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172-730: In the second half of the 18th century, Berlin's population was growing and there was insufficient land for cemeteries because of pressure to build on vacant land and fear of epidemics. Prussian King Frederick II , "the Great", donated land outside the Oranienburg Gate of the Berlin Customs Wall for this purpose; 4 cemeteries were established, of which the French cemetery and the Dorotheenstadt Cemetery survive. The Dorotheenstadt Cemetery

344-455: A bomb on his plane ( Operation Spark ). The bomb failed to detonate, and a second attempt a week later with Hitler at an exhibition of captured Soviet weaponry in Berlin also failed. These failures demoralised the conspirators. During 1943 Tresckow tried without success to recruit senior army field commanders such as Field Marshal Erich von Manstein and Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt , to support

516-509: A briefcase full of explosives to a conference in the Wolf's Lair . The explosives were armed and placed next to Hitler, but it appears they were moved unwittingly at the last moment behind a table leg by Heinz Brandt , inadvertently saving Hitler's life. When the bomb detonated, it killed Brandt and two others, while the rest of the room's occupants were injured, one of whom, Rudolf Schmundt , later died from his injuries. Hitler's trousers were singed by

688-652: A casualty when a bullet smashed a snuffbox he was carrying. Nevertheless, the Austro-Russian forces hesitated and stopped their advance for the year, an event Frederick later called the " Miracle of the House of Brandenburg ". Frederick spent the remainder of the year in a futile attempt to manoeuvre the Austrians out of Saxony, where they had recaptured Dresden. His effort cost him further losses when his general Friedrich August von Finck capitulated at Maxen on 20 November. At

860-436: A change of regime, but this remains speculation. Tresckow and the inner circle of plotters had no intention of removing Hitler just to see him replaced by the dreaded and ruthless SS chief, and the plan was to kill them both if possible—to the extent that Stauffenberg's first attempt on 11 July was aborted because Himmler was not present. On Saturday, 1 July 1944 Stauffenberg was appointed Chief of Staff to General Fromm at

1032-557: A close relationship, which lasted until her death in 1758. Frederick and his sisters were brought up by a Huguenot governess and tutor and learned French and German simultaneously. Undeterred by his father's desire that his education be entirely religious and pragmatic, the young Frederick developed a preference for music, literature, and French culture. Frederick Wilhelm thought these interests were effeminate, as they clashed with his militarism, resulting in his frequent beating and humiliation of Frederick. Nevertheless, Frederick, with

1204-1057: A contingent of troops to aid the Army of the Holy Roman Empire during the War of the Polish Succession , Frederick studied under Prince Eugene of Savoy during the campaign against France on the Rhine ; he noted the weakness of the Imperial Army under Eugene's command, something that he would capitalise on at Austria's expense when he took the throne. Frederick William, weakened by gout and seeking to reconcile, granted Frederick Schloss Rheinsberg in Rheinsberg , north of Neuruppin. At Rheinsberg, Frederick assembled musicians, actors and other artists. He spent his time reading, watching and acting in dramatic plays, and composing and playing music. Frederick formed

1376-618: A defender of German liberties. To stop Joseph II's attempts to acquire Bavaria, Frederick enlisted the help of the Electors of Hanover and Saxony along with several other minor German princes. Perhaps even more significantly, Frederick benefited from the defection of the senior prelate of the German Church, the Archbishop of Mainz, who was also the arch-chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, which further strengthened Frederick and Prussia's standing amid

1548-702: A former lover and favourite, on the Polish throne. After Russia occupied the Danubian Principalities in 1769–1770, Frederick's representative in Saint Petersburg, his brother Prince Henry, convinced Frederick and Maria Theresa that the balance of power would be maintained by a tripartite division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth instead of Russia taking land from the Ottomans. They agreed to

1720-544: A government acceptable to the western Allies could be formed, and a separate peace negotiated in time to prevent a Soviet invasion of Germany. In August 1943, Tresckow met, for the first time, a young staff officer named Lieutenant Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg . Severely wounded in North Africa, Claus von Stauffenberg was a political conservative and zealous German nationalist. From early 1942, he had come to share two basic convictions with many military officers: that Germany

1892-578: A marginal victory at the Battle of Torgau on 3 November, which secured Berlin from further raids. Frederick became a casualty when he was hit in the chest by a spent bullet. By 1761, both the Austrian and Prussian military forces were so exhausted that no major battles were fought between them. Frederick's position became even more desperate when Britain, having achieved victory in the American and Indian theatres of

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2064-472: A much larger Franco-Austrian army at the Battle of Rossbach and another Austrian army at the Battle of Leuthen . Frederick hoped these two victories would force Austria to negotiate, but Maria Theresa was determined not to make peace until she had recovered Silesia. Despite its strong performance, the losses suffered from combat, disease and desertion had severely reduced the quality of the Prussian army. In

2236-610: A new world war were developed in 1938 and 1939, but were aborted because of the indecision of Army General Franz Halder and Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch , and the failure of the Western powers to oppose Hitler's aggression until 1939. In 1942, a new conspiratorial group formed, led by Colonel Henning von Tresckow , a member of Field Marshal Fedor von Bock 's staff, who commanded Army Group Centre in Operation Barbarossa . Tresckow systematically recruited oppositionists into

2408-512: A period of considerable religious and political freedom. Soon Protestants were barred from public offices and the Sejm (Polish Parliament). Frederick took advantage of this situation by becoming the protector of Protestant interests in Poland in the name of religious freedom. Frederick further opened Prussian control by signing an alliance with Catherine the Great who placed Stanisław August Poniatowski ,

2580-642: A romantic model of a glorified warrior, praising his leadership, administrative efficiency, devotion to duty and success in building Prussia into a great power. Frederick remained an admired historical figure through Germany's defeat in World War ;I , and the Nazis glorified him as a great German leader prefiguring Adolf Hitler , who personally idolised him. His reputation became less favourable in Germany after World War II , partly due to being symbolically adopted by

2752-509: A seizure of power. Tresckow, in particular, worked on his Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Centre, Field Marshal Günther von Kluge , to persuade him to move against Hitler and at times succeeded in gaining his consent, only to find him indecisive at the last minute. However, despite their refusals, none of the Field Marshals reported their treasonous activities to the Gestapo or Hitler. While

2924-408: A terrible man he was. But he was just, intelligent, and skilled in the management of affairs... it was through his efforts, through his tireless labour, that I have been able to accomplish everything that I have done since." Frederick was twenty-eight years old when his father died and he ascended to the throne of Prussia. Frederick William I had left him with a highly militarised state. Prussia

3096-516: A territorial bridge between Pomerania, Brandenburg, and his East Prussian provinces. The new territories would provide an increased tax base, manpower for the military, and serve as a surrogate for the overseas colonies of the other great powers. Poland was vulnerable to partition due to poor governance and the interference of foreign powers in its internal affairs. Frederick himself was partly responsible for this weakness by opposing attempts at financial and political reform in Poland, and undermining

3268-482: A third. It also prevented Augustus III , King of Poland and Elector of Saxony , from seeking to connect his own disparate lands through Silesia. In late March 1741, Frederick set out on campaign again to capture the few remaining fortresses within the province that were still holding out. He was surprised by the arrival of an Austrian army, which he fought at the Battle of Mollwitz on 10 April 1741. Though Frederick had served under Prince Eugene of Savoy, this

