Who was the Guy Fawkes in the Munich cellar ?.
Several attempts are believed to have been made on the Herr
Hitler's
life, but non more publicised and mysterious vandal bomb explosion
in the famous beer cller at Munich on
8
November 1939.
A man must have luck, Herr
Hitler
is reported to have said when he was told of the bomb explosion
in the hall at Munich. Luckily, indeed, was the
Führer,
for his escape was entirely due to the fact that he left the
hall a little earlier than he had expected. As it was only
15 minutes after
Hitler
and many of his most prominent supporters had gone to the
station an infernal machine exploded in the ceiling, and in
the resulting crash the platform on which the
Führer
had just been standing was buried beneath 10 feet of debris.
Nine people were killed, including two long-standing members
of the S. S., and more than 60 injured.
The meeting was held in the famous beer hall in Munich the
Bürgerbräukeller from which
Hitler
marched on the occasion of his Putsch in 1923, and all of
thousand persons present were carefully hand-picked members
of the Nazi old guard each one of them must have, carried
a party membership card with a number below 10,000 assembled
on the occasion of their annual reunion to celebrate the march
that initiated their movement.
Following the explosion there was a scene of great confusion.
The black guards flung a cordon round the place, and in order
to facilitate the work of the rescue the lights were turned
on in the immediate neighbourhood. This sudden raising of
the blackout gave rise to the spread of rumours that the war
had ended, and that the beer halls and in the streets excited
crowds started noisy, peace celebrations until they were silenced
by police and black guards.
Jews and the British again !
For several hours no official comment on the outrage was available.
Then every German commentor brazenly declared that the attempt
on the
Führer's
life was the work of British secret service agents, and in
a short time, too the Jews were being bracketed in the accusation.
Outside official circles, however, there were doubts. How
was it that a bomb could be placed in position in a building
which had been most thoroughly searched by the Nazi blackguards
just before the meeting ? And what a strange thing, it was
that
Hitler,
on this one occasion should not only have delivered a speech
which had not been previously advertised, but most extraordinary
of happenings, have put a stop to his eloquence earlier than
was expected !
Soon rumours got around that the attempt had been made by
men of the Nazi party sympathisers with that Captain roehm
been slaughtered in their blood purge of 1934, because they
advocated a radical policy very much on the same lines as
that now favoured by Herr
Hitler
himself.
Someone spoke knowingly of the Reichstag Fire, which occurred,
all was made to occur, so opportunely on the eve of the 1933
vital election. Might it not be possible that the bomb in
the Bürgerbräukeller had been similarly, conveniently
timed to go off when the German people needed some evidence
of British devilish Malignity in order to develop a really
first class War Fever ?
The anti-Nazi movement in Germany, however, claimed that a
real attempt had been made on the
Führer's
life. In Munich, declared the announcer Freedom station broadcasting
on
9 November
1939 the first bomb against German dictatorship has exploded,
many will follow. Though
Hitler
has eluded once more, the punishment he deserves, he will
not escape from his fate. Already the myths of
Hitlerism
have been smashed by that infernal machine. There is nobody
in Germany who will not help the heroes of Munich to flee,
who will not give them shelter and assist them in hiding,
so that they will be able next time to strike
Hitler
himself.
The theory that British Secret Service agents, acting on the
instructions of Mr Chamberlain, were responsible for the explosion
appeared to be discarded when
Heinrich
Himmler announced on
11
November 1939 that preparations for the unsuccessful outrage
in the Bürgerbräukeller cellar were begun as early
as late August. Suspicion falls on a person who came frequently
to do work in the gallery of the hall at the time. This mysterious
individual was described as a man about 5'9" 30 to 35
years old, wearing workmans yellowish clothes with knee breeches
and a peaked cap.
The Gestapo Worried
This claim was received, even in Germany with some misgiving.
It would be very remarkable a time fuse, which produced an
explosion accurately after some 2 1/2 months ! The occasion
gave the Nazi authorities a welcome opportunity for stimulating
public loyalty to
Hitler,
and led to a great round up of all groups in Germany suspected
of hostility to the Nazi regime. The Gestapo asked for information
to be given of any suspicious remarks overheard after the
broadcast of the Bürgerbräukeller meeting, such
as surprise at the shortness of
Hitler's
speech. the offer of a reward of £45,000 for information
that might throw light on the outrage, special officers had
to be set up to deal with a flood of denuncitions which poured
in. Police raids and house-to-house searches continued day
and night, and thousands of arrests were made of Jews, Monarchists
(including many army officers), Social Democrats, and that
even members of the police, but not apparently Communists.
The Gestapo itself was uneasy following numerous arrests within
its own sacrosanct, body. Perhaps the most pointed comment
was that the German Freedom station's announcement on the
10 November
1939 Our illegal Front Group, which new how to enter the
Munich beer cellar will also push open the door of Germany's
future.
Other:
Articles:
The Second Great War.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
The War Illustrated.
Edited by Sir John Hamilton
2194 Days Of War.
ISBN-10: 086136614X
For a complete list of
sources
