Georg Elser

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Special stamp for the 100th birthday of Georg Elser (2003)

Johann Georg Elser (born January 4, 1903 in Hermaringen , Württemberg ; † April 9, 1945 in Dachau concentration camp , Bavaria ) was a German cabinet maker and resistance fighter against National Socialism . On November 8, 1939, he carried out a bomb attack on Adolf Hitler and almost the entire National Socialist leadership in Munich's Bürgerbräukeller , which only narrowly failed.

Life

Site of the birthplace in Hermaringen with stumbling block of Gunter Demnig in walkway

Koenigsbronn

Georg Elser was the illegitimate child of Maria Müller, the daughter of a Wagner and farmer. One year after his birth, she married the timber merchant and farmer Ludwig Elser from Königsbronn . Through this marriage Georg Elser was legitimized as the son of Ludwig Elser. Ludwig Elser ran a timber trading company in Königsbronn near Heidenheim in Württemberg, where Georg grew up with his siblings.

Georg Elser had five younger siblings: Friederike (* 1904), Maria (* 1906), Ludwig (* 1909), Anna (* 1910) and Leonhard (* 1913). His childhood was marked by early work at his parents' court and his stepfather's alcoholism .

After attending elementary school in Königsbronn from 1910 to 1917, he began an apprenticeship as an iron lathe operator in the former Königliche Hüttenwerke Königsbronn . In 1919 he broke off this for health reasons and began an apprenticeship as a carpenter . After passing the journeyman's examination as the best of his class in 1922, he worked in various joineries in Königsbronn, Aalen and Heidenheim as a construction and furniture maker until 1925 . His professional career was shaped by the fluctuations in the German economy ( hyperinflation in 1923 , global economic crisis from 1930) and the seizure of power by the National Socialists.

Member of the Red Front Fighter League

Elser's first political interest showed his membership in the woodworkers' association ; but he never took on a leadership role there.

As Elser explained in the Berlin interrogation protocol, in 1928 or 1929 in Konstanz he joined the Red Front Fighter League , the paramilitary task force of the KPD . However, he was only a paying member, had no uniform and held no official post. How strong his communist orientation and his engagement within the KPD and its organizations actually was cannot be reconstructed without contradiction.

Life and work on Lake Constance

His desire for a higher wage and an emerging longing for the distance never really let him settle down. For a short time he found work building propellers at Dornier in Friedrichshafen .

Only in Constance did he live and work for a long time from 1925 and manufactured wooden clock cases for prefabricated floor, fireplace and table clocks in the clock factory Constantia, Metzner & Co. In 1929 operational work had to be interrupted again and again due to several deaths in the management until finally the work was finally stopped and all workers were dismissed: “As far as I can remember, the dismissal was due to a fire in the company”. Elser stayed on Lake Constance until 1932 and worked there in various carpenter's shops, where he was only able to stay for a short time due to closings and layoffs. In 1930 he also worked for six months as a cross-border commuter from Constance by bike in Bottighofen , Switzerland, in the Schönholzer joinery as a carpenter. From 1930 to 1932 Elser presented in Meersburg in the Kunkel alley in the successor company of the bankrupt Constance watch factory for the watch manufacturer Rothmund wooden cabinet ago. After Rothmund went bankrupt, Elser had to give up his apartment in Konstanz for financial reasons. He found accommodation in Meersburg Am Stadtgraben and worked (e.g. clock repairs, carpentry work) for room and board. Among the work colleagues, Elser was considered to be an extremely precise worker.

In 1926 Elser joined the Oberrheintaler Trachtenverein in Konstanz and bought a zither ; he became a member of the Zither Club Konstanz. He was also a member of the Trachtenverein Alpenrose and the Abstinentenverein Kreuzlingen.

Elser met the Constance waitress Mathilde Niedermann and in 1930 became the father of an illegitimate son named Manfred. Niedermann's future husband adopted Elser's son.

Back in Königsbronn

In August 1932 Elser returned to Königsbronn alone, as his father “was drinking more and more and [...] he was selling one field after the other to pay his debts”. In Königsbronn Elser worked in agriculture and made furniture for the surrounding population in his own workshop.

From December 1936 to March 1939 he worked for the Heidenheim company Waldenmaier, a fittings factory (today: Erhard GmbH & Co. KG), initially as a laborer in a cast fettling shop and from summer 1937 in the shipping department, where he was inspecting the Material receipts took over. There he found out about a special department in which powder grains were pressed and projectile fuses were manufactured. From November 1938 he stole 250 pieces of powder over a longer period of time, which he later used for his self-made bomb in addition to the dynamite he stole in a quarry in April and May 1939.

In 1933 Georg Elser met the married Elsa Härlen , b. Stephan (* 1911; † 1994) know. He had a love affair with her and possibly a child or two. After their birth in 1936, she moved away from her husband to her parents' house in Jebenhausen and then divorced. As far as she can remember, there was talk of marrying Elser, but then they “drifted apart” and met for the last time in January 1939. In fact, Elser distanced himself from family and friends, including Elsa Härlen, so that they would not later be suspected of being confidantes.

On August 5, 1939, Elser moved to Blumenstrasse 19 in Munich , and from September 1 to Türkenstrasse 94, to prepare his attack on Hitler there.

Assassination attempt in the Bürgerbräukeller

Motifs

Elser was an opponent of National Socialism early on . After 1933 he refused to give the Hitler salute . According to eyewitness reports, he left the room when Hitler speeches were broadcast on the radio. In the early phase, the main reason for his dislike, as he stated in a later Gestapo interrogation, was the deterioration in living conditions after 1933:

"So z. For example, I noticed that wages were getting lower and deductions higher. […] The hourly wage of a carpenter was one Reichsmark in 1929 , today the hourly wage is only 68 pfennigs. [...] The worker can e.g. B. no longer change jobs as he wants; Today he is no longer master of his children due to the Hitler Youth , and also in religious matters he can no longer be so freely active. "

From around 1938 another motive shaped his aversion. Elser recognized the preparations for war and the yielding of the Western powers with regard to territorial demands of the German Reich:

“The considerations I made produced the result that the situation in Germany could only be changed by removing the current leadership. By leadership I understood the 'colonels', I mean Hitler, Goering and Goebbels . Through my reflections I came to the conviction that by eliminating these 3 men, other men would come to the government who would not make unacceptable demands on foreign countries, who would not want to include a foreign country and who would ensure an improvement in the social conditions of the workers become."

Elser wanted to eliminate the leading political figures of the Nazi state with a time bomb and thus single-handedly stop the war against Poland that Germany had triggered about two months earlier and which had expanded into World War II .

Planning and preparation

One of the NSDAP meetings in the Bürgerbräukeller
Elser stole the explosives for his bomb from this quarry in Königsbronn-Itzelberg

After the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938, Elser was finally convinced that Hitler was planning a new war and that only his murder could avert great disaster. Now he started planning a bomb attack. As Hitler is known to give a speech in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller every evening before the anniversary of his failed coup attempt on November 9, 1923 , Elser decided to build a time bomb into the pillar directly behind the lectern. He initially hired as a worker in Georg Vollmer's quarry in Königsbronn-Itzelberg to steal 105 dynamite cartridges and 125 detonator caps for his time bomb. On August 5, 1939, he moved to Munich and rented a small workshop there. Opposite the neighbors he pretended to be an inventor and was able to unobtrusively construct a time fuse.

