Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 21 July 1944
- Since the execution was carried out at night, the place was lit by truck headlights.
On this day in 1944, Colonel Count von Stauffenberg was executed in Berlin, along with other conspirators who attempted to kill Adolf Hitler.
It was Hitler’s swift and brutal reprisal, in which the executions were carried out by urgent emergency procedure.
Stauffenberg’s assassination attempt on Hitler’s life was depicted in the film Valkyrie several years ago, with Tom Cruise in the lead role.
Regarding the swiftness of liquidation, it is sufficient to say that the execution by firing squad was carried out between midnight and 1:00 on this day and that the assassination attempt occurred on the previous day.
Since the execution was carried out at night, the place was lit by truck headlights.
It was performed by a makeshift firing squad in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock, where the offices of the German supreme military command were located.