3440-513: Is referred to by the name " Operation Valkyrie ", which also has become associated with the entire event. Within hours, the Nazi regime had reasserted its control of Germany. A few members of the conspiracy, including Stauffenberg, were executed by firing squad the same night. In the months after the coup d'état attempt, the Gestapo arrested more than 7,000 people, 4,980 of whom were executed. Roughly 200 conspirators were executed. The apparent aim of

3612-656: The Wolfsschanze near Rastenburg in East Prussia , with occasional breaks at his Bavarian mountain retreat Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden . In both places, he was heavily guarded and rarely saw people he did not know or trust. Himmler and the Gestapo were increasingly suspicious of plots against Hitler and rightly suspected the officers of the General Staff, which was indeed the source of many conspiracies against him. By

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3784-563: The Wolfsschanze who was in on the plot, had phoned the Bendlerblock and told the plotters that Hitler had survived the explosion. As a result, the plot to mobilise Operation Valkyrie would have no chance of succeeding once the officers of the Reserve Army knew that Hitler was alive. There was more confusion when Stauffenberg's aircraft landed and he phoned from the airport to say that Hitler

3956-615: The Wolfsschanze , this condition had been dropped. The plan was for Stauffenberg to plant the briefcase with the bomb in Hitler's conference room with a timer running, excuse himself from the meeting, wait for the explosion, then fly back to Berlin and join the other plotters at the Bendlerblock . Operation Valkyrie would be mobilised, the Reserve Army would take control of Germany and the other Nazi leaders would be arrested. Beck would be appointed provisional head of state, Goerdeler would be chancellor, and Witzleben would be commander-in-chief of

4128-515: The 20 July 1944 assassination plot against Adolf Hitler and were executed by the SS in a nearby park on the night of 22/23 April. The monument also commemorates Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans von Dohnanyi , who were killed in concentration camps , and Justus Delbrück , who survived the war but died soon after in Russian captivity. Next to the memorial, a marker points to a mass grave of 64 people killed near

4300-600: The Battle of Chotusitz . Frederick's retrained cavalry proved more effective than at Mollwitz, but once more it was the discipline of the Prussian infantry that won the field and allowed Frederick to claim a major victory. This victory, along with the Franco-Bavarian forces capturing Prague, forced the Austrians to seek peace. The terms of the Treaty of Breslau , negotiated in June 1742, gave Prussia all of Silesia and Glatz County, with

4472-546: The Bendlerblock in central Berlin, who controlled an independent system of communications to reserve units throughout Germany. Linking this asset to Tresckow's resistance group in Army Group Centre created a viable coup apparatus. In late 1942, Tresckow and Olbricht formulated a plan to assassinate Hitler and stage an overthrow during Hitler's visit to the headquarters of Army Group Centre at Smolensk in March 1943, by placing

4644-678: The Convention of Westminster , by which Prussia would protect Hanover against French attack, and Britain would no longer subsidise Russia. This treaty triggered the Diplomatic Revolution in which Habsburg Austria and Bourbon France, who had been traditional enemies, allied together with Russia to defeat the Anglo-Prussian coalition. To strengthen his strategic position against this coalition, on 29 August 1756, Frederick's well-prepared army preemptively invaded Saxony. His invasion triggered

4816-548: The First Partition of Poland in 1772 without war. Frederick acquired most of Royal Prussia, annexing 38,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi) and 600,000 inhabitants. Although Frederick's share of the partition was the smallest of the partitioning powers, the lands he acquired had roughly the same economic value as the others and had great strategic value. The newly created province of West Prussia connected East Prussia and Farther Pomerania, granted Prussia control of

4988-735: The German Army and in the German Military Intelligence Organization . Early leaders of these plots included Major General Hans Oster , the deputy head of the Military Intelligence Office; Colonel General Ludwig Beck , a former Chief of Staff of the German Army High Command (OKH); and Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben , a former commander of the German 1st Army and the former Commander-in-Chief of

5160-696: The German Army Command in the West . They soon established contacts with several prominent civilians, including Carl Goerdeler , the former mayor of Leipzig , and Helmuth James von Moltke , the great-grandnephew of Moltke the Elder , hero of the Franco-Prussian War . Groups of military plotters exchanged ideas with civilian, political, and intellectual resistance groups in the Kreisauer Kreis (which met at

5332-560: The German resistance , mainly composed of Wehrmacht officers. The leader of the conspiracy, Claus von Stauffenberg , tried to kill Hitler by detonating an explosive hidden in a briefcase. However, due to the location of the bomb at the time of detonation, the blast only dealt Hitler minor injuries. The planners' subsequent coup attempt also failed and resulted in a purge of the Wehrmacht. As early as 1938, German military officers had plotted to overthrow Hitler , but indecisive leadership and

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5504-621: The League of Nymphenburg , sponsored the candidacy of his ally Charles of Bavaria to be elected Holy Roman Emperor. In late November, the Franco-Bavarian forces took Prague, and Charles was crowned King of Bohemia. Subsequently, he was elected as the Holy Roman Emperor Charles ;VII on 24 January 1742. After the Austrians pulled their army out of Silesia to defend Bohemia, Frederick pursued them and blocked their path to Prague. The Austrians counter-attacked on 17 May 1742, initiating

5676-903: The Netze District , recognising their educational activities as an asset for the nation. He continued to support them after their suppression by Pope Clement XIV . He befriended the Roman Catholic Prince-Bishop of Warmia, Ignacy Krasicki , whom he asked to consecrate St. Hedwig's Cathedral in 1773. He accepted countless Protestant weavers from Bohemia, who were fleeing from the devoutly Catholic rule of Maria Theresa, granting them freedom from taxes and military service. Constantly looking for new colonists, he encouraged immigration by repeatedly emphasising that nationality and religion were of no concern to him. This policy allowed Prussia's population to recover very quickly from its considerable losses during Frederick's three wars. Though Frederick

5848-477: The Prussian Law Code of 1794, which balanced absolutism with human rights and corporate privilege with equality before the law. Reception to the law code was mixed as it was often viewed as contradictory. Frederick strove to put Prussia's fiscal system in order. In January 1750, Johann Philipp Graumann was appointed as Frederick's confidential adviser on finance, military affairs, and royal possessions, and

6020-539: The Third Silesian War and the larger Seven Years' War , both of which lasted until 1763. He quickly captured Dresden, besieged the trapped Saxon army in Pirna , and continued marching the remainder of his army toward North Bohemia, intending to winter there. At the Battle of Lobositz he claimed a close victory against an Austrian army that was aiming to relieve Pirna, but afterward withdrew his forces back to Saxony for

6192-439: The firing pin from the percussion cap . It was slow going due to war wounds that had cost Stauffenberg an eye, his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand. Interrupted by a guard knocking on the door advising him that the meeting was about to begin, he was not able to prime the second bomb, which he gave to his aide-de-camp , Werner von Haeften . Stauffenberg placed the single primed bomb inside his briefcase and, with

6364-637: The seignorage . The coin eventually became universally accepted beyond Prussia and helped increase industry and trade. A gold coin, the Friedrich d'or , was also minted to oust the Dutch ducat from the Baltic trade. However, the fixed ratio between gold and silver led to the gold coins being perceived as more valuable, which caused them to leave circulation in Prussia. Unable to meet Frederick's expectations for profit, Graumann

