Today is the 62nd anniversary of the assassination attempt on Adolph Hitler.
A cabal of officers, led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, attempted to kill Hitler and other top Nazi officials with a bomb detonated in a combat headquarters. Hitler escaped, bloodied and dazed, and the coup d'etat fizzled largely due to the lethargic pace of the plotters. Only Stauffenberg seemed to really understand the need for urgency. In the end, a number of Hitler's opponents were executed for treason.
The German government held ceremonies honouring the conspirators, and several of the news sites mentioned the anniversary. The response on the Fox News web site had an interesting closing sentence: "Even now, historians still argue about their motives and — given their conservative views and early support for Hitler — their commitment to democracy." (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,204638,00.html)
I am not sure what point Fox News is trying to make. Is Fox implying that the only good assassin is a democratic assassin? Had they succeeded, would we look down upon them as traitors and ingrates because they preferred government by Kaiser over government by Fuhrer? Was it not enough that a group of men finally decided that enough was enough and that Hitler had to be stopped?
I have read enough about the resistance to Hitler to know that the July plotters were reactionary and even unrealistic in what they hoped to achieve. (For instance, they hoped to negotiate a return to Germany's pre-war borders.) However, they would have been disabused of their illusions had they replaced Hitler and his cronies.
I say we should forget about their politics. They saw that an evil had to be addressed and they did it. Whether they considered it evil because it was an abomination against God and Kaiser, or whether they thought it was a crime against the proletariat, they decided to act.
They decided to act, when so many millions decided to keep quiet. That, my friends, is worth celebrating.
