Attempted assassination of Hitler in Munich’s Bürgerbräukeller

Source: Georg-Elser-Arbeitskreis Johann Georg Elser

During a ceremony in Munich’s Bürgerbräukeller commemorating the National Socialists’ attempted putsch of 1923, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes a bomb attack on 8 November 1939. Just prior to the explosion, which kills eight people, the „Führer“ unexpectedly left the meeting hall.

The would-be assassin Johann Georg Elser, a cabinet maker by training, had long been a vehement opponent of the National Socialists. Since the outbreak of war on 1 September he was convinced that only the death of Hitler could prevent worse things from happening. Elser is arrested the same evening while attempting to cross the Swiss border and is incarcerated in a concentration camp where he will be murdered in 1945.

Memorial stone situated in the Georg-Elser park in Heidenheim-Schnaitheim, where Elser worked as a carpenter Source: This image ist from the article Georg Elser in the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and is under GNU-license for free documentation.