From the end of August 1939 Elser went to the Bürgerbräukeller every evening, first of all ate a simple workers' meal for 60 pfennigs and waited for an opportunity to hide in the broom closet without being noticed. He stayed there for several hours until the inn was locked. In more than 30 nights he then dug out a pillar in painstaking, risky work in order to deposit the bomb with a time fuse. Elser closed the opening with a partial board of the pillar cladding, which he attached like a door, while he covered the interfaces in the pillar with the strips of the cladding. The cavity created by the work was at the top of a pillar that stood directly behind Hitler's lectern. In order not to draw attention to himself through noises, he had to interrupt his work for ten minutes each time until the automatic toilet flushing of the Bürgerbräukeller started again. He hid the accumulating rubble in a self-made sack, which he initially carried out in a cardboard box and later in a suitcase under the eyes of the waitresses during the day and emptied into the Isar . In the first days of November he built his self-constructed time bomb including dynamite cartridges, detonators and black powder into the cavity in the column. On the night of November 7th to 8th, he checked the ticking of the clockwork of the time bomb by listening in the Bürgerbräukeller.

Bomb explosion and victim of the attack

On November 8, 1939, there were around 1,500 to 2,000 people in Munich's Bürgerbräukeller, and according to other sources even 3,000, including a large part of the Nazi leadership, to commemorate the 1923 Hitler coup. The party celebrities sat tightly packed in front of Hitler's lectern:

Surname Function in 1939 Participant in the  1923
Hitler putsch
Max Amman President of the Reich Press Chamber ×
Martin Bormann Reichsleiter of the NSDAP, chief of staff of Rudolf Hess
Wilhelm Brückner Chief Adjudant of Adolf Hitler
Franz Xaver Ritter von Epp Reich governor in Bavaria
Karl Fiehler Lord Mayor of Munich ×
Wilhelm Frick Reich Minister of the Interior ×
Joseph Goebbels Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
Ulrich Graf Member of the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler saved the life of the putsch ×
Rudolf Hess Deputy of the Führer in the NSDAP ×
Konstantin Hierl Reich Labor Leader ×
Heinrich Himmler Reichsführer SS and chief of the German police ×
Heinrich Hoffmann Photographer, publisher ×
Adolf Hühnlein Corps leader of the National Socialist Motor Corps ×
Hermann Kriebel Head of the Human Resources and Administration Department at the Federal Foreign Office ×
Robert Ley Head of the German Labor Front
Alfred Rosenberg Reichsleiter of the NSDAP, representative for intellectual and ideological training and education of the NSDAP ×
Julius Schaub Chief Adjudant of Adolf Hitler ×
Rudolf Schmundt Military chief adjudant of Hitler
Fritz Todt General representative for the construction industry
Adolf Wagner NSDAP Gauleiter of Munich-Upper Bavaria ×
Christian Weber SS-Brigadführer, gave the opening speech of the event ×
Friedrich Weber Head of the Reich Chamber of Veterinarians ×
Karl Wolff Heinrich Himmler's chief of staff

Because Hitler's planned return flight to Berlin was canceled due to fog and he had to switch to a special train instead, he ended his stay in the Bürgerbräukeller earlier than expected by Elser. He and his command staff left the building thirteen minutes before the time bomb exploded.

Bürgerbräukeller the day after the attack

The bomb exploded at exactly the time Elser had set at 9:20 p.m. The explosion of the explosive device devastated the hall, in which at that time there were only one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty people. They killed eight and injured 57 people, fifteen seriously. The sound of the explosion could be clearly heard by radio listeners following coverage of the event.

By the shock wave of the explosion of the pillars collapsed, in which the time bomb was hidden with the dynamite. In the area of ​​the speaker's platform, the entire ceiling construction fell onto the lectern and the surrounding chairs and tables. Three people were killed instantly and dozens were buried under masonry, roof girders and wooden beams. Five died after being admitted to the hospitals.

According to a press report in the Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten of November 10, 1939, the fatalities were :

Surname Age Background information
Maria Henle 30th Temporary waitress for larger events in Bürgerbräu, leaving behind a husband and two small children
Michael Wilhelm Kaiser 50 Long-time Hitler supporter, SA - Sturmhauptführer (equivalent to Hauptmann), Deputy. Leader of the NSKK engine standard 86
Emil Kasberger 54 Long-time NSDAP member, flautist in the Gau Music Parade of the traditional district of Munich-Upper Bavaria, left a wife and growing daughter
Franz Lutz 53 Long-time Hitler supporter, SA-Sturmhauptführer (equivalent to Hauptmann)
Leonhardt Reindl 57 Member of the NSDAP since 1923, holder of the green permanent ID card for old fighters
Eugene Schachta 32 SA member, chief operations officer at the Reichsautozug, was responsible for assembling and dismantling technical equipment in the hall, and had been married for eleven months
Michael Schmeidl unknown NSDAP member, old fighter, senior bailiff a. D., was seriously injured at first and died a few days later
Wilhelm Weber 37 SA member, Reichsautozug, was responsible for assembling and dismantling technical equipment in the hall, leaving behind a wife and two small children

Arrest in Constance

Discussion of the results of the investigation into the bomb attack in the Bürgerbräukeller. V. l. To the right: Franz Josef Huber , Arthur Nebe , Heinrich Himmler , Reinhard Heydrich , Heinrich Müller .

On his escape, Elser reached the port of Constance at 8:40 p.m. on November 8, 1939, coming by steamer from Friedrichshafen. He took the route Marktstätte, Rosgartenstraße, Bodanplatz, Hüetlinstraße, Kreuzlinger Straße to Schwedenschanze.

At around 8:45 p.m. (before the explosion at 9:20 p.m. in Munich's Bürgerbräukeller) while trying to escape to Switzerland, the customs assistant Xaver Rieger and the auxiliary border employee Waldemar Zipperer from the customs border guard in Konstanz in the Wessenberggarten in arrested at the Schwedenschanze and taken to the main customs office 200 meters away. He made himself suspicious because his border card had expired and his bag etc. a. contained a postcard of the Bürgerbräukeller and parts of a detonator. Under the lapel of his skirt he wore a badge of the Communist Red Front Fighters Association . After the body search in the customs building at Kreuzlinger Tor, he was brought to the Gestapo headquarters in Konstanz at Mainaustrasse 29. After his arrest had been reported to Karlsruhe and from there to Berlin, he was taken to the state police headquarters in Munich.

Interrogation and search for backers

Elser's photo in the press coverage of November 22, 1939
Gestapo file of December 1, 1939

A special commission Bürgerbräukeller was set up to investigate the day after the attack . It consisted of a crime scene commission headed by department head Hans Lobbes from the Reich Criminal Police Office and a perpetrators commission headed by Franz Josef Huber , head of the Gestapo headquarters in Vienna.

Elser was interrogated by the Gestapo in Munich and Berlin, sometimes under torture . It soon became clear that he was the perpetrator of the attack in Munich, which Elser finally confessed to. He betrayed himself, among other things, by his swollen knees, which resulted from his work in the Bürgerbräukeller in preparation for the assassination attempt, during which he had to slide around on his knees for nights.