6536-486: The von Moltke estate in Kreisau ) and in other secret circles. Moltke was against killing Hitler; instead, he wanted him placed on trial. Moltke said, "we are all amateurs and would only bungle it". Moltke also believed killing Hitler would be hypocritical: Hitler and National Socialism had turned wrongdoing into a system, something which the resistance should avoid. Plans to stage an overthrow and prevent Hitler from launching

6708-492: The "Soldier King", had created a large and powerful army that included a regiment of his famous " Potsdam Giants "; he carefully managed the kingdom's wealth and developed a strong centralised government. He had a violent temper and ruled Brandenburg-Prussia with absolute authority. In contrast, Frederick's mother Sophia, whose father, George Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg , had succeeded to the British throne as King George I in 1714,

6880-522: The 15th century. Thus, upon succeeding to the throne on 31 May 1740, Frederick declined to endorse the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 , a legal mechanism to ensure the inheritance of the Habsburg domains by Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI . Upon the death of Charles VI on 29 October 1740, Frederick disputed the 23-year-old Maria Theresa's right of succession to

7052-441: The 1759 campaign, the Austrian and Russian forces took the initiative, which they kept for the remainder of the war. They joined and advanced on Berlin. Frederick's army, which consisted of a substantial number of quickly recruited, half-trained soldiers, attempted to check them at the Battle of Kunersdorf on 12 August, where he was defeated and his troops were routed. Almost half his army was destroyed, and Frederick almost became

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7224-803: The Austrian Emperor Joseph II , the French court was unwilling to support him because they were already supporting the American revolutionaries in North America and the idea of an alliance with Austria had been unpopular in France since the end of the Seven Years' War. Frederick ended up as a beneficiary of the American Revolutionary War , as Austria was left more or less isolated. Saxony and Russia, both of which had been Austria's allies in

7396-552: The Austrians retaining only the portion called Austrian or Czech Silesia . By 1743, the Austrians had subdued Bavaria and driven the French out of Bohemia. Frederick strongly suspected Maria Theresa would resume war in an attempt to recover Silesia. Accordingly, he renewed his alliance with France and preemptively invaded Bohemia in August 1744, beginning the Second Silesian War . In late August 1744, Frederick's army had crossed

7568-545: The Austrians, who were reinforced by the Saxons, crossed the mountains to invade Silesia. After allowing them across, Frederick pinned them down and decisively defeated them at the Battle of Hohenfriedberg on 4 June 1745. Frederick subsequently advanced into Bohemia and defeated a counterattack by the Austrians at the Battle of Soor . Frederick then turned toward Dresden when he learned the Saxons were preparing to march on Berlin. However, on 15 December 1745, Prussian forces under

7740-762: The Bavarian Succession in 1778, in which he stifled Austrian attempts to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria . For their part, the Austrians tried to pressure the French to participate in the War of Bavarian Succession since there were guarantees under consideration related to the Peace of Westphalia , clauses which linked the Bourbon dynasty of France and the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty of Austria. Unfortunately for

7912-443: The Bayard Order to discuss warfare with his friends; Heinrich August de la Motte Fouqué was made the grand master of the gatherings. Later, Frederick regarded this time as one of the happiest of his life. Studying the works of Niccolò Machiavelli , such as The Prince , was considered necessary for any king in Europe to rule effectively. In 1739, Frederick finished his Anti-Machiavel , an idealistic rebuttal of Machiavelli. It

8084-400: The Bendlerblock. Fromm, presumably to protect himself, changed sides and attempted to have Stauffenberg arrested. Olbricht and Stauffenberg restrained him at gunpoint and Olbricht then appointed General Erich Hoepner to take over his duties. By this time Himmler had taken charge of the situation and had issued orders countermanding Olbricht's mobilisation of Operation Valkyrie. In many places

8256-468: The Bohemian frontier, marched directly to Prague, and laid siege to the city, which surrendered on 16 September 1744 after a three-day bombardment. Frederick's troops immediately continued marching into the heart of central Bohemia, but Saxony had now joined the war against Prussia. Although the combined Austrian and Saxon armies outnumbered Frederick's forces, they refused to directly engage with Frederick's army, harassing his supply lines instead. Frederick

8428-545: The Director-General of all mint facilities . Graumann's currency reform slightly lowered the silver content of Prussian thaler from 1 ⁄ 12 Cologne mark of silver to 1 ⁄ 14 , which brought the metal content of the thaler into alignment with its face value, and it standardised the Prussian coinage system. As a result, Prussian coins, which had been leaving the country nearly as fast as they were minted, remained in circulation in Prussia. Frederick estimated that he earned about one million thalers in profits on

8600-471: The Führer. The first plan was to shoot him during dinner at the army base camp, but this plan was aborted because it was widely believed that Hitler wore a bullet-proof vest. The conspirators also considered poisoning him, but this was not possible because his food was specially prepared and tasted. They concluded that a time bomb was the only option. Operation Valkyrie could only be put into effect by Hitler himself, or by General Friedrich Fromm , commander of

8772-461: The German military commander in France, who would take control in Paris when Hitler was killed, and it was hoped, negotiate an immediate armistice with the invading Allied armies. The plot was now fully prepared. On 7 July 1944 General Helmuth Stieff was to kill Hitler at a display of new uniforms at Klessheim castle near Salzburg . However, Stieff felt unable to kill Hitler. Stauffenberg now decided to do both, assassinate Hitler and to manage

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8944-429: The German people over the radio, failed to appear and as he held the only copy, Beck had to work on a new one. At 19:00, Hitler was sufficiently recovered to make phone calls. He called Goebbels at the Propaganda Ministry. Goebbels arranged for Hitler to speak to Major Otto Ernst Remer , commander of the troops surrounding the Ministry. After assuring him that he was still alive, Hitler ordered Remer to regain control of

9116-436: The German states. In his earliest published work, the Anti-Machiavel , and his later Testament politique ( Political Testament ), Frederick wrote that the sovereign was the first servant of the state. Frederick helped transform Prussia from a European backwater to an economically strong and politically reformed state. He protected his industries with high tariffs and minimal restrictions on domestic trade. He increased

9288-403: The Group's staff, making it the nerve centre of the army resistance. Little could be done against Hitler as he was heavily guarded, and none of the plotters could get near enough to him. During 1942, Oster and Tresckow nevertheless succeeded in rebuilding an effective resistance network. Their most important recruit was General Friedrich Olbricht , head of the General Army Office headquarters at

9460-449: The Habsburg lands, while simultaneously asserting his own right to the Austrian province of Silesia based on a number of old, though ambiguous, Hohenzollern claims to parts of Silesia. The First Silesian War (1740–1742, part of the War of the Austrian Succession ) began on 16 December 1740 when Frederick invaded and quickly occupied almost all of Silesia within seven weeks. Though Frederick justified his occupation on dynastic grounds,

9632-550: The Nazi government but during the war lost their influence and were concerned about regaining it. However, at least in Stauffenberg's case, the conviction that Nazi Germany's atrocities against civilians and prisoners of war were a dishonour to the nation and its military was likely a major motivating factor. Historian Judith Michel assesses the circle around the 20 July Group as a diverse and heterogeneous group that included liberal democrats, conservatives, social democrats, authoritarian aristocrats, and even communists. The common goal

9804-455: The Nazis as a historical hero. Historians in the 21st century tend to view Frederick as an outstanding military leader and capable monarch, whose commitment to enlightenment culture and administrative reform built the foundation that allowed the Kingdom of Prussia to contest the Austrian Habsburgs for leadership among the German states. Frederick was the son of then-Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover . He

