This is an incomplete list of documented attempts to assassinate

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

.Christian Zentner, Friedemann Bedürftig (1991). '' The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich'', pp. 47–48. Macmillan, New York. All attempts occurred in the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (, from ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty entirely from a continuing unitary German ''Volk'' ("na ...

, except where noted. No fewer than 42 plots have been uncovered by historians. However, the true number cannot be accurately determined due to an unknown number of undocumented cases. {, class="wikitable sortable" , - style="vertical-align: top;" ! Date ! Location ! Attempted by ! Summary , - style="vertical-align: top;" , , Hotel Kaiserhof (Berlin) , Unknown , Hitler and several members of his staff fell ill after dining at the revered Hotel Kaiserhof in Berlin. Poisoning was suspected, but no arrests were made. Hitler himself seemed least affected by the alleged poisoning, possibly due to his

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

diet.T. D. Conner, ''Demolition Man: Hitler: from Braunau to the Bunker'', p. 769 , - style="vertical-align: top;" , ,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, , , Ludwig Aßner, a German politician and member of the Bavarian State Parliament, sent a poisoned letter to Hitler from France. An acquaintance of Aßner warned Hitler and the letter was intercepted. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , ,

, , member Beppo Römer vowed to assassinate Hitler as revenge for the

Night of the Long Knives The Night of the Long Knives (, ), also called the Röhm purge or Operation Hummingbird (), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, ord ...

but was turned over to the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

before any concrete plan could be made. He was imprisoned at Dachau until 1939. Römer was arrested once again for anti-Nazi activities and eventually executed at Brandenburg-Görden Prison in 1944. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , , Berlin , , Dr. Helmut Mylius, head of the right-wing Radical Middle Class Party (''Radikale Mittelstandspartei''), had 160 men infiltrate the SS and begin gathering information on Hitler's movements. The conspiracy was uncovered by the Gestapo and the conspirators arrested. Mylius escaped arrest through the aid of influential friends, including Field Marshall

Erich von Manstein Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein (born Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski; 24 November 1887 – 9 June 1973) was a Germans, German Officer (armed forces), military officer of Poles (people), Polish descent who served as a ''Generalfeld ...

. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , , Berlin , , The writer Edgar Jung, who due to his occupation as the speech writer of Hitler's conservative Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen had the opportunity to get close to Hitler, during the Spring of 1934 planned to shoot him as a first step of a scheme envisioned by himself and some associates to overthrow the Nazi Government. However, some of Jung's confidantes convinced him not to go through with his plan, fearing that being killed in an assassination might turn Hitler into a martyr and may thus render a dead Hitler even more dangerous than a living. Jung was arrested by the Gestapo on June 25, 1934, in his Berlin apartment and murdered in a forest North of the city during the night of June 30 to July 1, 1934. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , 1934–1939 , Charlottenburger Chaussee, Berlin , {{sortname, Noel Mason-MacFarlane , Lieutenant-Colonel Noel Mason-Macfarlane, Military Attache to the British

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

in Berlin, did not trust Hitler and tinkered with the notion that it might pay off to contrive Hitler's assassination. It could have been achieved by

sniper A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

rifle-shot from Mason-Macfarlane's drawing room which overlooked the Charlottenburger Chaussee where there was a saluting base podium from which Hitler received the salute from the German armed forces during his birthday parade on 20 April. When Mason-Macfarlane proposed this plan to his superiors, it was turned down. The British Foreign Secretary,

Lord Halifax Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as the Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and the Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a British Conservative politician of the 1930s. He h ...

argued that "We have not reached that stage ... when we have to use assassination as a substitute for diplomacy". , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1935, } , Berlin , Marwitz group , Several officials in the German Foreign Office attempted to instigate an army coup against Hitler; they distributed a letter asserting that "The oath of allegiance to Hitler has lost its meaning since he is ready to sacrifice Germany", and that "now was the time to act." , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1935, } , Berlin , {{sortname, Paul Josef, Stuermer , Dr. Paul Joseph Stuermer led a resistance group composed of several officers, university professors, businessmen, and government workers. The group assisted in several assassination attempts including Beppo Römer's attempt. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1936, December, 20 ,

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

, {{sortname, Helmut, Hirsch ,

Helmut Hirsch Helmut Hirsch (; January 27, 1916 – June 4, 1937) was a German Jewish artist and activist who was executed for his part in a bombing plot intended to destabilize the German Reich. While a full and accurate account of the plot is unknown, his ...

