Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Number of Assassination Attempts on Hitler

This is one of those historical essay pieces I write, where I go over a unique period of German history.

There are roughly 23 different attempts (yes, statistically speaking, he had a run of luck).

The first attempt?  This might not be qualified to be an assassination attempt....the Beer Hall Putsch on 8 November 1923....was an event where the Nazi 'players' confronted the police, and shots were fired.  Sixteen Nazis were dead, along with four Bavarian policemen.  Hitler?  Wounded.  Some reports of the confrontation suggest that several of the people around him....took the shots, and were dead.

If you go over the Beer Hall Putsch description (taking roughly two entire days), there's a lot of confusion....lot of shifting alliances....and differing opinions on who shot who.

After this event, the next one often mentioned is a suspected poisoning episode at the Hotel Kaiserhof (Berlin), where a large group of the Nazis there....suddenly took ill after eating.  It's never been proven to be a poisoning and some folks have suggested that it was plain simple contaminated food.

One of the more interesting attempts occurred on 9 November 1938....where a Swiss Christian enthusiast (in a theology school) reach some level of planning, and had a fairly detailed plan to shoot Hitler, who was attending a parade in Munich.  This failed mostly because of the large crowd in place, and the view never gave him the chance to fire the weapon.  This guy....Maurice Bavaud....left Munich and was figuring to be 'safe' but on the train to Paris.....some conductor came to enough evidence (the weapon) to call the cops. 

The odds of surviving twenty-three attempts?  This is one of the curious details from WW II which you go over in your mind and question the amount of luck involved. 

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