The Great Anti-Hitler Plot
DALLIN, ALEXANDER
The Great Anti-Hitler Plot 20 July. By Constantine FitzGibbon. Norton. 285 pp. $3.75. Reviewed by Alexander Dallin Director, War Documentation Project; contributor, N. Y. "Times Magazine" Few...
...it is going decidedly too far to shift a major part of the blame for the plot's failure onto Allied shoulders-a shift, incidentally, bound to be picked up by German politicians seeking scapegoats for past failures...
...The Prussian junkers turn out to "resemble closely" the Anglo-Irish...
...In this light, the German Republic that preceded Hitler becomes not only "inefficient" and "imperfect" (which it was) but "unworthy" (of whom...
...At the same time, buried in his account are points well worth making...
...Undoubtedly, skepticism as to its genuineness and hostility to the German military as a group were pronounced in responsible (and irresponsible) Western quarters, and the "unconditional surrender" approach has long since been recognized as an error of judgment and naivete of the first order...
...Hitler's field headquarters at Viunista is mysteriously moved "near Smolensk...
...Such an approach might fruitfully have been explored further...
...The plotters were avowedly a small minority representing a socially limited stratum...
...The basic reason given for the plot's failure -Hitler was not killed, and the few strategically placed conspirators in Berlin waited too long before swinging into action-is sound but scarcely exhaustive...
...The Baltic Germans are the "embattled outpost of European civilization...
...A favorite thesis of the author is that the Western Allies did not want an anti-Hitler coup and in fact helped sabotage it...
...FitzGibbon's critique of Gisevius is often sound, though its tone and style come close to being vicious, not to say libelous...
...The entire relationship of the resistance movement to the masses or even the armed forces is nowhere discussed...
...Indeed, FitzGibbon's endorsement of this orientation leads him so far as to approve the anti-Weimar attitude of the conspiracy's right wing...
...If not, it would be important to know what evidence there is that "the Russians had no qualms about talking to the conspirators and were prepared to promise almost anything" in order to secure their collaboration in advance...
...contributor, N. Y. "Times Magazine" Few events in recent history have invited so much historical research as the plot which culminated in the abortive attempt to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944...
...In one instance, the author has what would seem to be a new piece of information, but on second thought it appears to be but a bit of vivid writing...
...FitzGibbon, who candidly states that "I am not a historian [and] therefore there is very little in this book that will be new to the expert"-or, for that matter, to the well-informed layman...
...It is regrettable that the author did not address himself to some questions whose answers might have made a worthwhile contribution to the problem of the 20th of July...
...This is true of Mr...
...The group around Goerdeler is described as "an excellent nucleus for a post-Nazi government"-a most debatable thesis in view of the reactionary, though distinctly anti-Hitler, views of many in this faction...
...Indeed, according to the author, the Circle is "comparable to the group of men around Erasmus and St...
...In FitzGibbon's words, its sires were "decent, God-fearing men," principled anti-Nazis...
...Short of producing strikingly novel documentation or at least an intriguing hypothesis, any writer venturing into the much-inspected wreckage labors under the handicap of being a johnny-come-lately, however readable or sound his account...
...and some of the rebels were hence well justified in piously rejecting "statistical [?], centralized democracy...
...The debate over the importance of the attempted coup will probably not cease so long as historians and especially politicians concern themselves with the strange rebellion...
...Far more serious than such lapses, however, is an apparent failure to assess properly the protagonists of the 20th of July...
...Generally it is not the facts but the author's judgment that must be called into question...
...His knowledge of German affairs deserves a somewhat lower rating...
...A few interviews of his own do not seem to have revealed anything new, while his sources are difficult to identify since he has "dispensed with footnotes, [which are usually] more of a hindrance than a help...
...Unfortunately, the author has limited himself to telling a fairly well known story that leaves one wondering whether his labors-undoubtedly substantial and sincere-were worthwhile...
...The discussion of the rebels' failure to seize control of radio and signal stations reflects the author's awareness-and the rebels' lack of awareness-of modern mass communications...
...Thomas More...
...The British are described as having been "frequently more humane" than the United Stales during the forced repatriation of 1945-46-a statement unfortunately not borne out by the facts...
...Among the author's pet dislikes is Hans-Bernd Gisevius, author of To the Bitter End and himself an ex-member of the German resistance...
...FitzGibbon, a novelist, is capable of writing clearly and simply...
...Even the other and distinctly more liberal focus of dissident thought, the so-called Kreisau Circle (which indeed included men of good will and moral stature), is raised in FitzGibbon's account to the level of "a cross-section of what should have been the German ruling class"-a peculiar approach and a dubious judgment...
...Stauffenberg before World War I is described as "perhaps" not yet having heard of Hitler...
...The Rote Kapelle, an espionage ring of various elements working for the Soviets, becomes a CP underground...
...What alternatives were there to their isolation-political, moral, temperamental-from the rank-and-file of the German people...
...Equally important, the impact of military defeat, rather than a direct ideological opposition to Nazism, is scarcely recognized as at least one major motivation of the revolt...
...The author draws frankly and liberally on John Wheeler-Bennett's Nemesis of Power, Eberhard Zeller's Geist der Freiheit, and Gerhard Ritter's biography of Carl Goerdeler...
...The examples of the anti-Mussolini coup of July 1943, Germany's 20th of July, and perhaps Argentina's recent upheaval all point to a standard pattern in the composition of the inchoate coalition that can successfully challenge a contemporary authoritarian regime: elements close to, but not entirely identified with, the apex of the system, and including military commanders as well as independent intellectuals...
...Mr...
...But, whatever the verdict, it is surely an exaggeration to call the attempt "the most remarkable incident of our generation...
Vol. 39 • March 1956 • No. 11