, a German Jew and a member of the Strasserist Black Front, was tasked with planting two suitcases filled with explosives at the Nazi party headquarters in Nuremberg. The plot was revealed to the Gestapo by a double agent and Hirsch was executed in the

guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...

on 4 June 1937. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1937, } , Berlin , {{sortname, Josef, Thomas , On 26 November, mental patient Josef Thomas, who traveled from Elberfeld to Berlin to shoot Hitler and air force commander

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

, was arrested by the Gestapo after he confessed his intent.''Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia'', p. 227 , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1937, } ,

, Unknown man in SS uniform , An unidentified man in SS uniform reportedly tried to kill Hitler during a rally at the Berlin Sportpalast. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1938, September, 28 , Berlin , {{sortname, Hans, Oster, {{sortname, Helmuth, Groscurth ,

Generalmajor is the Germanic languages, Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central Europe, Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and R ...

Hans Oster ''Generalmajor'' Hans Paul Oster (9 August 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a general in the ''Wehrmacht'' and a leading figure of the anti-Nazi German resistance from 1938 to 1943. As deputy head of the counter-espionage bureau in the ''Abwehr'' (Ge ...

and other high-ranking conservatives in the Wehrmacht formed a plan to overthrow Hitler if he declared war on

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

. Forces controlled by the plotters would storm the Reich Chancellery, arrest or assassinate Hitler, take control of the government, and restore the exiled

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...

as Emperor. The plan, that relied upon British support against the Nazis, was abandoned after Britain and France agreed to German annexation of

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and ) is a German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the border districts of Bohe ...

in the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, French Republic, and the Kingdom of Italy. The agreement provided for the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–194 ...

, neutralizing the immediate risk of war. Many of the conspirators later took part in the 1944 20 July Plot.{{Main, Oster Conspiracy , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1938, November, 9 ,

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, {{sortname, Maurice, Bavaud ,

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

theology student Maurice Bavaud posed as a reporter and planned to shoot Hitler from the reviewing stand as he passed through the parade. His view of Hitler was blocked by the unwitting crowd and he was forced to abandon the plan. He then attempted to follow Hitler but failed. On his way back to Paris he was discovered by a train conductor and turned over to the Gestapo. Bavaud was executed by guillotine at Berlin's Plötzensee Prison on the morning of 14 May 1941. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1939, October, 5 ,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, {{sortname, Michał, Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski, Service for Poland's Victory , General Michał Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski and other members of the Polish Army attempted to detonate hidden explosives during Hitler's victory parade in Warsaw. 500 kg of TNT were concealed in a ditch, ready to be detonated by Polish

sappers A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses, ...

. However, at the last moment, the parade was diverted and the saboteurs missed their target.{{cite web , title=Warszawski zamach na Hitlera: Hitler przemknął im koło nosa , date=October 5, 2011 , language=Polish , url=http://www.polityka.pl/historia/1519778,1,warszawski-zamach-na-hitlera.read , access-date=October 8, 2011 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010182831/http://www.polityka.pl/historia/1519778,1,warszawski-zamach-na-hitlera.read , archive-date=October 10, 2011 , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1939, November, 8 , Munich , {{sortname, Georg, Elser , German carpenter Georg Elser placed a time-bomb at the Bürgerbräukeller in

, where Hitler was due to give his annual speech in commemoration of the

Beer Hall Putsch The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and other leaders i ...