Five days after the assassination attempt on November 13th, Elser's sister Maria Hirth, who lived in Stuttgart, was arrested by the Gestapo while at work, as was her husband Karl Hirth and her ten-year-old son Franz (* 1929). Father and son were taken from their family's previously searched apartment in Lerchenstrasse in the west of Stuttgart to the Stuttgart office of the Gestapo (“ Hotel Silber ”) for interrogation . Karl Hirth had previously been arrested in the morning at his workplace in the Hotel Württemberger Hof . They met their wife and mother in the Hotel Silber. The child was "forgotten" by the Gestapo in the building at the gate and only brought to a nearby children's and orphanage in the evening. In his own words, Franz Hirth first heard of the attack a short time later with great horror during a radio broadcast. He had previously lived in the Elser house in Königsbronn for a few years, and Georg Elser, his uncle, was the most important person he could relate to alongside his parents. It was not until many years later that he overcame the fear and shame he felt in connection with the assassination and the isolation that came with it, when he revealed himself to director Klaus Maria Brandauer after the premiere of the film Georg Elser - Eine aus Deutschland . Later in retirement , he often gave lectures to school classes as a contemporary witness . At the beginning of 2015, he presented the main prize of the Bavarian Film Prize to Fred Breinersdorfer , the producer of the Oliver Hirschbiegel film Elser - He would have changed the world at the Prinzregententheater in Munich .

From November 19 to 23, Elser was interrogated in the Secret State Police Office in Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse in Berlin by the detective inspectors Herbert Kappler , Schmidt and Seibold. The protocol of this interrogation ( Berlin interrogation protocol , sometimes also called Gestapo protocol ) was discovered by chance in 1964 and is the most important source on Georg Elser.

After the Berlin interrogation protocol had not provided any information about the people behind it, the investigation continued. The logistical effort required for such an attack seemed too great for an individual. Walter Schellenberg reports in his memoir that Hitler asked Reinhard Heydrich :

“I want to know what kind of guy this Elser is. You have to be able to classify the man somehow. Tell me about it. For the rest, you will do whatever you can to get this criminal to talk. Let him hypnotize, give him drugs; make use of everything our science today has tried in this direction. I want to know who the instigators are, I want to know who is behind it. "

The psychiatrist Oswald Bumke examined Elser and his motivation. Elser's statements were kept secret. Goebbels wanted to pass off his act as a joint action by the British secret service and Otto Strasser, who was then living in Switzerland . A later show trial was supposed to "prove" these connections . The doubts about Elser's sole perpetrator were also based on the fact that he was not trusted to have the knowledge and skills to build the time-controlled bomb. Since Elser insisted that he had designed and manufactured the bomb himself in every detail, he was asked to build it a second time under supervision. Elser drew up an exact list of the individual parts required and made the bomb again.

On November 22, 1939, the German press informed about the perpetrator, who had meanwhile been convicted, and established a connection - in reality nonexistent - with the Venlo incident in which two British secret service officers had been kidnapped at the Dutch border to Germany.

Of several photographs that Elser took between November 19 and 23, only one was published in various newspapers, so that it has remained Elser's best-known picture to this day. The propagandistic intention of the selection of pictures at the time results from the fact that Elser, who was beaten during the interrogation and was branded as the most common criminal, appears neglected in this photo, but one on other photos taken during the interrogation but only used for internal investigative purposes gives a safe, competent and considered impression.

Acts of revenge

In retaliation for the attack, the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, Karl Otto Koch, had 21 Jewish prisoners shot on the day after the attack, on November 9, 1939 . The victims were chosen by Arnold Strippel .

International Reactions and Effects on Resistance

On November 11, 1939, the Soviet government expressed to the German ambassador Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg "its regret and indignation at the nefarious attack in Munich, its joy at the happy rescue of Adolf Hitler from mortal danger and its condolences for the victims of the Assassination ".

Opponents of the regime at home and abroad were convinced, as in the case of the Reichstag fire , that the National Socialists themselves had organized the attack in order to strengthen the belief in the leader protected by " Providence " . In fact, public opinion, which was in part uncertain or even critical due to the ongoing war with the Western powers, was influenced by the propagandistic exploitation in favor of Hitler. Furthermore, the tightened security regulations after the attack prevented another planned attack on Hitler on behalf of the conspiratorial group at the army headquarters in Zossen , to which the diplomat Erich Kordt had volunteered .

Imprisonment and murder

From 1941 onwards Elser was imprisoned as the “ Führer’s special prisoner ” without trial in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp , later in the Dachau concentration camp under the code name Eller . In Sachsenhausen he was housed in the "cell building" in cell 13, which had been put together from three cells especially for him. He was treated comparatively well, had his own workbench and a zither. It is believed that after the " final victory " he was to appear in a show trial as a witness against the British government and be tried.

On April 5, 1945, SS-Obergruppenführer Ernst Kaltenbrunner , chief of the security police and SD , appeared in the Führerbunker and reported to Hitler about the police security situation. Hitler ordered the execution of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and the “special prisoner” Georg Elser. The head of the Gestapo, SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller , had the order forwarded to the commandant of the Dachau concentration camp, Obersturmbannführer Eduard Weiter , in an express letter that arrived on April 9th:

“The following instruction has been issued: In one of the next terrorist attacks on Munich or the area around Dachau, 'Eller' is said to have had a fatal [sic!] Accident. For this purpose, I ask that 'Eller' be liquidated in an absolutely inconspicuous manner after such a situation has arisen. I ask you to be concerned that only very few people who are particularly obliged to do so will be aware of this. The notification of enforcement would then read to me, for example: 'On ... on the occasion of the terrorist attack on ... a. the prisoner 'Eller' fatally injured. '"

Immediately after the express letter arrived, Elser was murdered in secret and without a court judgment on the evening of April 9, 1945 after more than five years in prison. The SS Oberscharführer Theodor Bongartz carried out the killing order at around 11 p.m. at the execution site at the crematorium in Dachau with a shot in the neck . Elser's body was then cremated in the crematorium. This happened one month before the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht , twenty days before the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp by US troops and without waiting for the next Allied air raid, as ordered in the express letter.

aftermath

Ostracism

The home community of Königsbronn was searched by the Gestapo after the attack, Elser's parents were imprisoned for four months, and his nephew Franz Hirth, who lived in Stuttgart, was sent to the orphanage. Elser has not been discussed in his family for 50 years. His fate remained unknown to the family, there was no grave, and in 1950 he was pronounced dead. Elser's mother was subject to allegations that her son was a Nazi tool. The family received compensation.

Historical research

After the war, Martin Niemöller, who was imprisoned as a representative of the Confessing Church in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and later the concentration camp supervisor Walter Usslepp, spread the rumor that Elser had been an SS sergeant . The British agent of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) Sigismund Payne Best claimed to have learned from Elser himself that he had been in the Dachau concentration camp before the attack and had been recruited there for the crime. For a long time, historians persistently refused to deal with Elser as a resistance because it was rumored that he was a puppet of the National Socialists.

In 1959 the journalist and historian Günter Peis presented himself with his eight-part report Take off, Georg Elser! against the then prevailing opinion of historical research. With systematic interviews with contemporary witnesses, he came to the conclusion that Elser was a lone perpetrator.

