Henning von Tresckow

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Henning Hermann Robert Karl von Tresckow (January 10, 1901 in Magdeburg – July 21, 1944 in Ostrow near Białystok, Poland) was a Major General in the German Wehrmacht who is known for organizing German resistance against Hitler.

Born into a Prussia based noble family with a long military tradition (the father, a cavalry general, had been present at Versailles in 1871), Tresckow fought as one of the youngest soldiers with the rank of Leutnant during World War I on the Western Front. In the Second Battle of the Marne, he earned the Iron Cross 1st class. At that time, commander of the 1st Infantry Guard Graf von Eulenburg predicted that "You, Tresckow, will either once become Chief of General staff, or be executed as revolutionary."

After the war, he took part in the suppression of the Spartacist movement on January 1, 1919, but resigned from the army in 1920 in order to study and pursue a career in banking. After a month long journey to Brazil and the eastern United States, he had to return for business reasons. Like many prominent Prussian families, Tresckow married into another with long standing military traditions. In 1926, he married Erika von Falkenhayn, youngest daughter of the former Commander-in-Chief, Erich von Falkenhayn, and returned to military service.

Although initially a sympathizer of National Socialism due to their opposition to the Treaty of Versailles, he condemned the 1934 Night of the Long Knives. After studies at the Kriegsakademie, he graduated as the best of the class of 1936, and was appointed to the General staff's 1st department. Studying the possible scenarios of war, he recognized the risks and weaknesses in Hitler's desire to prepare for war in 1940.

The 1938 Blomberg-Fritsch Affair alienated him (and others) from Hitler. As a result, he sought out civilians and soldiers who opposed Hitler, such as Erwin von Witzleben.

Tresckow opposed the war, but in the winter of 1939/40 he served as general staff officer under von Rundstedt and Erich von Manstein in Army Group A. From November 20, 1943, he served under Field Marshal Günther von Kluge as Chief of staff of the German Army Group Center in the Soviet Union until his death.

He planned several assassination plots against Hitler and Himmler, but all failed. On March 13, 1943 for example, he managed to smuggle two packages of explosives disguised as bottles of cognac onto Hitler's plane when the Führer visited troops on the Eastern Front. However, the fuse failed to ignite the explosives in the plane's hold, and Hitler returned safely to Berlin.

After Claus von Stauffenberg's assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler and the following coup in Berlin (July 20 Plot 1944) had failed, Tresckow decided to commit suicide near the front on 21 July. To protect others, he pretended there was a partisan attack and killed himself with a hand-grenade. He was buried in the family home in Wartenberg. When the Nazis learned about his connections in late August, his coffin was excavated and taken to the crematorium of Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Recent research, notably by Christian Gerlach of the University of Pittsburg, claims that Tresckow signed orders contributing to civilian killings by Wehrmacht troops and leading to the relocation of homeless Russian children to Nazi factories, where they faced certain death.

[edit] Quotes

• "Hitler is not only the very enemy of Germany, but the enemy of the world."
• "The assassination must be attempted at all costs. Even if it should not succeed, an attempt to seize power in Berlin must be made. What matters now is no longer the practical purpose of the coup, but to prove to the world and for the records of history that the men of the resistance dared to take the decisive step. Compared to this objective, nothing else is of consequence."
• "No one among us can complain about his death, for whoever joined our ranks put on the shirt of Nessus. A man's moral worth is established only at the point where he is ready to give up his life in defense of his convictions."
• "Hitler is a dancing dervish. One must shoot him." (1938)

[edit] See also

• July 20 Plot
• Widerstand
• Treaty of Moscow, 30/10/1943, "concerning the responsibility of the Hitler(amnesty) Followers for the committed atrocities". Since 1945 part of the UN-Charta, art. 106/107.

[edit] References

• Killing Hitler by Roger Moorhouse, (London, 2006), ISBN 0-224-07121-1
• The Rise and the Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
• Staatsstreich by Joachim Fest
• short biography with photograph at the DHM (in German)