. Hitler left earlier than expected and the bomb detonated, killing eight and injuring sixty-two others. Following the attempt, Elser was held as a prisoner for over five years until he was executed at the Dachau concentration camp less than a month before the surrender of Nazi Germany. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1939, } , Berlin , {{sortname, Erich, Kordt , German diplomat and resistance fighter Erich Kordt hatched an assassination plot along with officer Hasso von Etzdorf to plant explosives, but the plan was abandoned after the security restrictions following Georg Elser's attempt to kill Hitler made the acquisition and concealment of the necessary explosives too dangerous. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , 1941–1943 (several) , Berlin , {{sortname, Beppo, Römer , Beppo Römer, along with several co-conspirators of the resistance group Solf Circle, plotted once again to assassinate Hitler. He obtained funds from co-conspirator Nikolaus von Halem and kept track of Hitler's movements through a contact at the Berlin City Commandment. However, before an opportunity presented itself, the Gestapo unraveled the plot. Römer was sentenced to death on 16 June 1944 and executed on 25 September of that year at Brandenburg-Görden Prison in

Brandenburg an der Havel Brandenburg an der Havel (; ) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, which served as the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg until it was replaced by Berlin in 1417. With a population of 72,040 (as of 2020), it is located on the banks of the ...

. Von Halem was sentenced to death as well and executed on 9 October 1944. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1943, } , Walki,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, {{sortname, Hubert, Lanz, {{sortname, Hans, Speidel, {{sortname, Hyazinth Graf, Strachwitz , General der Gebirgstruppe Hubert Lanz and Generals Hans Speidel, Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz, and Paul Loehning planned to arrest or kill Hitler during his visit to Army Detachment Kempf in Ukraine. Strachwitz was to surround Hitler and his escorts with his tanks. Lanz stated that he would have then arrested Hitler, and in the event of resistance, Strachwitz's tanks would have killed the entire group. Hitler cancelled the visit and the plan was dropped. Lanz told of this plot after the war. However Strachwitz's cousin, Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, who attempted to assassinate Hitler in 1943, said Strachwitz had expressed the belief to him several times that killing Hitler would have constituted murder. That is, Strachwitz was too much a Prussian officer to consider assassinating Hitler, which suggests that the plot never existed. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1943, March, 13 , Flight from

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

, {{sortname, Henning von, Tresckow, {{sortname, Fabian von, Schlabrendorff , On the return flight from a front visit, Hitler visited the headquarters of the Army Group Center in

. During the visit there were several attempts on his life: *Under the direction of Major Georg von Boeselager, several officers were to intercept and assassinate Hitler in a grove on his way from the airport to the headquarters. Hitler was guarded by an armed SS escort; the plan was then dropped. *During lunchtime, Tresckow, Boeselager, and others planned to get up at a sign and fire pistols at Hitler. The commander-in-chief of the Army Group, Field Marshal

Günther von Kluge Günther Adolf Ferdinand von Kluge (30 October 1882 – 19 August 1944) was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) during World War II who held commands on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, until his suicide in connection with ...

, knew about the plan but did not intervene. However, the plan was abandoned when it became clear that Hitler would not be present. Kluge forbade the attack, citing his fear of a possible civil war erupting between the SS and the army. *In a last-ditch attempt, Fabian von Schlabrendorff gave a time bomb camouflaged as a package of two liqueur bottles to an officer in Hitler's entourage, as a supposed gift to a friend in Germany. The bomb was supposed to explode on the return flight over Poland. The package was placed in the hold of the aircraft, where it iced up, causing the detonator to fail. Realizing the failure, Schlabrendorff immediately flew to Germany and recovered the package before it was discovered. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1943, March, 21 , Berlin , {{sortname, Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von, Gersdorff , After becoming close friends with leading Army Group Center conspirator Colonel (later Major-General) Henning von Tresckow,

Gersdorff agreed to join the conspiracy to kill Hitler in order to save Germany. After Tresckow's elaborate plan to assassinate Hitler on 13 March 1943 failed, Gersdorff declared himself ready to participate in an assassination attempt that would entail his own death. On 21 March 1943, Hitler visited the Zeughaus Berlin, the old armory on

Unter den Linden Unter den Linden (, "under the Tilia, linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte (locality), Mitte district of Berlin, Germany. Running from the Berlin Palace to the Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the Tilia, linden trees (known ...

