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Authors: Anton Gill
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and demands became increasingly outrageous, branding him unbalanced. Many secret discussion groups sprang up in Nazi Germany which contributed to the Resistance cause in keeping the spirit of free thinking alive. Among these was the Wednesday Club. It was composed of sixteen distinguished scientists, including the eminent surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch, Johannes Popitz — the only member of the Resistance to hold a post in Hitler’s Cabinet, as Finance Minister of Prussia — and the conservative academic Professor Jens Jessen. Two specialist members were invited to join, as political and military experts. One was the Ambassador to Rome, Ulrich von Hassell; the other was Ludwig Beck. All were to be involved in the Resistance; many of them died as a result.
Beck was no pacifist, but he was convinced of France’s military superiority, and, in his attitude to war, he mirrored the great early nineteenth-century German strategist and military thinker, General von Clausewitz, whose central premise was that war is a continuation of politics, to be used only when all other means of resolving a problem have failed. That this view is in direct contrast to Hitler’s need hardly be stressed.
Beck’s career was exemplary. By 1930 he was a Major-General, [21] but in that year came a crisis: two of the young officers under his command in 5 Artillery Regiment, Fulda, were accused of distributing Nazi propaganda. This was in contravention of Army regulations, which decreed that no soldier should have any political affiliation. Beck accepted the accusation, but, angry at not having been advised of it in advance, offered his resignation. It was refused, and Beck resumed his career. He became a Lieutenant-General in 1932, and joined Army Command, Berlin, under Kurt von Hammerstein, in October 1933. He was pleased to see the SA crushed during the action of the Night of the Long Knives, but he may well have genuinely believed that the method of the SA’s destruction posed a threat to national security. Certainly he was disturbed at the deaths of Schleicher and von Bredow, and this probably marked the beginning of his disquietude at the Nazi regime. A stickler for order himself, he would not have liked such flagrant flouting of the law. Further, he was distressed at Blomberg’s refusal to stand up to Hitler over the killings of his brother officers. Blomberg once more actively supported Hitler in this case, arguing that, as Hitler was the supreme lawgiver, it was his right to dispose of traitors as he saw fit. The Army Establishment would have argued that the two generals at least had the right to a hearing before a court martial.
Whatever Beck’s personal views, he kept them to himself. In July 1935 he accepted the post of Chief of the General Staff, which represented the zenith of his career. In October he was promoted again, and three years later he retired with the rank of Colonel-General, one step below Field Marshal. But by then he had become a disillusioned man.
Oster and Beck were the two lynchpins of the early Resistance to Hitler, the driving force behind all efforts to remove him in the years immediately before and after the outbreak of war. Neither of them, however, was in command of troops. In the meantime came the reaction to Hitler of another big battalion — far greater in size and potential power than the Army, the Nazi Party, or the SA — the Church.
Chapter Three – A Fortress Strong
In 1931, the Evangelical parish of St Ann’s, Dahlem, in southwest Berlin, welcomed a new pastor. Martin Niemöller, handsome and humorous, was popular from the word go. Now just a year short of forty, he had been one of the most successful submarine commanders of the First World War, but after a brief period as a farmhand after its conclusion, he had entered the Church, and was ordained in 1924. Politically he leant to the Right, and was one of those prominent members of the Resistance who initially supported National
Beck was no pacifist, but he was convinced of France’s military superiority, and, in his attitude to war, he mirrored the great early nineteenth-century German strategist and military thinker, General von Clausewitz, whose central premise was that war is a continuation of politics, to be used only when all other means of resolving a problem have failed. That this view is in direct contrast to Hitler’s need hardly be stressed.
Beck’s career was exemplary. By 1930 he was a Major-General, [21] but in that year came a crisis: two of the young officers under his command in 5 Artillery Regiment, Fulda, were accused of distributing Nazi propaganda. This was in contravention of Army regulations, which decreed that no soldier should have any political affiliation. Beck accepted the accusation, but, angry at not having been advised of it in advance, offered his resignation. It was refused, and Beck resumed his career. He became a Lieutenant-General in 1932, and joined Army Command, Berlin, under Kurt von Hammerstein, in October 1933. He was pleased to see the SA crushed during the action of the Night of the Long Knives, but he may well have genuinely believed that the method of the SA’s destruction posed a threat to national security. Certainly he was disturbed at the deaths of Schleicher and von Bredow, and this probably marked the beginning of his disquietude at the Nazi regime. A stickler for order himself, he would not have liked such flagrant flouting of the law. Further, he was distressed at Blomberg’s refusal to stand up to Hitler over the killings of his brother officers. Blomberg once more actively supported Hitler in this case, arguing that, as Hitler was the supreme lawgiver, it was his right to dispose of traitors as he saw fit. The Army Establishment would have argued that the two generals at least had the right to a hearing before a court martial.
Whatever Beck’s personal views, he kept them to himself. In July 1935 he accepted the post of Chief of the General Staff, which represented the zenith of his career. In October he was promoted again, and three years later he retired with the rank of Colonel-General, one step below Field Marshal. But by then he had become a disillusioned man.
Oster and Beck were the two lynchpins of the early Resistance to Hitler, the driving force behind all efforts to remove him in the years immediately before and after the outbreak of war. Neither of them, however, was in command of troops. In the meantime came the reaction to Hitler of another big battalion — far greater in size and potential power than the Army, the Nazi Party, or the SA — the Church.
Chapter Three – A Fortress Strong
In 1931, the Evangelical parish of St Ann’s, Dahlem, in southwest Berlin, welcomed a new pastor. Martin Niemöller, handsome and humorous, was popular from the word go. Now just a year short of forty, he had been one of the most successful submarine commanders of the First World War, but after a brief period as a farmhand after its conclusion, he had entered the Church, and was ordained in 1924. Politically he leant to the Right, and was one of those prominent members of the Resistance who initially supported National
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