9976-437: The Polish economy by inflating its currency by his use of Polish coin dies. The profits exceeded 25 million thalers , twice the peacetime national budget of Prussia. He thwarted Polish efforts to create a stable economic system by building a customs fort at Marienwerder on the Vistula, Poland's major trade artery, and by bombarding Polish customs ports on the Vistula. Frederick used Poland's religious dissension to keep

10148-412: The Prussian ambassador in London , Benjamin Reichenbach. The pair undermined the relationship between the British and Prussian courts using bribery and slander. Eventually Frederick William became angered by the idea of Frederick being married to an English wife and under the influence of the British court. Instead, he signed a treaty with Austria, which vaguely promised to acknowledge Prussia's rights to

10320-671: The Reserve Army for the purpose of the coup. In August and September 1943, Tresckow drafted the "revised" Valkyrie plan and new supplementary orders. A secret declaration began with these words: "The Führer Adolf Hitler is dead! A treacherous group of party leaders has attempted to exploit the situation by attacking our embattled soldiers from the rear in order to seize power for themselves." Detailed instructions were written for occupation of government ministries in Berlin, Heinrich Himmler 's headquarters in East Prussia, radio stations and telephone offices, and other Nazi apparatus through military districts, and concentration camps. Previously, it

10492-435: The Reserve Army headquarters on Bendlerstraße in central Berlin. This position enabled Stauffenberg to attend Hitler's military conferences, either at the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia or at Berchtesgaden , and would thus give him an opportunity, perhaps the last that would present itself, to kill Hitler with a bomb or a pistol. Meanwhile, new key allies had been gained. These included General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel ,

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10664-509: The Reserve Army, so the latter had to be either won over to the conspiracy or in some way neutralised if the plan was to succeed. During 1943 and early 1944 von Tresckow and von Stauffenberg organised at least five attempts to get one of the military conspirators near enough to Hitler, for long enough to kill him with hand grenades, bombs, or a revolver: As the war situation deteriorated, Hitler no longer appeared in public and rarely visited Berlin. He spent most of his time at his headquarters at

10836-417: The Seven Years' War, were now allied with Prussia. Although Frederick was weary of war in his old age, he was determined not to allow Austrian dominance in German affairs. Frederick and Prince Henry marched the Prussian army into Bohemia to confront Joseph's army, but the two forces ultimately descended into a stalemate, largely living off the land and skirmishing. Frederick's longtime rival Maria Theresa, who

11008-455: The Treaty of Hubertusburg, Catherine the Great signed an eight-year alliance with Prussia, albeit with conditions that favoured the Russians. Frederick's ultimate success came at a heavy financial cost to Prussia. Part of the burden was covered by the Anglo-Prussian Convention , which gave Frederick an annual £670,000 in British subsidies from 1758 until 1762. These subsidies ceased when Frederick allied with Peter III, partly because of

11180-440: The West German representative office in East Germany (located just on the other side of the cemetery wall) from 1974 to 1981; Herbert Marcuse , philosopher of the Frankfurt School who was born in Berlin but emigrated to the US in 1933 (2003); composer Hanns Eisler ; Hans Mayer , a professor of literature who emigrated from East Germany in 1963 (2001); the playwright Heiner Müller (1995: a bird bath shaped like an ash tray adorns

11352-575: The annexation of Polish-inhabited territories that Germany ceded to Poland after 1918, with the restoration of some of the overseas colonies. They believed that Europe should be controlled under German hegemony. The overall goals towards Poland were mixed within the plotters. Most of the plotters found it desirable to restore the old German borders of 1914, while others pointed out that the demands were unrealistic, and amendments had to be made. Some like Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg even wanted all of Poland annexed to Germany. To Poland, which

11524-421: The armed forces. Again on 15 July, the attempt was called off at the last minute. Himmler and Göring were present, but Hitler was called out of the room at the last moment. Stauffenberg was able to intercept the bomb and prevent its discovery. On 18 July rumours reached Stauffenberg that the Gestapo had knowledge of the conspiracy and that he might be arrested at any time—this was apparently not true, but there

11696-466: The arts and the Enlightenment . Prussia greatly increased its territories and became a major military power in Europe under his rule. He became known as Frederick the Great (German: Friedrich der Große ) and was nicknamed " Old Fritz " (German: der Alte Fritz ). In his youth, Frederick was more interested in music and philosophy than war, which led to clashes with his authoritarian father, Frederick William I of Prussia . However, upon ascending to

11868-408: The arts and philosophers he favoured, and allowed freedom of the press and literature. Frederick was almost certainly homosexual , and his sexuality has been the subject of much study. Because he died childless, he was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II . He is buried at his favourite residence, Sanssouci in Potsdam . Nearly all 19th-century German historians made Frederick into

12040-507: The assassination attempt. Olbricht now put forward a new strategy for staging a coup against Hitler. The Replacement Army ( Ersatzheer ) had an operational plan called Operation Valkyrie, which was to be used in the event that the disruption caused by the Allied bombing of German cities would cause a breakdown in law and order, or an uprising by the millions of forced labourers from occupied countries now being used in German factories. Olbricht suggested that this plan could be used to mobilise

12212-412: The avidity of my enemies". The sudden death of Empress Elizabeth of Russia in January 1762 led to the succession of the Prussophile Peter III , her German nephew, who was also the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp . This led to the collapse of the anti-Prussian coalition; Peter immediately promised to end the Russian occupation of East Prussia and Pomerania. One of Peter III's first diplomatic endeavours

12384-450: The beginning of 1760, the Austrians moved to retake Silesia, where Frederick defeated them at the Battle of Liegnitz on 15 August. The victory did not allow Frederick to regain the initiative or prevent Russian and Austrian troops from raiding Berlin in October to extort a ransom from the city. At the end of the campaign season, Frederick fought his last major engagement of the war. He won

12556-411: The blast by the conference table leg. His trousers were singed and tattered (see photograph below) and he suffered from a perforated eardrum (as did most of the other 24 people in the room), as well as from conjunctivitis in his right eye. Hitler's personal physician, Theodor Morell , administered penicillin which had been taken from captured Allied soldiers for treatment; Morell had previously observed

12728-415: The blast, and he suffered a perforated eardrum and conjunctivitis , but was otherwise unharmed. The plotters, unaware of their failure, then attempted a coup d'état . A few hours after the blast, the conspiracy used Wehrmacht units to take control of several cities, including Berlin , right after giving them disinformation on the intention of the orders they were given. This part of the coup d'état attempt

12900-431: The cemetery as a cultural landmark began in 1935 with an initial survey; it was listed in 1983. Between 2000 and 2006, 38 graves were restored, including those of Christian Daniel Rauch , Johann Heinrich Strack and Karl Friedrich Schinkel . The restoration of Strack's grave alone, requiring the importation of Italian marble, cost € 250,000. The largest mausoleum, that of Schinkel's pupil, the architect Friedrich Hitzig ,

13072-636: The cemetery in the last days of the war, many of them unknowns. A small area surrounded by a low hedge is reserved for members of the nearby Berlin Academy of Arts , among others René Graetz , Anna Seghers , Erich Arendt and Lin Jaldati , a Jew who survived three concentration camps to make a successful career as a dancer and singer of Jewish songs. Today the city of Berlin maintains a number of honorary graves for people who made distinguished contributions in politics and culture, including Günter Gaus , who headed