, to inspect captured Soviet weapons. A group of top Nazi and leading military officials – among them

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

Wilhelm Keitel Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (; 22 September 188216 October 1946) was a German field marshal who held office as chief of the (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's armed forces, during World War II. He signed a number of criminal ...

, and

Grand Admiral Grand admiral is a historic naval rank, the highest rank in the several European navies that used it. It is best known for its use in Germany as . A comparable rank in modern navies is that of admiral of the fleet. Grand admirals in individual ...

Karl Dönitz Karl Dönitz (; 16 September 1891 – 24 December 1980) was a German grand admiral and convicted war criminal who, following Adolf Hitler's Death of Adolf Hitler, suicide, succeeded him as head of state of Nazi Germany during the Second World ...

– were present as well. As an expert, Gersdorff was to guide Hitler on a tour of the exhibition. Moments after Hitler entered the museum, Gersdorff set off two ten-minute delayed fuses on explosive devices hidden in his coat pockets. His plan was to throw himself around Hitler in a death embrace. A detailed plan for a coup d'état had been worked out and was ready to go but, contrary to expectations, Hitler raced through the museum in less than ten minutes. After Hitler had left the building, Gersdorff defused the devices in a public bathroom "at the last second". After the attempt, he was transferred back to the Eastern Front, where he managed to evade suspicion. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1943, November, 16 , Wolf's Lair , {{sortname, Axel Freiherr von dem, Bussche-Streithorst , Encouraged by Claus Stauffenberg,

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Axel von dem Bussche agreed to carry out a suicide bombing in order to kill Hitler. Bussche, who was over two meters tall, blonde and blue-eyed, exemplified the Nazi "Nordic ideal" and was thus chosen to personally model the Army's new winter uniform in front of Hitler. In his backpack, Bussche concealed a landmine, which he planned to detonate while embracing Hitler. However, the viewing was canceled after the rail car containing the new uniforms was destroyed in an Allied air raid on Berlin. , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1944, February} , Wolf's Lair , {{sortname, Ewald-Heinrich von, Kleist-Schmenzin , Ewald von Kleist attempted a scheme similar to Von dem Bussche's. However, the uniform inspection was once again postponed, and eventually cancelled by Hitler.{{cite book , last=Lehrer , first=Steven , title=The Reich Chancellery and Führerbunker Complex: An Illustrated History of the Seat of the Nazi Regime , publisher=McFarland , year=2006 , isbn=0-7864-2393-5 , pages=214 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TwZsQgAACAAJ&q=steven+lehrer+chancellery , access-date=2023-12-04 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125171141/https://books.google.com/books?id=TwZsQgAACAAJ&q=steven+lehrer+chancellery , archive-date=2024-01-25 , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1944, March, 11 , Berghof , {{sortname, Eberhard von, Breitenbuch , On 9 March 1944, covert German resistance member Busch and his aides were summoned to brief Hitler at the Berghof in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

on 11 March. In discussion with Tresckow, Breitenbuch declined to attempt a suicide bombing. Instead he would try to shoot Hitler in the head with a 7.65mm Browning pistol concealed in his trouser pocket.{{cite book , year=2000 , author=Ian Kershaw , author-link=Ian Kershaw , title=Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis , publisher=Penguin Press , isbn=0-393-32252-1 Busch and Breitenbuch travelled on a Condor aircraft to Bavaria, and were allowed into the Berghof. But SS guards had been ordered – earlier that day – not to permit aides into the conference room with Hitler, preventing Breitenbuch's attempt.{{cite book , year=1997 , author=Michael C Thomsett , author-link=Michael Thomsett , title=The German Opposition to Hitler: The Resistance, the Underground, and Assassination Plots, 1938–1945 , publisher=McFarland , isbn=0-78-6403721 , - style="vertical-align: top;" , {{Dts, 1944, July, 20 , Wolf's Lair , {{sortname, Claus von, Stauffenberg , Claus von Stauffenberg attempted to kill Hitler by detonating an explosive hidden in a briefcase, however it failed due to the location of the bomb at the time of detonation, the blast only dealing minor injuries to Hitler.{{Main, 20 July plot

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See also

References

Further reading