In 1964, the historian Lothar Gruchmann discovered the complete 203-page protocols of Elser's interrogations in Berlin from November 19 to 23, 1939. They are the most important historical source on him. They portray Elser as a lone perpetrator and correspond to the post-war statements of numerous contemporary witnesses. On this basis, Gruchmann and Anton Hoch were finally able to prove Elser's sole perpetrator. All rumors about his alleged masterminds have been refuted.

In 1998 the historian Florian Henning SET published parts of the 12-page Swiss investigation report , which he had evaluated in the Swiss Federal Archives in Bern together with other files from the “Strasser Dossier” (photos, investigation results of the Swiss police and the Swiss intelligence service). This report, published in full in 2000, contains the answers of the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office to a list of questions from the Gestapo. It is concise, but still an important source for the period between 1925 and 1932 when Elser lived on Lake Constance. It does not contain any references to Elser's backers in Switzerland.

Trial of Elser's murder

In 1950, the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office initiated a preliminary investigation in which the Stuttgart Criminal Police Office of the Württemberg State Police provided administrative assistance, in particular with the questioning of witnesses from the vicinity of Elser. In 1954 there was a posthumous trial against SS officer Bongartz, who had died in captivity on May 15, 1945, before the Regional Court of Munich II because of Elser's murder in Dachau. Other possible eyewitnesses such as Friedrich Wilhelm Ruppert , Hans Eisele and Franz Böttger were also not available to deal with the case. Nevertheless, on November 8, 1954, examining magistrate Michael Naaff saw it as proven that Bongartz had committed the crime.

Change in the culture of remembrance

In contrast to the conspirators of July 20, 1944 , Georg Elser was hardly recognized in the official memorial culture of the Federal Republic until the 1990s. Rolf Hochhuth lamented this in a poem about Elser:

"After three decades, his home village is naming
a street after Johann Georg Elser
- but not a German city, not one."

- Rolf Hochhuth

In 1971 a park was named after Elser in the Schnaitheim district of Heidenheim. In the following year the Association of Persecuted Persons of the Nazi Regime inaugurated the first memorial for him there. In Königsbronn itself, Elser and his deed were hushed up for a long time, as the memory of the Gestapo interrogations and harassment after the attack was still alive. During the Nazi era , the place was denigrated as an "assassination house". In 2003 objections were raised against the naming of the Königsbronn school after Georg Elser.

In 1983, Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl mentioned Elser in his July 20 speech, as well as in the following year and in 1994.

Helmut Ortner wrote the first Elser biography in 1989. It has been translated into Spanish, Italian, English, Polish and Turkish. For reasons of privacy protection, all names, except for those of contemporary historical persons and Elser's immediate family members, are provided with pseudonyms. Hellmut G. Haasis published another biography about Elser in 1999 and gave the actual names of those involved.

The Chemnitz political scientist Lothar Fritze , employee of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research (HAIT), caused a sensation in 1999 with his theses on Els. He put up for discussion the extent to which Elser's behavior should be assessed as exemplary. Fritze argued that even in the case of a morally justified assassination attempt, the assassin has the duty to avoid the death of innocent people if he can. In the case of Elser, however, the assumption would be that he had not even considered less sacrificial methods of assassination. Nor did he take care of the protection of uninvolved third parties when the failure of the attack was already certain, as it moved away from the scene and thus could not prevent the predictable, useless death of innocent people. In Elser's case, the assassin’s intent and level of knowledge can only be reconstructed incompletely, so that concerns about this cannot be dispelled. For these reasons, according to Fritze, Elser's behavior should not be viewed unreservedly as exemplary. These theses sparked a heated argument in the HAIT and the public.

Peter Steinbach and Johannes Tuchel countered Fritze that Elser wanted to meet the Nazi celebrities seated near the lectern and could not have assumed that uninvolved persons would be harmed, as Hitler's speech was generally not served. Fritzes accusation of careless removal would also apply to Stauffenberg and his assassination attempt in 1944. A number of philosophers and political scientists supported Fritze. The Israeli historian Saul Friedländer, on the other hand, left the scientific advisory board of the HAIT in protest.

The Heilbronn writer Erhard Jöst discussed the moral justification of the Elser assassination in a commemorative speech given on April 13, 2008 in Heidenheim-Schnaitheim.

For the historian Johannes Tuchel , head of the German Resistance Memorial Center in Berlin, Georg Elser is an example of the fact that submission to the Nazi dictatorship was not without alternatives, even for so-called “ordinary people”.

Elser was recognized as an inventor in 1995: With his bomb construction he was included in the exhibition Swabian Tinkerers , which was shown in the Württemberg State Museum from October 13, 1995 to January 18, 1996 . In the accompanying catalog he is presented as a "talented and courageous inventor".

Filming and dramatization

Georg Elser's act was filmed in 1969 on the basis of the Berlin interrogation protocols in the docudrama Der Assentäter by Rainer Erler and Hans Gottschalk ; both were awarded the Adolf Grimme Prize for this.

The feature film Georg Elser - One from Germany was released in 1989 . Directed by Klaus Maria Brandauer , who also took on the title role. The screenplay was based on the novel The Artisan by the American Stephen Sheppard (German: Georg Elser. One from Germany. Novel. The book for the film. Munich 1989, ISBN 3-442-09663-4 ) and differs in many respects from the actual ones Events.

The writer Peter-Paul Zahl edited Elser's life in a stage work entitled Johann Georg Elser. A German drama. It was staged in the 1981/1982 season in the Bochum theater by Claus Peymann and Hermann Beil . By Georg Glasl , Arash Safaian and Cornel Franz, the play was the zither player realized with original texts to Georg Elser and music by Georg Glasl, whose First broadcast on 10 June 2012 at the radio station Bayern 2 ran.

In 2014, after six years of project development , director Oliver Hirschbiegel made a second feature film about Elser entitled Elser - He would have changed the world (international version with English subtitles: 13 minutes ). The script was written by Fred Breinersdorfer and his daughter Léonie-Claire Breinersdorfer . Even before its world premiere at the Berlinale 2015 (out of competition), it was awarded the Bavarian Film Prize for “Best Film”.

Commemoration

Georg Elser Prize

The Georg Elser Prize for Civil Courage has been awarded every two years since 2001 .

Special postage stamp

In anticipation of Georg Elser's 100th birthday in 2003, support initiatives began in 2001, with an ultimately successful campaign for a special stamp in honor of Georg Elser, which was then launched in January 2003.

Memorials and schools

In 1998, the Georg Elser Memorial Königsbronn was established in Königsbronn , where Elser grew up and later lived in the 1930s . In 2003 the Königsbronn primary, secondary and secondary school was renamed "Georg-Elser-Schule".

In the German Resistance Memorial Center , room no. 7 in the east wing of the Bendlerblock was set up in memory of Georg Elser.

