Erwin von Witzleben
A Prussian field marshal whose conscience led him to plot against Hitler, paying with his life for a failed attempt at tyranny's end.
1881–1944 (age 63)·Field Marshal of Nazi Germany·Birthday: December 4·The Gilded Age
Biography
Erwin von Witzleben represented an older Germany—a career officer steeped in tradition and a sense of honor that ultimately collided with the barbarism of the Nazi regime. He served with distinction in the First World War and rose through the ranks of the Reichswehr. Initially benefiting from Hitler's military expansion, he commanded armies during the Blitzkrieg in France and was promoted to Field Marshal. But the brutality of the regime and the reckless direction of the war sickened him. By 1942, he was a central figure in the military resistance, a respected senior officer whose involvement lent crucial credibility to the conspiracy. In the plans for the July 20th plot, he was designated to assume command of the entire Wehrmacht once Hitler was dead. The failure of the bomb at the Wolf's Lair doomed him. Arrested, humiliated in a sham trial before the notorious Volksgerichtshof, and stripped of his rank, he was executed with brutal simplicity, a final act of defiance in his refusal to be hooded.
The Gilded Age
1860–1882
Born during or after the Civil War, they built industrial America — the railroads, the steel mills, the first skyscrapers. An era of massive wealth, massive inequality, and the belief that the future belonged to whoever could build it fastest.
Erwin was born in 1881, placing them squarely in The Gilded Age. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Erwin Was Born
The biggest hits of 1881
Erwin's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1881Born
President: Chester A. Arthur
1886Started school
Statue of Liberty dedicated in New York Harbor
President: Grover Cleveland
1894Became a teenager
President: Grover Cleveland
1897Could drive
President: William McKinley
1899Could vote
President: William McKinley
1902Turned 21
The eruption of Mount Pelee kills 30,000 in Martinique
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1911Turned 30
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 in New York
President: William Howard Taft
1921Turned 40
First commercial radio broadcasts
President: Warren G. Harding"My Man" — Fanny Brice
1931Turned 50
The Empire State Building opens as the world's tallest
Gas: $0.17/galPresident: Herbert Hoover"Minnie the Moocher" — Cab CallowayBest Picture: Cimarron
1941Turned 60
Pearl Harbor attack brings the US into WWII
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,060Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Chattanooga Choo Choo" — Glenn MillerBest Picture: How Green Was My Valley
1944Died at 63
D-Day: Allied forces land at Normandy
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $3,400Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Swinging on a Star" — Bing CrosbyBest Picture: Going My Way
Key Achievements
- Served as Commander-in-Chief of the German Army in the West (Oberbefehlshaber West) in 1941-1942.
- Was a central military coordinator in the July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
- Was designated to become the Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht in the planned post-coup government.
Did You Know?
He was the first field marshal to be executed after the failed July 20 plot.
At his show trial, he appeared in shabby clothes without a tie or suspenders, having been deliberately humiliated by the Gestapo.
His last words before his execution were reportedly, 'I die for my fatherland, I have a clear conscience.'
“A soldier's obedience has its limits, and those limits are reached when conscience commands resistance.”
