Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Just 284 days after Operation Valkyrie--the failed July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler and seize control of the German government--both the Third Reich and Hitler came to a violent end. If Stalingrad was the turning point for the German military, Valkyrie was the critical juncture for German society. Hitler promised a classless fatherland before he became chancellor and had covertly been liquidating Germany's elite officer corps long before Stalingrad. After the assassination attempt he accelerated the purge to include the nobility and civilian leaders who opposed him. Intelligence regarding the coup attempt was closely guarded and its investigation remained the Gestapo's top priority even as the Red Army approached Berlin. Today it is possible to reconstruct and connect important events and biographies of the principle characters to tell the story of the disappearance of Germany's officer class, its nobility and for a time, its civilian leadership.
Synopsis
After Operation Valkyrie--the failed July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and seize control of the German government--both the Third Reich and Hitler came to a violent end. Hitler promised a classless fatherland before he became chancellor and had covertly been liquidating Germany's elite officer corps long before Stalingrad. Today it is possible to reconstruct and connect important events and biographies of the principle characters to chronicle the disappearance of Germany's officer class, its nobility and, for a time, its civilian leadership.