Monuments and plaques

f1Georeferencing Map with all the coordinates of the monuments and memorial plaques: OSM

No. year place location description image
1 1972 Heidenheim- Schnaitheim World icon Memorial stone in the Georg-Elser-Anlage, where Elser lived nearby at Benzstrasse 16 before he moved to Munich in the summer of 1939. The memorial stone was badly damaged in 2016 almost at the same time as the statue in Königsbronn.
Heidenheim-Elser-Gedenkstein.jpg
2 1989 Munich World icon Floor plate at the point where the pillar in the Bürgerbräukeller stood, in which Elser built his bomb in autumn 1939 - today between the Gasteig and the GEMA administration building - embedded in the paved floor. A few meters away, a backlit information board in the Gasteig provides information about the attacker.
Georg Elser Bodenplatte.JPG
3 1998 Koenigsbronn World icon Wall plate at the Georg Elser memorial in Königsbronn in the place where Elser grew up and later lived in the 1930s.
The Georg Elser memorial in Königsbronn. 01.jpg
4th 2003 Koenigsbronn- Itzelberg World icon Symbolic grave in the cemetery in Itzelberg, which was erected on the occasion of his 100th year of birth; in fact, the ashes of his corpse were buried somewhere near the Dachau concentration camp crematorium in April 1945.
Itzelberg-georg-elser-grab.jpg
5 2004 Freiburg in Breisgau World icon Memorial column of Clemens Hunger in the Vauban district . Since the original poplar wood had rotted, it was dismantled in 2013 and replaced by a new stele made of robinia wood in 2015.
Freiburg-Elser-Monument-Detail.jpg
6th 2008 Berlin World icon Bust of Kay Winkler in the "Street of Remembrance" on the Spreebogen. It was donated by the Ernst Freiberger Foundation.
Georg Elser a.jpg
7th 2009 Hermaringen World icon Memorial plaque as part of the “ Stolpersteine ” project by Gunter Demnig in the ground at Karlstrasse 29, where the house in which Elser was born in 1903 used to be.
Stumbling Stone Georg Elser Karlstr 29 89568 Hermaringen 2.jpg
8th 2009 Munich World icon Neon glass and aluminum installation by Silke Wagner on Georg-Elser-Platz on the facade of the “Turkenschule” near Elser's last place of residence at Türkenstrasse 94.
Muenchen-Georg-Elser-Neon.jpg
9 2009 Constancy World icon Bust of Markus Daum on German territory on the Swiss border at Emmishofer Zoll in the garden on the street Schwedenschanze 10 (today's social center of Wessenberg), in which the resistance fighter was arrested while fleeing. It was unveiled on the 70th anniversary of Elser's arrest.
Konstanz-elser-schwedenschanze-social center-inscription.JPG
10 2010 Koenigsbronn World icon Statue of Friedrich Frankowitsch in memory of Elser's 65th anniversary of death. The 2.20-meter-high sculpture, abstractly designed from scraps of steel, shows Elser, ready to travel to Munich with sticks of dynamite in his suitcase, waiting for the Brenzbahn train . The monument in Königsbronn fell victim to vandalism in 2012, 2015 and 2016 .
Georg Elser Monument Koenigsbronn.jpg
11 2011 Berlin World icon Steel silhouette of Ulrich Klages in Wilhelmstrasse near the former Führerbunker in which Adolf Hitler shot himself in 1945. The silhouette is illuminated in the dark.
Memorial sign Georg Elser Berlin 01.jpg
12 2012 Federal motorway 7 World icon Tourist information sign on the A7 motorway between Aalen-Westhausen and Aalen-Oberkochen.
Elser-a7.jpg
13 2014 Oranienburg World icon Memorial stone in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp , where Elser was housed as a special prisoner from 1941 to 1945 in the cell building in the three cells. The memorial donated by the Georg Elser Initiative Berlin is based on a chunk of White Jura that comes from the quarry near Königsbronn , where Elser stole the explosives for the assassination attempt.
14th 2012 Munich World icon Graffito by Loomit and WON ABC on the facade of the Stadtsparkassen branch in Bayerstraße.
Munich Georg-Elser-Graffito.jpg
15th 2019 Munich World icon Commemorative plaque as part of the project “ Remembrance Signs for Victims of the Nazi Regime in Munich ” on the Türkenstrasse 94 building, where Elser lived when he was preparing the assassination attempt in autumn 1939.
Memorial sign Georg Elser Türkenstrasse 94.jpg
16 2019 Hermaringen World icon Monument “Part of the whole and yet different” by Nina Seliger at the town hall of Elser's birthplace. The concrete block symbolizes society under the Nazi regime; Elser is a block of wood that fits into a square cutout and, with its material, takes up his job as a carpenter. The monument was inaugurated by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier .
Hermaringen Georg Elser Monument.jpg

Streets and squares

Königsbronn: Georg Elser Memorial (1998)
Hermaringen: Georg-Elser-Strasse (1984)
Munich: Georg-Elser-Platz (1997)

f1Georeferencing Map with all the coordinates of the streets and places: OSM
1984 in Hermaringen , Elser's birthplace, a street was named after Elser for the first time. Numerous streets and squares in Germany now bear his name:

No. place Post Code location Surname
1 Bask 73431 World icon Georg-Elser-Platz
2 Old warehouse (Niedergörsdorf) 14913 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg (private)
3 Alzey 55232 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
4th Bad Abbach 93077 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
5 Bad Groenenbach 87730 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
6th Berg near Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate 92348 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
7th Besigheim 74354 World icon Elser ring
8th Bibertal 89346 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
9 Bietigheim 76467 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
10 Böbingen on the Rems 73560 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
11 Bonn 53117 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
12 Bremen 28327 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
13 Burgdorf (Hanover region) 31303 World icon Elserstrasse
14th Crailsheim 74564 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
15th Dachau 85221 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
16 Deggendorf 94469 World icon Elserstrasse
17th Deggingen 73326 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
18th Dinklage 49413 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
19th Ditzingen 71254 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
20th Dormagen 41540 World icon Johann-Elser-Weg
21st Ellwangen (Jagst) 73479 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
22nd gain 91058 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
23 Frankfurt am Main 60438 World icon Johann-Georg-Elser-Strasse
24 Freiburg in Breisgau 79100 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
25th Fuerth 90768 World icon Georg-Elser-Steg
26th Geislingen an der Steige 73312 World icon Georg-Elser-Platz
27 to water 35394 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
28 Gunzburg 89312 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
29 Hassfurt 97437 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
30th Heidenheim - Schnaitheim 89520 World icon Georg Elser facility
31 Heidenheim 89520 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
32 Hermaringen 89568 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
33 Hochheim am Main 65239 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
34 Holzgerlingen 71088 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
35 Huerth 50354 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
36 Ismaning 85737 Georg-Elser-Weg
37 kassel 34123 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
38 Cologne 51147 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
39 Constancy 78467 World icon Georg-Elser-Platz
40 Lampertheim 68623 World icon Johann-Georg-Elser-Weg
41 Lippstadt 59557 World icon Elserstrasse
42 Leipzig 04177 World icon Georg Elser Bridge
43 Marburg 35037 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
44 Meckenheim (Rhineland) 53340 World icon Elserweg
45 Meldorf 25704 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
46 Munich 80799 World icon Georg-Elser-Platz
47 Murrhardt 71540 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
48 Nottuln 48301 Georg-Elser-Strasse
49 Nuremberg 90441 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
50 Oldenburg (Oldb) 26123 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
51 Rastatt 76437 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
52 Raunheim 65479 World icon Georg Elser roundabout
53 Reutlingen 72762 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
54 Rheine 48429 World icon Georg Elser Ring
55 Schwäbisch Hall 74523 World icon Johann-Georg-Elser-Weg
56 Soltau 29614 World icon Johann-Georg-Elser-Allee
57 Stuttgart 70184 World icon Georg Elser relay
58 Cuties 73079 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
59 Tarp 24963 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
60 Traunreut 83301 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
61 Tuttlingen 78532 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
62 Ulm 89075 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
63 Unna 59427 World icon Elserstrasse
64 Unterschleissheim 85716 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
65 Vaihingen an der Enz 71665 Georg-Elser-Strasse
66 Weingarten (Württemberg) 88250 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse
67 Weinheim 69469 World icon Elserstrasse
68 Weissach in the valley 71554 World icon Georg-Elser-Weg
69 Westhausen (Württemberg) 73463 World icon Georg-Elser-Strasse

