The Canaris Conspiracy: the Secret Resistance to Hitler in the German Army

Description

Front Cover; Half-Title Page; Title Page; Copyright Page; Contents; Acknowledgments; The Principals; Service Abbreviations and Ranks; Introduction; Was it Resistance?; Patriots or Traitors: Morality of a Coup d'État; The Opposition Leaders and the Gestapo; Special Problems of Resistance in Nazi Germany; Part One; I. Focal Point for Conspiracy; The First Alliance: Canaris and Oster; Hans Oster; Canaris's Relations with the S.S.; Beck and his Resistance Associates; 1938: the Fritsch Affair; The Widening Circle; II. Fiasco in 1938; Beck acts against Hitler; Hans von Dohnanyi;July 20, 1944. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg carried a time bomb in a briefcase into a conference with Adolf Hitler. After wedging the briefcase directly in front of Hitler under a table, Stauffenberg took his leave. Only ill luck and divine providence could have caused what happened next; a junior staffer accidentally kicked the case, moving it further from Hitler. When the bomb exploded, four died, but none was the megalomaniacal FUhrer. Men from all walks of German life-the army, Military Intelligence, civilian life-came together at great personal risk to conspire over a span of six years to save their beloved Germany from the clutches of a madman and halt a further descent into war. This is the incredible documented account of their work and collaboration with "Department Z," the twenty-four individuals who operated under the leadership of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris to secretly engineer this intricate scheme to kill Adolf Hitler and take over the Third Reich. Only by a matter of minutes and inches did these courageous men fail in their daring plot, changing the course of history. Meet the conspirators and learn the plots behind The Canaris Conspiracy, a near-continuous web of planning and frustrated action which came nearer to achieving the longed-for coup d'Etat than anyone realizes. Front Cover Half-Title Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgments The Principals Service Abbreviations and Ranks Introduction Was it Resistance? Patriots or Traitors: Morality of a Coup d'État The Opposition Leaders and the Gestapo Special Problems of Resistance in Nazi Germany Part One I. Focal Point for Conspiracy The First Alliance: Canaris and Oster Hans Oster Canaris's Relations with the S.S. Beck and his Resistance Associates 1938: the Fritsch Affair The Widening Circle II. Fiasco in 1938 Beck acts against Hitler Hans von Dohnanyi Kleist's Mission to LondonThe September Conspiracy III. Anti-War Effort After Munich: Schlabrendorff joins the Resistance Warnings to Britain: Churchill and the Resistance Last Peace Efforts Part Two I. Treason Becomes Duty Canaris and the Fall of Poland The Abwehr in Wartime: Dohnanyi joins Canaris Renewed Activity: Oster and Halder Müller Undertakes Operation X Hassell Intervenes Oster's "Treason" II. The Abwehr Network Summer 1940: Canaris's Tactics Royalist Interests Russia and the Expanding Front: Canaris East and West Canaris Recruits the Anti-Nazis Relations with the S.S. Initial Plans for the Coup d'État: Coordinating the Resistance The Communist "Red Band" Exposed III. The Schmidhuber Affair Roeder Probes the Abwehr The Independent Resistance: Hans and Sophie Scholl The Situation in 1943 Bomb Plot 1943 Roeder's Pressure on the Abwehr The First Arrests Part Three I. The Desperate Years In Prison Canaris's Countermeasures: the Defense of Dohnanyi The Resistance at Bay Coup d'État Plans Revived: the Suicide Missions The Tightening Net: Canaris Dismissed The Resistance Realigned: Stauffenberg and the 1944 Bomb Plot II. After 20 JulyThe Resistance Archives: Gestapo Finds and Losses Canaris in Prison: Arrests, Interrogations, Torture In Freisler's Court Tactics of Goerdeler and Canaris Dohnanyi's Letter to his Wife The Final Weeks: Dohnanyi's Indictment and Execution "Court Martial" at Flossenbürg: Canaris, Oster and Bonhoeffer Executed Notes Chronology of Events Appendix: The Escape of Canaris, 1916 Selected Book-List Index