13244-419: The changed political situation and because of Britain's decreasing willingness to pay the sums Frederick wanted. Frederick also financed the war by devaluing the Prussian coin five times; debased coins were produced with the help of Leipzig mintmasters , Veitel Heine Ephraim , Daniel Itzig and Moses Isaacs. He also debased the coinage of Saxony and Poland . This helped Frederick cover over 20 per cent of

13416-519: The command of Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau soundly defeated the Saxons at the Battle of Kesselsdorf . After linking up his army with Leopold's, Frederick occupied the Saxon capitol of Dresden, forcing the Saxon elector, Augustus III, to capitulate. Under the terms of the Treaty of Dresden , signed on 25 December 1745, Austria was forced to adhere to the terms of the Treaty of Breslau giving Silesia to Prussia. It

13588-450: The commander of Military District III (Berlin), General Joachim von Kortzfleisch , was summoned to the Bendlerblock ; he angrily refused Olbricht's orders, kept shouting "the Führer is alive", was arrested, and held under guard. General Karl Freiherr von Thüngen was appointed in his place but proved to be of almost no help. General Fritz Lindemann , who was supposed to make a proclamation to

13760-606: The conflict. Although Frederick managed to bring his army up to 190,000 men by the time the economy had largely recovered in 1772, which made it the third-largest army in Europe, almost none of the officers in this army were veterans of his generation and the King's attitude towards them was extremely harsh. Frederick suffered a number of personal losses. Many of his closest friends and family members—including his brother Augustus William, his sister Wilhelmine, and his mother—had died while Frederick

13932-403: The cost of the war, but at the price of causing massive inflation and economic upheaval throughout the region. Saxony, occupied by Prussia for most of the conflict, was left nearly destitute as a result. While Prussia lost no territory, the population and army were severely depleted by constant combat and invasions by Austria, Russia and Sweden. The best of Frederick's officer corps were killed in

14104-581: The coup d'état attempt was to wrest political control of Germany and its armed forces from the Nazi Party (including the SS ) and to make peace with the Western Allies as soon as possible. The details of the conspirators' peace initiatives remain unknown, but they would have included unrealistic demands for the confirmation of Germany's extensive annexations of European territory. Since 1938, there had been groups plotting an overthrow of some kind within

14276-590: The coup was going ahead, led by officers who believed that Hitler was dead. City Commandant, and conspirator, Lieutenant General Paul von Hase ordered the Wachbataillon Großdeutschland , under the command of Major Otto Ernst Remer , to secure the Wilhelmstraße and arrest Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels . In Vienna , Prague, and many other places troops occupied Nazi Party offices and arrested Gauleiters and SS officers. At around 18:10,

14448-605: The coup; Stauffenberg was wounded after a shootout. As the fighting was still ongoing, Remer and his forces arrived at the Bendlerblock and the conspirators were overwhelmed and arrested; by 23:00 Fromm and Remer had regained control of the building. Perhaps hoping that a show of zealous loyalty would save him, Fromm convened an impromptu court martial consisting of himself, and sentenced Olbricht, Stauffenberg, Haeften and another officer, Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim , to death, while putting Beck under arrest; Beck, realising

14620-454: The crown prince fainted just before the fatal blow. Frederick was granted a royal pardon and released on 18 November 1730, although he remained stripped of his military rank. He was forced to remain in Küstrin and began rigorous schooling in statecraft and administration for the War and Estates Departments. Tensions eased slightly when Frederick William visited Küstrin a year later, and Frederick

14792-464: The crown prince. Frederick had nine siblings who lived to adulthood. He had six sisters. The eldest was Wilhelmine , who became his closest sibling. He also had three younger brothers, including Augustus William and Henry . The new king wished for his children to be educated not as royalty, but as simple folk. They were tutored by a French woman, Madame de Montbail , who had also educated Frederick William. Frederick William I, popularly dubbed

14964-424: The death of Reinhard Heydrich from sepsis in an assassination 2 years earlier. Stauffenberg was seen leaving the conference building by Kurt Salterberg, a soldier on guard duty who did not consider this out of the ordinary as attendees sometimes left to collect documents. He then saw a "massive" cloud of smoke, wood splinters and paper and men being hurled through a window and door. Stauffenberg, upon witnessing

15136-455: The economy. One of Frederick's achievements after the Seven Years' War included the control of grain prices, whereby government storehouses would enable the civilian population to survive in needy regions, where the harvest was poor. He commissioned Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky to promote the trade and – to take on the competition with France – put a silk factory where 1,500 people found employment. Frederick followed Gotzkowsky's recommendations in

15308-551: The end of the 1860s, the original cemetery was full, and after 1869 burials were only permitted in already purchased plots. In 1889 some of the land was sold in connection with a road improvement project, and some important graves had to be relocated. However, after the introduction of cremation the space pressure was no longer so great, and new plots were allowed beginning in 1921. The two parishes were combined in 1945 and administer their 3 cemeteries together. The cemetery has suffered in hard times: precious metals and iron ( cast iron

15480-434: The explosion and smoke, erroneously believed that Hitler was truly dead. He then climbed into a staff car with his aide Werner von Haeften and managed to bluff his way past three checkpoints to exit the Wolfsschanze complex. Werner von Haeften then tossed the second unprimed bomb into the forest as they made a dash for Rastenburg airfield, reaching it before it could be realised that Stauffenberg could be responsible for

15652-417: The explosion. At first it was thought that the explosion had been the result of a bombing, but when it was confirmed that no warplanes had flown over and Stauffenberg was absent, the theory of an attack gained strength. By 13:00 he was airborne in a Heinkel He 111 arranged by General Eduard Wagner . By the time Stauffenberg's aircraft reached Berlin about 16:00, General Erich Fellgiebel , an officer at

15824-547: The field of toll levies and import restrictions. When Gotzkowsky asked for a deferral during the Amsterdam banking crisis of 1763 , Frederick took over his porcelain factory, now known as KPM . Frederick modernised the Prussian civil service and promoted religious tolerance throughout his realm to attract more settlers in East Prussia. With the help of French experts, he organised a system of indirect taxation , which provided

15996-459: The final period of the war. Particularly noteworthy in considering this issue is the scientific publication of Robert Loeffel. In his study, Loeffel came to the conclusion that Sippenhaft , as part of state terror at the end of the war, was a means of intimidation within Nazi Germany, when in reality this practice was not always applied, and most of the terror was adopted only after July 20. This

16168-482: The following weeks, Himmler's Gestapo, driven by a furious Hitler, rounded up nearly everyone who had the remotest connection with the plot. The discovery of letters and diaries in the homes and offices of those arrested revealed the plots of 1938, 1939, and 1943, and this led to further rounds of arrests, including that of colonel general Franz Halder , who finished the war in a concentration camp. Under Himmler's new Sippenhaft (blood guilt) laws, many relatives of

16340-659: The former Duchy of Prussia , outside of the Empire bordering the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . He was titled King in Prussia because his kingdom included only part of historic Prussia; he was to declare himself King of Prussia after the First Partition of Poland in 1772. When Frederick became king, he faced vulnerably disconnected holdings with a weak economic base. To strengthen Prussia's position, he fought wars mainly against Austria, whose Habsburg dynasty had reigned as Holy Roman Emperors continuously since

16512-450: The freedom of speech in press and literature, abolished most uses of judicial torture , and limited which crimes could be punished by death. Working with his Grand Chancellor Samuel von Cocceji , he reformed the judicial system and made it more efficient, and he moved the courts toward greater legal equality of all citizens by removing special courts for special social classes. The reform was completed after Frederick's death, resulting in

