On Nov. 8, 1939, Hitler gave his annual speech commemorating the Beer Hall Putsch at the beer hall called the Burgerbraukeller. About fifteen minutes after he left the building, a massive explosion destroyed the speaker’s platform and brought down part of the roof. 7 people were killed and 63 were wounded. The incident became known as the Burgerbraukeller Bombing. That same day, Georg Elser was arrested trying to get into Switzerland. He had incriminating evidence on him and under torture by the Gestapo, he admitted to the attempt. Although a communist, he was not motivated to change Germany to communism. He claimed he was a supporter of workers’ rights and anti-war. He hoped that by killing Hitler and the rest of the Nazi hierarchy, the Nazi Party would be moderated. Elser, a carpenter, had planned the assassination for a year. He knew Hitler’s annual speech would be his best bet. For over a month, he arrived late for dinner at the hall and then hid when the building closed. He used his carpentry skills to hollow out a column behind the speaker’s platform. He had accumulated explosives from a previous job at an armaments factory. He set the timer for 144 hours. It was to explode at 9:20 P.M., in the middle of the speech. Unfortunately, Hitler decide to move the speech up a half hour and cut it to one hour in order to get back to Berlin early. He finished at 9:07 and exited the building by 9:12. When told about his brush with death, Hitler said “A man has to be lucky” and later he attributed that luck to divine intervention. God wanted him to complete his mission. Elser was not given a trial. It would have been inconvenient since he clearly worked alone, and yet the Nazi Party had established the narrative that British intelligence had been involved. Two British agents were kidnapped in Holland to foster this belief. The two agents ended up in the same concentration camp with Elser. Elser was kept in solitary confinement for the next four years. Surprisingly, and suspiciously, he was given preferential treatment like better food, daily shaves, and trips to the brothel. However, on April 16, 1945, he was executed, leaving us to wonder why he was not executed four years earlier. And to wonder what the world would be like if he had succeeded.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hitler-survives-assassination-attempt
https://www.history.com/news/6-assassination-attempts-on-adolf-hitler
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32160816
statue of Georg Elser
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