20th July Plotters- where were they held prior to execution
20th July Plotters- where were they held prior to execution
In particular I wondered where Erwin von Witzleben was held from his arrest on 21.07.1944 to his trial on 07.08.1944. Would it have been in Gestapo Headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse or maybe in Plötzensee Prison?
I've searched the forum but could not find the answer.
Many thanks
I've searched the forum but could not find the answer.
Many thanks
Re: 20th July Plotters- where were they held prior to execution
Gestapo Headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse !They had tortured him with thorn screws, Spanish boots, and stretching board. He had lost 30 pounds while in custody.
Re: 20th July Plotters- where were they held prior to execution
I very much doubt whether Erwin von Witzleben was tortured. For the simple reason he had nothing to tell them as he was just a part of the military clique involved who were also arrested or shot like Stauffenberg.
The short-lived investigation into the military side was under SS-Oberf. Georg Klein:
21 July 1944, the days after the explosion at Wolfsschanze, Amtschef RSHA IV immediately set up a Sonderkommission 20.Juli.
SS-Obf und Oberst der Polizei Klein - Leiter, 10.Gruppe: Feldmarschälle und hohe militärische Ränge
Klein was posted elsewhere in Sept 1944 and Gruppe 10 dissolved. Why? - the small number of Field Marshals and senior military officers involved.
The short-lived investigation into the military side was under SS-Oberf. Georg Klein:
21 July 1944, the days after the explosion at Wolfsschanze, Amtschef RSHA IV immediately set up a Sonderkommission 20.Juli.
SS-Obf und Oberst der Polizei Klein - Leiter, 10.Gruppe: Feldmarschälle und hohe militärische Ränge
Klein was posted elsewhere in Sept 1944 and Gruppe 10 dissolved. Why? - the small number of Field Marshals and senior military officers involved.
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Re: 20th July Plotters- where were they held prior to execution
Similar to what Steve says above, I don't know if many of the conspirators were actually tortured.
For sure, they were humiliated and probably endured many unpleasant hours of intense interrogation. Their families were threatened with execution or imprisonment.
This might have been enough motivation for most of the conspirators to confess and provide the names of others. Desperate people will do whatever it takes to save their loved ones.
The evidence against some was found in the form of letters, diaries and documents in their possession.
Others were arrested in situ at the Benderblock on the evening of 20 July.
An example here from Peter Yorck von Wartenburg who was both arrested at the Benderblock and then found to have written this:
What more evidence was needed? His presence at the scene and his own words condemned him. Torture was unecessary.
Field Marshal von Witzleben, Hoeper, and the others all look to be in reasonably good physical health at their trials.
In answer to the original question, this letter below was written by the aforementioned Peter Yorck von Wartenburg to his family:
Would it be reasonable to assume all the defendants would be held together in the same prison?
For sure, they were humiliated and probably endured many unpleasant hours of intense interrogation. Their families were threatened with execution or imprisonment.
This might have been enough motivation for most of the conspirators to confess and provide the names of others. Desperate people will do whatever it takes to save their loved ones.
The evidence against some was found in the form of letters, diaries and documents in their possession.
Others were arrested in situ at the Benderblock on the evening of 20 July.
An example here from Peter Yorck von Wartenburg who was both arrested at the Benderblock and then found to have written this:
If we imagine that we are something like an elite, or that we have a leadership role, then we have failed, namely towards the common man, the worker, because otherwise the Third Reich should not have happened. We have a debt to make up for the German workers, so we have to get rid of this regime.
What more evidence was needed? His presence at the scene and his own words condemned him. Torture was unecessary.
Field Marshal von Witzleben, Hoeper, and the others all look to be in reasonably good physical health at their trials.
In answer to the original question, this letter below was written by the aforementioned Peter Yorck von Wartenburg to his family:
It is written and signed 7 August 1944 in Plötzensee Prison, the evening before his trial.
Dearly beloved child of my heart, we are probably standing at the end of our beautiful and rich life together. Because tomorrow the People's Court intends to stand in judgment on me and others. I hear that we have been expelled from the army. They can take the uniform from us, but not the spirit in which we acted. And in that I feel united our fathers and brothers and comrades. The fact that God ordained what has happened is part of his fathomless decrees, which I humbly accept. I believe myself to be pure in heart, yet driven by the feeling of guilt that weighs on all of us. I therefore confidently hope that I find a merciful judge in God.
Would it be reasonable to assume all the defendants would be held together in the same prison?
Re: 20th July Plotters- where were they held prior to execution
According to a notice board in the grounds of the former Zellengefängnis Lehrter Straße, the conspirators were held there. Exberliner gives a figure of sixteen in that prison:
https://www.exberliner.com/moabit%E2%80 ... st-wanted/
https://www.exberliner.com/moabit%E2%80 ... st-wanted/
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Kein Irrtum ist so groß, der nicht seinen Zuhörer hat.
Re: 20th July Plotters- where were they held prior to execution
Simply horrible, this disrespect for the victims of that time is simply unspeakable.Gestapo Headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse !They had tortured him with thorn screws, Spanish boots, and stretching board. He had lost 30 pounds while in custody.
Hans
The paradise of the successful lends itself perfectly to a hell for the unsuccessful. (Bertold Brecht on Hollywood)