16684-559: The grain stocks he held in reserve for military campaigns. Many other rulers soon followed the steps of Frederick in reforming their own currencies. The functionality and stability of the reform made the Prussian monetary system the standard in Northern Germany. Around 1751, Frederick founded the Emden Company to promote trade with China. He introduced the lottery , fire insurance , and a giro discount and credit bank to stabilise

16856-514: The help of his tutor in Latin, Jacques Duhan , procured a 3,000-volume secret library of poetry, Greek and Roman classics, and philosophy to supplement his official lessons. Frederick William I had been raised a Calvinist in spite of the Lutheran state faith in Prussia, but feared he was not one of God's elect . To avoid the possibility of his son Frederick being motivated by the same concerns,

17028-522: The honours befitting her station, but never displayed any affection. After their separation, he would only see her on state occasions. These included visits to her on her birthday, among the rare occasions when Frederick did not wear military uniform. In 1732, Frederick was restored to the Prussian Army as Colonel of the Regiment von der Goltz, stationed near Nauen and Neuruppin . When Prussia provided

17200-455: The inhabitants as "slovenly Polish trash". His long-term goal was to remove the Poles through Germanisation , which included appropriating Polish Crown lands and monasteries, introducing a military draft, encouraging German settlement in the region, and implementing a tax policy that disproportionately impoverished Polish nobles. Late in his life Frederick involved Prussia in the low-scale War of

17372-409: The invasion of this militarily and politically vulnerable part of the Habsburg empire also had the potential to provide substantial long-term economic and strategic benefits. The occupation of Silesia added one of the most densely industrialised German regions to Frederick's kingdom and gave it control over the navigable Oder River . It nearly doubled Prussia's population and increased its territory by

17544-471: The king ordered that his heir not be taught about predestination . Despite his father's intention, Frederick appeared to have adopted a sense of predestination for himself. At age 16, Frederick formed an attachment to the king's 17-year-old page , Peter Karl Christoph von Keith . Wilhelmine recorded that the two "soon became inseparable.... He served my brother from feelings of real devotion". Wilhelmine would further record that "Though I had noticed that he

17716-523: The kingdom open to Prussian control. Poland was predominantly Roman Catholic, but approximately ten per cent of Poland's population, 600,000 Eastern Orthodox and 250,000 Protestants, were non-Catholic dissenters. During the 1760s, the dissenters' political importance was out of proportion to their numbers. Although dissenters still had substantial rights, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had increasingly been reducing their civic rights after

17888-412: The leg of the conference table, thus unintentionally deflecting the blast from Hitler but causing the loss of one of his legs and his own demise when the bomb detonated. At 12:42 the bomb detonated, demolishing the conference room and killing a stenographer instantly. More than 20 people in the room were injured with three officers later dying. Hitler survived, as did everyone else who was shielded from

18060-698: The marketplace in Wittenberg was placed at the end of the main axis of the cemetery. (It had previously been in the nearby Dorotheenstadt church, which was destroyed in World War II .) The bust of the industrialist August Borsig was created by Christian Daniel Rauch . The cemetery was enlarged several times between 1814 and 1826. In the 1830s the parishes separately acquired land for expansion elsewhere: Dorotheenstadt in Gesundbrunnen , Friedrichswerder in Kreuzberg . By

18232-488: The meantime, the Russian army had advanced within 100 miles (160 km) east of Berlin. In August, he fought the Russian forces to a draw at the Battle of Zorndorf , in which nearly a third of Frederick's soldiers were casualties. He then headed south to face the Austrian army in Saxony. There, he was defeated at the Battle of Hochkirch on 14 October, although the Austrian forces were not able to exploit their victory. During

18404-560: The mid-1720s, Queen Sophia Dorothea attempted to arrange the marriage of Frederick and his sister Wilhelmine to her brother King George II 's children Amelia and Frederick , the heir apparent . Fearing an alliance between Prussia and Great Britain , Field Marshal von Seckendorff , the Austrian ambassador in Berlin , bribed the Prussian Minister of War, Field Marshal von Grumbkow , and

18576-499: The mouth of the Vistula River , and cut off Poland's sea trade. Maria Theresa had only reluctantly agreed to the partition, to which Frederick sarcastically commented, "she cries, but she takes". Frederick undertook the exploitation of Polish territory under the pretext of an enlightened civilising mission that emphasised the supposed cultural superiority of Prussian ways. He saw Polish Prussia as barbaric and uncivilised, describing

18748-587: The niece of Empress Anna of Russia , but this plan was ardently opposed by Prince Eugene of Savoy . Frederick himself proposed marrying Maria Theresa of Austria in return for renouncing the succession. Instead, Eugene persuaded Frederick William, through Seckendorff, that the crown prince should marry Elisabeth Christine , a Protestant relative of the Austrian Habsburgs . Frederick wrote to his sister that, "There can be neither love nor friendship between us", and he threatened suicide, but he went along with

18920-654: The notorious cigar smoker's grave); and Johannes Rau , the eighth president of West Germany, who expressly wished to be buried here (2007). In his song Der Hugenottenfriedhof (1969) East German dissident singer Wolf Biermann , who lived nearby at Chausseestraße 131, mentions the adjacent cemetery and some of those who are buried in this one (Brecht, Weigel, Hegel, Eisler, Langhoff, Heartfield, Becher). 52°31′42″N 13°23′01″E  /  52.5284°N 13.3837°E  / 52.5284; 13.3837 Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II ( German : Friedrich II. ; 24 January 1712 – 17 August 1786)

19092-470: The pace of global events stymied action. Plotters gained a sense of urgency in 1943, after Germany lost the Battle of Stalingrad and Soviet forces began to push towards Germany. Under the leadership of Stauffenberg, plotters tried to assassinate Hitler at least five different times in 1943 and 1944. With the Gestapo closing in on the plotters, a final attempt was organized in July 1944. Stauffenberg personally took

19264-522: The pair of treason . The king briefly threatened the crown prince with execution , then considered forcing Frederick to renounce the succession in favour of his brother, Augustus William, although either option would have been difficult to justify to the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire . The king condemned Katte to death and forced Frederick to watch his beheading at Küstrin on 6 November;

19436-566: The plot had helped the Nazis gain power and shared revisionist foreign policy goals pursued by Hitler, and even at the time of the plot were anti-democratic, hoping to replace Hitler with a conservative-authoritarian government involving aristocratic rule. They opposed popular legitimation or mass participation in governance of the state. By mid-1943, the tide of war was turning decisively against Germany. The army plotters and their civilian allies became convinced that Hitler should be assassinated, so that

19608-491: The plot in Berlin. On 14 July Stauffenberg attended Hitler's conferences carrying a bomb in his briefcase, but because the conspirators had decided that Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring should be killed simultaneously if the planned mobilisation of Operation Valkyrie was to have a chance to succeed, he held back at the last minute because Himmler was not present. In fact, it was unusual for Himmler to attend military conferences. By 15 July, when Stauffenberg again flew to

19780-476: The plotters for issue towards the Allies were such points as re-establishment of Germany's 1914 boundaries with Belgium , France and Poland and no reparations. Like most of the rest of German resistance, the 20 July plotters believed in the idea of Greater Germany and as a condition for peace demanded that the western allies recognize as a minimum the incorporation of Austria , Alsace-Lorraine , Sudetenland , and

