On March 13, 1943, during a visit by Adolf Hitler to Army Group Center Headquarters in Smolensk, Schlabrendorff smuggled a time bomb, disguised as bottles of cognac, onto an aircraft meant to carry Hitler back to Germany. The bomb's failure to detonate, owing to the extreme cold in the aircraft's cargo space, led to Schlabrendorff's arrest on July 20, 1944. Schlabrendorff was sent to Gestapo prison where he was tortured, but refused to talk. While imprisoned he met fellow imprisoned co-conspirators Wilhelm Canaris, Hans Oster, Ulrich von Hassell, Johannes Popitz, Carl Goerdeler, Wolfgang Mueller, and Alexander von Falkenhausen. Hitler redirects here. ... A view of Smolensk in 1912 Smolensk (Russian: ) is a city in western Russia, located on the Dnieper River at 54. ... The Deaths Head emblem similar to Skull and crossbones, often used as the insignia of the Gestapo The (contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei; secret state police) was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. ... Torture is any act by which severe discomfort, whether physical pain or psychological pressure, is intentionally inflicted on a person as a means of intimidation, a deterrent, revenge, a punishment, or as a method for the extraction of information or confessions (i. ... Wilhelm Canaris Wilhelm Franz Canaris (January 1, 1887 in Aplerbeck near Dortmund – April 9, 1945 at Flossenbürg concentration camp) was head of the German military intelligence service, the Abwehr, for much of World War II. He was born in Aplerbeck, in Westphalia. ... Hans Oster (August 9, 1887 – April 9, 1945) was a career officer in the Wehrmacht and a dedicated opponent of Adolf Hitler and Nazism. ... Ulrich von Hassell Ulrich von Hassell (born 12 November 1881 in Anklam; died 8 September 1944 in Berlin [executed]) was a German diplomat and an opponent of the Third Reich involved in the July 20 plot. ... Johannes Popitz Johannes Popitz (born 2 December 1884 in Leipzig; died 2 February 1945 in Berlin) was a Prussian finance minister and an opponent of the Third Reich. ... Carl Friedrich Goerdeler Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (July 31, 1884 _ February 2, 1945) was a conservative German politician and opponent of the Nazi regime. ... Alexander von Falkenhausen (October 29, 1878 - July 31, 1966) was the head of the military government of Belgium during the German occupation, from 1940 until 1944 in the Second World War. ...

In February 1945, Schlabrendorff stood before the infamous Volksgerichtshof (People's Court) awaiting his trial, but the courtroom took a direct hit from a bomb during an American air raid, killing Judge Roland Freisler, who was discovered dead and still clutching Schlabrendorff's file. This raid saved Schlabrendorff's life, for Freisler was not one to show any clemency. The Volksgerichtshof (German for Peoples Court) was a court established by Hitler after the Reichstag fire to handle those accused of political criminal offences, such as treason. ... Roland Freisler (October 30, 1893 - February 3, 1945) was a prominent Nazi. ...

Nevertheless, between February and May 1945 Schlabrendorff was moved from one concentration camp to another: Sachsenhausen, Flossenbürg, Dachau, Innsbruck. He was eventually liberated by U.S. forces in early May 1945. Arbeit Macht Frei gate Sachsenhausen was a concentration camp in Germany, operating between 1936 and 1950. ... Flossenbürg concentration camp was a German prison built in 1938 at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria. ... The camp was constructed in a disused gunpowder factory and was completed on March 21, 1933. ... Innsbruck is a city in western Austria, and the capital of the federal state of Tyrol. ...

After the war Schlabrendorff was a judge of the Constitutional Court of West Germany from 1967 to 1975. Fabian von Schlabrendorff died in 1980. The Federal Constitutional Court (in German: Bundesverfassungsgericht, BVerfG) is a special court established by the German Constitution, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). ...

Books

• Fabian Von Schlabrendorff, Hilda Simon. The Secret War Against Hitler (Der Widerstand : Dissent and Resistance in the Third Reich), Westview Press, September, 1994. ISBN 0813321905

• Roger Moorhouse. Killing Hitler, Jonathan Cape, 2006. ISBN 0224071211

• Roger Manvell. The Conspirators: 20th July 1944, Pan Macmillan, 1972. ISBN 0345097297