See also

literature

Monographs

  • Ulrike Albrecht: The assassination attempt. Materials on Haidhauser history Volume 3. Munich 1987. ISBN 3-9800420-5-7 .
  • Georg Elser - Explosives attack in the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich on November 8, 1939 . Questioning the perpetrator. Liliom Verlag, Waging am See 2009, ISBN 978-3-934785-44-1 ( facsimile of the Gestapo interrogation protocols).
  • Lothar Gruchmann , Ed .: Johann Georg Elser - autobiography of an assassin. The attack on Hitler in the Bürgerbräu in 1939 . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1970, ISBN 3-421-06519-5 (Gestapo interrogation protocol on the bomb attack in the Bürgerbräukeller, Munich on November 8, 1939).
  • Anton Hoch , Lothar Gruchmann : Georg Elser: The assassin from the people . The attack on Hitler in the Munich Bürgerbräu in 1939. Fischer Taschenbuch 3485, Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-596-23485-9 (Part 1. The assassination attempt on Hitler in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller 1939 / Part 2. The interrogation of the assassin).
  • Florian Henning Set: The Hitler assassin Georg Elser and the supposed "backers" in Switzerland. In: Yearbook 1997/98 of the Heimat- und Altertumsverein Heidenheim an der Brenz eV, ed. Helmut Weimert, Heidenheim 1998, ISSN  0931-5608 , pp. 247-267.
  • Peter Steinbach , Johannes Tuchel : “I wanted to prevent the war”. Georg Elser and the assassination attempt on November 8, 1939 . A documentation. Exhibition catalog. German Resistance Memorial Center , Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-926082-08-9 .
  • Helmut Ortner : The assassin . Georg Elser - the man who wanted to kill Hitler. Klöpfer & Meyer, Tübingen 1999, ISBN 3-931402-50-9 .
  • Helmut Ortner: Georg Elser. The lone assassin: the man who wanted to kill Hitler. Nomen Verlag, Frankfurt Main, 2nd edition 2010. ISBN 978-3-939816-03-4 .
  • Christian Graf von Krockow : Georg Elser . In: Portraits of famous German men . List-Taschenbuch 60447, Berlin 2004, ISBN 978-3-548-60447-3 , pp. 337-378 .
  • Peter Steinbach , Johannes Tuchel : Georg Elser . Ed .: Ernst Freiberger Foundation. be.bra Wissenschaft verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-937233-53-6 .
  • Lothar Fritze : Legitimate Resistance? The Elser case. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-8305-1672-9 .
  • Hellmut G. Haasis : "I'll blow Hitler up". The assassin Georg Elser . A biography. Edition Nautilus, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89401-606-7 (first edition: 1999).
  • Ulrich Renz : Georg Elser - a master of action . In: Peter Steinbach, Reinhold Weber (Hrsg.): Formative heads from the southwest . tape 7 . DRW-Verlag Weinbrenner, Leinfelden-Echterdingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-87181-767-0 .
  • Peter Steinbach , Johannes Tuchel : Georg Elser. The Hitler assassin . be.bra verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-89809-088-9 .
  • Volker Koop : In Hitler's hand: The special and honorary prisoners of the SS. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20580-5 , table of contents .
  • Hellmut G. Haasis : Georg Elser: A Swabian war opponent. An introduction. With graphics by Uli Trostowitsch. Klemm + Oelschläger, Münster / Ulm 2012, ISBN 978-3-86281-043-7 .
  • Hellmut G. Haasis: Bombing Hitler. The Story of the Man who almost assassinates the Führer . (English translation of the 1st edition 1999) Skyhorse Pub., New York 2013, ISBN 1-61608-741-2 , ISBN 978-1-61608-741-8 .
  • Sigrid Brüggemann: Johann Georg Elser - a disturbing riddle for the Gestapo. In: Ingrid Bauz, Sigrid Brüggemann, Roland Maier (eds.): The Secret State Police in Württemberg and Hohenzollern. Butterfly Verlag, Stuttgart 2013, pp. 209-213, ISBN 978-3-89657-138-0 .
  • Ulrich Renz: Georg Elser. Alone against Hitler. 2nd Edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-3-17-031077-3 .
  • Tom Ferry: Georg Elser. The Zither Player . CreateSpace, North Charleston 2016, ISBN 978-1-5177-1021-7 .
  • Matheus Hagedorny: Georg Elser in Germany. ca ira, Freiburg / Vienna 2019, ISBN 978-3-86259-126-8 .

Anthologies

  • Georg Elser Working Group Heidenheim (ed.): Georg Elser. Against Hitler - against the war . 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Heidenheim 2003, OCLC 315669513 ( table of contents ).
  • Andreas Grießinger (ed.): Border crossers on Lake Constance. Georg Elser; Persecuted - refugees - opportunists . Lectures on the Georg Elser exhibition at the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule Konstanz, 1999. Universitäts-Verlag, Konstanz 2000, ISBN 3-87940-717-7 .
  • Achim Rogoss, Eike Hemmer, Edgar Zimmer (eds.): Georg Elser. An assassin as a role model . Edition Temmen, Bremen 2006, ISBN 978-3-86108-871-4 ( content - Georg-Elser-Initiative Bremen).

Fiction (novels and plays)

Traveling exhibition

  • Peter Steinbach, Johannes Tuchel: People from the country. Georg Elser. Leaflet for the traveling exhibition “I wanted to prevent the war. Georg Elser and the assassination attempt on November 8, 1939 ”. Documentation by the State Center for Political Education Baden-Württemberg and the German Resistance Memorial Center . Stuttgart 2010.

Audio

Movies

Documentaries

  • The assassin . Documentary feature 90 min. by Rainer Erler (Federal Republic of Germany 1969), Adolf Grimme Prize with gold for Hans Gottschalk (book) and Rainer Erler (director)
  • Alone against the Führer. TV documentary 15 min., A film by Rüdiger Liedtke, WDR 1989 (Ed .: Beate Schlanstein )
  • A hellish machine for the Führer , "The resistance fighter Georg Elser." By Christian Berger, color-b / w. 30 min., Matthias-Film, Stuttgart 1995
  • One from Königsbronn. The resistance fighter Georg Elser A documentary by Eva Witte. Federal Republic of Germany 1997, 30 min.
  • The second execution of Georg Elser. Bayerischer Rundfunk 2009. Shown on November 7, 2014 in ARD-alpha from 9:50 pm to 10:35 pm (documents on Georg Elser: interrogation protocols, appreciation).