19952-601: The practical purpose no longer matters; what matters now is that the German resistance movement must take the plunge before the eyes of the world and of history. Compared to that, nothing else matters." Himmler had at least one conversation with a known oppositionist when, in August 1943, the Prussian Finance Minister Johannes Popitz , who was involved in Goerdeler's network, came to see him and offered him

20124-471: The primary goal of the plotters was to remove Hitler from power, they did so for various reasons. The majority of the group behind the 20 July plot were conservative nationalists—idealists, but not necessarily of a democratic stripe. Martin Borschat portrays their motivations as a matter of aristocratic resentment, writing that the plot was mainly carried out by conservative elites who were initially integrated by

20296-406: The principal plotters were also arrested in the immediate aftermath of the failed plot. Sippenhaft was proposed and introduced by Heinrich Himmler and remained in effect until the end of the war. Its distribution was aimed at creating fears among Wehrmacht members for their families in the event of an attempted betrayal. At first, the practice was not regulated and was carried out chaotically, which

20468-505: The principalities of Jülich - Berg , which led to the collapse of the marriage proposal. Soon after his relationship with Keith ended, Frederick became close friends with Hans Hermann von Katte , a Prussian officer eight years older than Frederick who became one of his boon companions and may have been his lover. After the English marriages became impossible, Frederick plotted to flee to Britain with Katte and other junior army officers. While

20640-457: The remaining years of the war, Frederick faced a coalition of enemies including Austria, France, Russia, Sweden , and the Holy Roman Empire, supported only by Britain and its allies Hesse , Brunswick , and Hanover . In 1758 Frederick once more took the initiative by invading Moravia. By May, he had laid siege to Olomouc , but the Austrians were able to hold the town and destroyed Frederick's supply train, forcing him to retreat into Silesia. In

20812-617: The royal retinue was near Mannheim in the Electorate of the Palatinate , Robert Keith (Peter Keith's brother and one of Frederick's companions) had an attack of conscience when the conspirators were preparing to escape and begged Frederick William for forgiveness on 5 August 1730. Frederick and Katte were subsequently arrested and imprisoned in Küstrin . Because they were army officers who had tried to flee Prussia for Britain, Frederick William accused

20984-463: The situation in Berlin and capture the conspirators alive. Major Remer ordered his troops to surround and seal off the Bendlerblock, but not to enter the buildings. At 20:00 a furious Witzleben arrived at the Bendlerblock and had a bitter argument with Stauffenberg, who was still insisting that the coup could go ahead. Witzleben left shortly afterwards. At around this time the planned seizure of power in Paris

21156-628: The situation was hopeless, asked for a pistol and shot himself—the first of many attempted suicides in the coming days. At first Beck only seriously wounded himself—he was then shot in the neck and killed by soldiers. Despite protests from Remer (who had been ordered by Hitler to arrest the conspirators), at 00:10 on 21 July the four officers were executed in the courtyard outside, possibly to prevent them from revealing Fromm's involvement. Others would have been executed as well, but at 00:30 Waffen-SS personnel led by SS- Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny arrived and further executions were forbidden. Over

21328-405: The size of the huge army he had inherited. The situation is summed up in a widely translated and quoted aphorism attributed to Mirabeau , who asserted in 1786 that " La Prusse n'est pas un pays qui a une armée, c'est une armée qui a un pays " ("Prussia was not a state in possession of an army, but an army in possession of a state"). Using the resources his frugal father had cultivated, Frederick

21500-455: The social standing of those buried in the cemetery rose, numerous famous 19th-century artists and architects designed grave markers. For example, Johann Gottfried Schadow designed monuments for his second wife and himself. An 1822 statuette of Schadow by his student Heinrich Kaehler was placed on Schadow's grave in 1851. In 1975, a 1909 marble replica of Schadow's 1821 statue of Martin Luther for

21672-609: The start of the Seven Years' War in 1756. In each case, these confessions also served personal or political goals. He tolerated all faiths in his realm, but Protestantism remained the favoured religion, and Catholics were not chosen for higher state positions. Frederick wanted development throughout the country, adapted to the needs of each region. He was interested in attracting a diversity of skills, whether from Jesuit teachers, Huguenot citizens, or Jewish merchants and bankers. Frederick retained Jesuits as teachers in Silesia, Warmia , and

21844-492: The state with more revenue than direct taxation; though French officials administering it may have pocketed some of the profit. He established new regulations for tax officials to reduce graft. In 1781, Frederick made coffee a royal monopoly and employed disabled soldiers, the coffee sniffers , to spy on citizens illegally roasting coffee, much to the annoyance of the general population. Though Frederick started many reforms during his reign, his ability to see them to fulfillment

22016-533: The state. He modernised the Prussian bureaucracy and civil service, and pursued religious policies that ranged from tolerance to segregation. He reformed the judicial system and made it possible for men of lower status to become judges and senior bureaucrats. Frederick encouraged immigrants of diverse backgrounds to come to Prussia. While Protestantism remained the favored faith, he allowed religious freedom and tolerated Jews and Catholics in Prussia, however his actions were not entirely without prejudice. He supported

22188-444: The summer of 1944, the Gestapo was closing in on the conspirators. When Stauffenberg sent Tresckow a message through Lieutenant Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort asking whether there was any reason for trying to assassinate Hitler given that no political purpose would be served, Tresckow's response was: "The assassination must be attempted, coûte que coûte [whatever the cost]. Even if it fails, we must take action in Berlin ⁠,⁠ ⁠for

22360-432: The support of the opposition if he would make a move to displace Hitler and secure a negotiated end to the war. Nothing came of this meeting, but Popitz was not immediately arrested (although he was later executed towards the end of the war), and Himmler apparently did nothing to track down the resistance network which he knew was operating within the state bureaucracy. It is possible that Himmler, who by late 1943 knew that

22532-536: The threat to his eastern borders over, and France also seeking peace after its defeats by Britain, Frederick was able to fight the Austrians to a stalemate. While the ensuing Treaty of Hubertusburg returned the European borders to what they had been before the Seven Years' War, Frederick's ability to retain Silesia in spite of the odds earned Prussia admiration throughout the German-speaking territories. A year following

22704-584: The throne, Frederick separated from Elisabeth. He granted her the Schönhausen Palace and apartments at the Berliner Stadtschloss , but he prohibited her from visiting his court in Potsdam . They had no children, and Frederick bestowed the title of the heir to the throne, "Prince of Prussia", on his brother Augustus William. Nevertheless, Elisabeth Christine remained devoted to him. Frederick gave her all

22876-406: The throne, he attacked and annexed the rich Austrian province of Silesia in 1742, winning military acclaim. He became an influential military theorist, whose analyses emerged from his extensive personal battlefield experience and covered issues of strategy, tactics, mobility and logistics. Frederick was a supporter of enlightened absolutism , stating that the ruler should be the first servant of

23048-408: The unwitting assistance of Major Ernst John von Freyend , entered the conference room containing Hitler and 20 officers, positioning the briefcase under the table near Hitler. After a few minutes, Stauffenberg received a planned telephone call and left the room. It is presumed that Colonel Heinz Brandt , who was standing next to Hitler, used his foot to move the briefcase aside by pushing it behind

