Many people believe that no one has tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler. However, despite other’s knowledge, there were several attempts. It was just surprisingly difficult to kill the Nazi Leader.
Here are some of the strangest, most mad-driven, and closest attempts to take out Adolf Hitler.
Rudolf von Gersdorff Brings A Bomb Near Hitler
Nazi General Rudolf-Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorf offered himself, prepared to die if it meant the world without Adolf Hitler.
On March 15, 1943, Hitler was planned to attend the Berlin Opening, alongside Göring and Himmler. Gerstoff loaded his coat pockets with explosives schedule to blow up 10 minutes after switching off the fuse and attended the event. His plan was to kill the 3 most powerful men in the Nazi Party in a single blast, but Hitler was hours late.
When he arrived, it was announced that Hitler will only stay for 8 minutes. Therefore, if Gerstorff sets off the fuse, it would be 2 minutes late and Hitler would have been already gone.
Gerstoff was able to escape the event with pockets of explosives in his coat.
The Hans Oster Conspiracy
German Military Intelligence Office Head Hans Oster’s 1938 plan had two goals: Take out Hitler and remove the whole Nazi Party.
Hitler wanted to control Czechoslovakia, a threat Oster was sure would force Germany to star a war. His plan was to stop it through a coup d’etat, along with 60 officers. He would arrest Hitler and take him out in some way. Surprisingly, the Munich Agreement allowed Germany seize Czechoslovakia peacefully and the coup d’etat never happened. The team fell apart, believing a war was never going to happen.
But by the time it did, they were already broken to stop it.
The British Injected Estrogen into His Food
Not all assassinations’ goal is to kill Hitler. Some were just to kill his persona, but they were as scandalous as the plans to assassinate Hitler.
One example was Britain’s plan to feed Hitler estrogen. They believe that when Hitler got in touch with his feminine side, he would become as compliant as her sister who was a mild-mannered secretary. With a strict security, including food testers, they still put the estrogen in his meals by bribing a gardener to inject estrogen into Hitler’s carrots. No one knew how it ended but it appeared to have failed. Maybe it did, and the invasion Russia was just Hitler’s hormones confusing him.
The July 20, 1944 Scheme
This was the closest anyone could have gotten to assassinate Hitler. Count Stauffenberg was permitted to enter a top secret conference room with Hitler and other members of the Nazi Party. On July 20, 1944, Count Stauffenberg brought a briefcase filled with bombs and smuggled it into the room. He was only able to light one.
As he escaped, the bomb went off and killed 4 people. But with just one fuse lighted, Führer survived with only minor injuries, Stauffenberg was caught and killed, and Hitler lived.
Operation Foxley
The British learned from one of the captured guards that Hitler frequently visited a retreat in the Bavarian Alps. The guard divulged information in exchange for his freedom: Every day at 10 AM, Hitler strolls to a tea house close by. He would be alone for 20 minutes, heading down to a road near a forest where a sniper could easily hide.
It was already in place when Thornley was able to convince them that the plan would probably just make Hitler a martyr, and the Nazism would still continue to exist.