Feature films

Web links

Commons : Georg Elser  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Georg Elser  - Quotes

biography

Commemoration

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol 1st day: November 19, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 12, 2015.
  2. ^ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol 2nd day: November 20, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on May 2, 2020.
  3. ↑ Peter Koblank: Georg Elser and the Red Front Fighters Association - Was the Bürgerbräu bomber a communist? . , Online edition Myth Elser 2008.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol 1st day: November 19, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 14, 2020.
  5. ↑ a b Thomas Warndorf: “The purpose has not been achieved.” Johann Georg Elser In: Museumsverein Meersburg (ed.): Meersburger traces. Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen, 2007. ISBN 978-3-86136-124-4 , pp. 76-80.
  6. ^ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol 2nd day: November 20, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 14, 2020.
  7. ^ Georg Elser: Swiss investigation report . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 14, 2020.
  8. ^ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol 2nd day: November 20, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 14, 2020.
  9. ↑ Peter Steinbach, Johannes Tuchel: People from the country. Georg Elser. Leaflet for the traveling exhibition “I wanted to prevent the war. Georg Elser and the assassination attempt on November 8, 1939 ”. Documentation by the State Center for Political Education Baden-Württemberg and the German Resistance Memorial Center . Stuttgart 2010, p. 4.
  10. ^ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol 2nd day: November 20, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 14, 2020.
  11. ↑ a b Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol 2nd day: November 20, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  12. ↑ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol, 3rd day: November 21, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  13. ↑ a b c Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol, 5th day: 23.11.1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  14. ↑ a b Ulrich Renz: Elser visited his girlfriend Elsa Härlen in Jebenhausen. Georg Elser Working Group Heidenheim, 2013, accessed on November 20, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Production press booklet for the film "Elser - He would have changed the world", pp. 2–3. (PDF) NFP marketing & distribution, 2015, accessed on November 20, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol, 4th day: November 22, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 14, 2020.
  17. ↑ Lothar Frick (Ed.): "I wanted to prevent the war." The Hitler opponent Georg Elser and his assassination attempt on November 8, 1939 - the motives, preparations and consequences. State Center for Civic Education Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-945414-09-5 , p. 9.
  18. ↑ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol, 3rd day: November 21, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 20, 2020.
  19. ↑ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol, 3rd day: November 21, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 20, 2020.
  20. ↑ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol, 4th day: November 22, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 12, 2015.
  21. ^ Conversation with contemporary witness Wilhelm Schwenk . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  22. ^ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol, 5th day: November 23, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 20, 2020.
  23. ^ Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol, 5th day: November 23, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 20, 2020.
  24. ↑ Peter Koblank: If the Elser assassination had been successful . Online edition Myth Elser 2009.
  25. ^ Völkischer Beobachter, November 22, 1939, Berlin edition, p. 1.
  26. ↑ Ronald D. Gerste: How the weather makes history: Disasters and climate change from antiquity to today. Klett-Cotta Verlag, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-608-94922-3 , pp. 200-205.
  27. ^ A b Jürgen Balthasar (DPA): The fog thwarted his assassination attempt by Hitler. In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung , November 8, 2014.
  28. ↑ a b Georg Elser: The victims of the attack . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 9, 2019.
  29. ↑ Interview with Hans Elser . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  30. ↑ Guido Knopp : You wanted to kill Hitler. Munich 2005, ISBN 3-442-15340-9 , p. 16.
  31. ↑ facsimile on georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 16, 2019.
  32. ↑ On Michael Schmeidl, who is listed in the Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten as No. 26 of the seriously injured: Illustrierter Beobachter from November 23, 1939, p. 1678, bottom right. Facsimile on georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 16, 2019.
  33. ^ State center for political education Baden-Württemberg : materials. The Hitler opponent Georg Elser and his assassination attempt on November 8, 1939 - the motives, preparations and consequences. Stuttgart 2014, p. 41.
  34. ↑ a b Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol, 5th day: November 23, 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on June 20, 2020.
  35. ↑ Tobias Engelsing : Summer '39. Everyday life under National Socialism. Rosgartenmuseum Konstanz 2019. ISBN 978-3-929768-47-3 , pp. 51–52.
  36. ^ Report of the customs assistant Xaver Rieger on the arrest of Georg Elser on November 8, 1939 at around 8:45 p.m. in Constance .
  37. ↑ Elias Frank: Georg Elser. 13 minutes. In: Akzent , March 2015, pp. 63–64.
  38. ↑ Annina Baur: At 8.45 p.m. fate is sealed. In: Südkurier of November 8, 2016.
  39. ↑ Hellmut G. Haasis (1999), p. 48.
  40. ↑ The confession of Georg Elser . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; Retrieved November 9, 2015.
  41. ↑ Juliane Ziegler Thirteen minutes too late . In: Publik-Forum , No. 6/2015, p. 50.
  42. ↑ Tim Pröse: Hitler assassin Georg Elser Only thirteen minutes were missing. In: one day . July 4, 2017, accessed March 13, 2018 .
  43. ^ Hermann G. Abmayr: My uncle wanted to kill Adolf Hitler. Badische-zeitung.de , March 25, 2015.
  44. ↑ Ulrich Renz : Was he the third commissioner in the Elser case? On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 12, 2015.
  45. ↑ a b c Georg Elser: Berlin interrogation protocol . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  46. ^ Walter Schellenberg: Records. The memoirs of the last head of the secret service under Hitler. Cologne 1959, p. 92.
  47. ↑ Oswald Bumke: There was nothing wrong with him . To: Georg Elser Working Group; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  48. ↑ Hans-Heinrich Schmid : Lexicon of the German Watch Industry 1850–1980 , Volume II, p. 306.
  49. ↑ Press coverage on 22./23. November 1939 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  50. ↑ Lothar Frick (Ed.): "I wanted to prevent the war." The Hitler opponent Georg Elser and his assassination attempt on November 8, 1939 - the motives, preparations and consequences. State Center for Civic Education Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-945414-09-5 , pp. 17, 42 f.
  51. ↑ quoted from Gerd Kaiser: Katyn, Das Staatsverbrechen - das Staatsgeheimnis. Development of Taschenbuchverlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-7466-8078-6 (timetable).
  52. ^ Sigismund Payne Best: The Venlo Incident , London 1950, p. 93.
  53. ↑ Uli Fricker: "I wanted to prevent the war". In: Südkurier of November 7, 2014.
  54. ↑ Hellmut G. Haasis (1999), p. 233.
  55. ↑ a b Georg Elser: Execution on April 9, 1945 . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on August 5, 2019.
  56. ↑ The word 'tötlich', incorrectly spelled twice with 't' instead of 'd', served the journalist Günter Peis in 1995 as one of several arguments to classify this express letter of April 5, 1945 (wrongly) as a forgery. More on this from Peter Koblank: Order to liquidate Georg Elser a forgery? On: mythoselser.de; accessed on November 15, 2015.
