Fabian von Schlabrendorff
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fabian von Schlabrendorff (born 1 July 1907 in Halle an der Saale; died 3 September 1980 in Wiesbaden) trained as a lawyer, later joining the German Army. As a lieutenant in the reserves, he was promoted to adjutant to Colonel Henning von Tresckow, a major leader in the resistance against Adolf Hitler. He joined the resistance and acted as a secret liaison between Tresckow in Russia and Ludwig Beck, Carl Goerdeler, Hans Oster, and Friedrich Olbricht in Berlin, taking part in various coup d'état plans and attempts.
On March 13, 1943, during a visit by Adolf Hitler to Army Group Center Headquarters in Smolensk, Schlabrendorff smuggled a time bomb, disguised as bottles of cognac, onto an aircraft meant to carry Hitler back to Germany. The bomb's failure to detonate, owing to the extreme cold in the aircraft's cargo space, led to Schlabrendorff's arrest on July 20, 1944. Schlabrendorff was sent to Gestapo prison where he was tortured, but refused to talk. While imprisoned he met fellow imprisoned co-conspirators Wilhelm Canaris, Hans Oster, Ulrich von Hassell, Johannes Popitz, Carl Goerdeler, Wolfgang Mueller, and Alexander von Falkenhausen.
In February 1945, Schlabrendorff stood before the infamous Volksgerichtshof (People's Court) awaiting his trial, but the courtroom took a direct hit from a bomb during an American air raid, killing Judge Roland Freisler, who was discovered dead and still clutching Schlabrendorff's file. This raid saved Schlabrendorff's life, for Freisler was not one to show any clemency.
Nevertheless, between February and May 1945 Schlabrendorff was moved from one concentration camp to another: Sachsenhausen, Flossenbürg, Dachau, Innsbruck. He was eventually liberated by U.S. forces in early May 1945.
After the war Schlabrendorff was a judge of the Constitutional Court of West Germany from 1967 to 1975. Fabian von Schlabrendorff died in 1980.
[edit] Books
- Fabian Von Schlabrendorff, Hilda Simon. The Secret War Against Hitler (Der Widerstand : Dissent and Resistance in the Third Reich), Westview Press, September, 1994. ISBN 0-8133-2190-5
- Roger Moorhouse, Killing Hitler, Jonathan Cape, 2006. ISBN 0-224-07121-1
- Roger Manvell, The Conspirators: 20th July 1944, Pan Macmillan, 1972. ISBN 0-345-09729-7