  57. ↑ Sylvia Floetemeyer: Later hero of the resistance. In: Südkurier , Überlingen edition of May 31, 2011, p. 27.
  58. ↑ Peter Steinbach, Johannes Tuchel: People from the country. Georg Elser. Leaflet for the traveling exhibition “I wanted to prevent the war. Georg Elser and the assassination attempt on November 8, 1939 ”. Documentation by the State Center for Political Education Baden-Württemberg and the German Resistance Memorial Center . Stuttgart 2010, p. 6.
  59. ↑ Martin Niemöller: Speech to the Protestant student community on January 17, 1946 in Göttingen.
  60. ↑ The mysterious of cell 13. Home and World, born 1956 No. 14 a. 15, Hanover 1956.
  61. ↑ a b Ernst Piper: Alone against Hitler . In: one day . November 6, 2009. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
  62. ^ Sigismund Payne Best: The Venlo Incident. Translated and commented excerpt on the subject of Georg Elser. On: mythos-elser.de; accessed on November 13, 2015.
  63. ↑ The man who did it. In: The time . No. 2/2003.
  64. ↑ Günter Peis: Take off your clothes, Georg Elser! . In: Picture taken on Sunday December 27, 1959.
  65. ↑ False rumors about Georg Elser . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  66. ^ Georg Elser: Swiss investigation report . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on August 1, 2019.
  67. Jump up ↑ Florian Henning: The Hitler assassin Georg Elser and the supposed “backers” in Switzerland . In: Yearbook 1997/98 of the Heimat- und Altertumsverein Heidenheim an der Brenz eV, ed. Helmut Weimert, Heidenheim 1998, ISSN  0931-5608 , pp. 247-267.
  68. ^ Ulrich Renz : The Elser files . Series of publications of the Georg Elser Memorial Königsbronn Volume 1, Königsbronn 2000. P. 1-5 on georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on August 1, 2019.
  69. ↑ State Archives Ludwigsburg EL 48/4 Bü 1 (online)
  70. ^ Hellmut G. Haasis: Georg Elser's end in the Dachau concentration camp.
  71. ↑ From: Rolf Hochhuth: Was Europe here? Speeches, poems, essays . Munich 1987. New version in: Rolf Hochhuth: All stories, poems and novels . Reinbek 2001.
  72. ↑ a b Georg Elser memorial stone in Heidenheim-Schnaitheim . On: georg-elser.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  73. ↑ Lothar Frick (Ed.): "I wanted to prevent the war." The Hitler opponent Georg Elser and his assassination attempt on November 8, 1939 - the motives, preparations and consequences. State Center for Civic Education Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-945414-09-5 , pp. 21, 48.
  74. ↑ Lothar Frick (Ed.): "I wanted to prevent the war." The Hitler opponent Georg Elser and his assassination attempt on November 8, 1939 - the motives, preparations and consequences. State Center for Civic Education Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-945414-09-5 , p. 48.
  75. ↑ Lothar Frick (Ed.): "I wanted to prevent the war." The Hitler opponent Georg Elser and his assassination attempt on November 8, 1939 - the motives, preparations and consequences. State Center for Civic Education Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart 2014, ISBN 978-3-945414-09-5 , pp. 21, 59.
  76. ^ Helmut Ortner : The lonely assassin . The man who wanted to kill Hitler. Klöpfer & Meyer , Tübingen 1999, ISBN 3-931402-50-9 (first edition: 1989).
  77. ↑ Hellmut G. Haasis : "I'll blow Hitler up". The assassin Georg Elser . A biography. Edition Nautilus , Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89401-606-7 (first edition: 1999).
  78. ↑ The debate is partially reproduced in: Uwe Backes / Eckhard Jesse (ed.): Yearbook Extremism and Democracy. Nomos-Verlag, Baden-Baden 2000, pp. 95–178, for a comprehensive documentation of the controversy cf. Lothar Fritze: Legitimate Resistance? The Elser case. BWV, Berlin 2009.
  79. ↑ Peter Steinbach, Johannes Tuchel: It seemed as if the public shied away from Elser. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , November 18, 1999.
  80. ↑ Jörg Lau: A self-harm. In: The time . No. 3/2000.
  81. ↑ Erhard Jöst: Johann Georg Elser - the German Wilhelm Tell . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; Retrieved November 9, 2014.
  82. ↑ Johannes Tuchel: I'd rather be shot ... In: Die Zeit No. 45, October 30, 2019, p. 21. (Eighty years ago Elser dared the assassination attempt.)
  83. ↑ Verena Kemna: Memorial for the Hitler assassin Georg Elser. In: Deutschlandradio Wissen. November 20, 2011.
  84. ^ Friederike Valet: Johann Georg Elser: Hitler assassin, inventor. In: Swabian tinkerer: the tinkerer a Swabian? Swabian a tinkerer? , Book accompanying the exhibition in the Württembergisches Landesmuseum Stuttgart, 13.10.1995 - 18.1.1996, ed. Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-929055-39-2 , pp. 28–34.
  85. ^ Peter-Paul Zahl : Johann Georg Elser. A German drama. Rotbuch, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-88022-248-7 .
  86. ^ Peter-Paul Zahl: Johann Georg Elser. A German drama . In: Schauspielhaus Bochum (ed.): Program book . No. 31 . Schauspielhaus Bochum, Bochum 1982.
  87. ↑ The Zither Player. Radio play with original texts on Georg Elser.
  88. ↑ Feature film about the resistance fighter Georg Elser (2015) . On georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  89. ↑ https://www.georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de/texts/briefmarke.htm
  90. ↑ Honor for Elser: Missed by Minutes An action in Bremen wants to immortalize the Hitler assassin on postage , Taz September 25, 2001
  91. ↑ https://www.georg-elser.de/nach-1945/briefmarke
  92. ↑ a b Georg Elser in Königsbronn. On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  93. ↑ German Resistance Memorial Center (Ed.): Guide to the permanent exhibition, p. 2. Accessed on May 2, 2020.
  94. ^ Attack on the Georg Elser memorial stone in Heidenheim-Schnaitheim . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on September 18, 2016.
  95. ↑ New stele on the Grünspange: In Vauban there is again a memorial for the Hitler assassin Georg Elser - badische-zeitung.de. Retrieved April 12, 2015 .
  96. ↑ Georg Elser bust in Berlin . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  97. ↑ Georg Elser Monument in Munich . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  98. ↑ Georg Elser Monument in Constance . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  99. ↑ Elser actors discussed. In: Südkurier of April 7, 2015. Author abbreviation rough.
  100. ↑ Georg Elser Monument in Königsbronn . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 6, 2015.
  101. ↑ Third attack on the Elser monument . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on September 14, 2016.
  102. ↑ The idea on georg-elser-berlin.de; Retrieved November 19, 2014.
  103. ^ Graffito memorial for Georg Elser in Munich . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on August 5, 2017.
  104. ↑ a b Hermaringen - Elser's birthplace . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on November 5, 2019.
  105. ↑ Late honor for Hitler assassin - A memorial in Georg Elser's birthplace. Accessed November 5, 2019 (German).
  106. ^ Georg Elser: 69 streets and squares . On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on August 16, 2019.
  107. ↑ In a new building area planned: Ismaning - Against forgetting . Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  108. ↑ In a new building area in planning: Street naming in the building areas "Schoppmanns Wiese", "Beisenbusch" and "Appelhülsen-Nord, reallocation area". Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  109. ↑ Planned in a new development area: Standard land values ​​from Vaihingen an der Enz.Retrieved on August 20, 2020.
  110. ↑ Peter Koblank: An exciting journey back in time seventy years . Online edition Myth Elser 2009.
  111. ↑ Georg Elser. The Zither Player. On: georg-elser-arbeitskreis.de; accessed on September 28, 2016.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on November 14, 2005 .
personal data
SURNAME Elser, Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Elser, Johann Georg (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cabinet maker and resistance fighters against National Socialism
DATE OF BIRTH 4th January 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Hermaringen , Württemberg
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1945
Place of death Dachau Concentration Camp , Bavaria