23220-546: The war was unwinnable, allowed the plot to go ahead in the belief that if it succeeded he would be Hitler's successor, and could then bring about a peace settlement. Popitz was not alone in seeing Himmler as a potential ally. General von Bock advised Tresckow to seek his support, but there is no evidence that he did so. Goerdeler was apparently also in indirect contact with Himmler via a mutual acquaintance, Carl Langbehn . Wilhelm Canaris biographer Heinz Höhne suggests that Canaris and Himmler were working together to bring about

23392-408: The war with Prussia to regain Silesia. During the ten years of peace that followed the signing of the Treaty of Dresden, Frederick prepared to defend his claim on Silesia by further fortifying the province, expanding his army, and reorganising his finances. In 1756, Frederick attempted to forestall Britain's financing of a Russian army on Prussia's border by negotiating an alliance with Britain at

23564-564: The war, ended its financial support for Prussia after the death of King George II, Frederick's uncle. The Russian forces also continued their advance, occupying Pomerania and parts of Brandenburg. With the Russians slowly advancing towards Berlin, it looked as though Prussia was about to collapse. On 6 January 1762, Frederick wrote to Count Karl-Wilhelm Finck von Finckenstein , "We ought now to think of preserving for my nephew, by way of negotiation, whatever fragments of my territory we can save from

23736-523: The wedding on 12 June 1733. He had little in common with his bride, and the marriage was resented as an example of the Austrian political interference that had plagued Prussia. Nevertheless, during their early married life, the royal couple resided at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin. Later, Elisabeth Christine accompanied Frederick to Schloss Rheinsberg, where at this time she played an active role in his social life. After his father died and he ascended

23908-486: The winter. When the Saxon forces in Pirna finally capitulated in October 1756, Frederick forcibly incorporated them into his own army. This action, along with his initial invasion of neutral Saxony, brought him widespread international criticism; but the conquest of Saxony provided him with significant financial, military, and strategic assets to sustain the war. In the early spring of 1757, Frederick again invaded Bohemia. He

24080-500: Was Joseph's mother and his co-ruler, did not want a new war with Prussia, and secretly sent messengers to Frederick to discuss peace negotiations. Finally, Catherine II of Russia threatened to enter the war on Frederick's side if peace was not negotiated, and Joseph reluctantly dropped his claim to Bavaria. When Joseph tried the scheme again in 1784, Frederick created the Fürstenbund (League of Princes), allowing himself to be seen as

24252-515: Was a popular material for grave monuments in Prussia and they were produced at a royal foundry in Berlin) have been stolen from graves, in the 1930s some stones were sold to masons for reuse, and lack of money has hampered adequate upkeep. In World War II, the surrounding area was heavily damaged and the cemetery was also damaged. In the 1960s clearance of the site to create a park was proposed. Protection of

24424-578: Was a sense that the net was closing in and that the next opportunity to kill Hitler must be taken because there might not be another. On the morning of Thursday, 20 July Stauffenberg flew back to the Wolfsschanze for another Hitler military conference, once again with a bomb in his briefcase. At around 12:30 pm as the conference began, Stauffenberg asked to use a washroom in Wilhelm Keitel 's office, saying that he had to change his shirt, which indeed

24596-422: Was aborted when Field Marshal Günther von Kluge , who had recently been appointed commander-in-chief in the West, learned that Hitler was alive. As Remer regained control of the city and word spread that Hitler was still alive, the less resolute members of the conspiracy in Berlin began to change sides. Fromm was freed from his room and fighting broke out in the Bendlerblock between officers supporting and opposing

24768-520: Was after the signing of the treaty that Frederick, then 33 years old, first became known as "the Great". Though Frederick had withdrawn from the War of the Austrian Succession once Austria guaranteed his possession of Silesia, Austria remained embroiled in the war until the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. Less than a year after the treaty was signed, Maria Theresa was once more seeking allies, particularly Russia and France, to eventually renew

24940-399: Was allowed to visit Berlin for his sister Wilhelmine's marriage to Margrave Frederick of Bayreuth on 20 November 1731. The crown prince returned to Berlin after finally being released from his tutelage at Küstrin on 26 February 1732 on condition that he marry Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern . Frederick William considered marrying Frederick to Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin ,

25112-560: Was being led to disaster and that Hitler's removal from power was necessary. After the Battle of Stalingrad in December 1942, despite his religious scruples, he concluded that the Führer's assassination was a lesser moral evil than Hitler's remaining in power. Stauffenberg brought a new tone of decisiveness to the ranks of the resistance movement. When Tresckow was assigned to the Eastern Front, Stauffenberg took charge of planning and executing

25284-558: Was believed that Stauffenberg was mainly responsible for the Valkyrie plan, but documents recovered by the Soviet Union after the war and released in 2007 suggest that the plan was developed by Tresckow by autumn of 1943. All written information was handled by Tresckow's wife, Erika, and by Margarethe von Oven , his secretary. Both women wore gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints. On at least two other occasions Tresckow had tried to assassinate

25456-512: Was born between 11 and 12 p.m. on 24 January 1712 in the Berlin Palace and was baptised with the single name Friedrich by Benjamin Ursinus von Bär on 31 January. The birth was welcomed by his grandfather, Frederick I , as his two previous grandsons had died in infancy. With the death of Frederick I in 1713, his son Frederick William I became King in Prussia, thus making young Frederick

25628-460: Was due to Himmler’s refusal to “establish specific rules regarding clan guardianship”, however, on February 5, 1945, Keitel’s order was issued, according to which the family of a serviceman who committed high treason was subjected to repression up to and including the death penalty. Presumably, the Sippenhaft regulation was introduced to tighten control over the military and keep them in the army during

25800-464: Was due to its duality: terror was implemented only in quantities necessary to maintain a level of fear among the population that would not lead them to go over to the side of resistance. More than 7,000 people were arrested and 4,980 were executed. Not all of them were connected with the plot, since the Gestapo used the occasion to settle scores with many other people suspected of opposition sympathies. Alfons Heck , former Hitler Youth member and later

25972-447: Was engaged in the war. Frederick sought to acquire and economically exploit Polish Prussia as part of his wider aim of enriching his kingdom. As early as 1731 Frederick had suggested that his country would benefit from annexing Polish territory, and had described Poland as an "artichoke, ready to be consumed leaf by leaf". By 1752, he had prepared the ground for the partition of Poland–Lithuania, aiming to achieve his goal of building

26144-611: Was established jointly by the two (Protestant) parishes in the early 1760s; burials began in 1770. Although initially mostly the lower classes were buried in the Dorotheenstadt Cemetery, because of its proximity to Berlin University (founded 1810, since 1949 Humboldt University ) and several scholarly academies (sciences, arts, architecture, singing), many prominent figures who worked and in many cases lived in Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichswerder have found their last resting place here. As

26316-461: Was eventually able to establish Prussia as the fifth and smallest European great power . When Frederick ascended the throne as the third "King in Prussia" in 1740, his realm consisted of scattered territories, including Cleves , Mark , and Ravensberg in the west of the Holy Roman Empire; Brandenburg , Hither Pomerania , and Farther Pomerania in the east of the Empire; and the Kingdom of Prussia,

26488-515: Was fighting against Nazi Germany with both its army and government in exile, the territorial demands and traditional nationalistic visions of resistance were not much different from the racist policies of Hitler. Stauffenberg, as one of the leaders of the plot, stated five years before the coup in 1939 during the Poland campaign : "It is essential that we begin a systemic colonisation in Poland. But I have no fear that this will not occur." Many members of

26660-576: Was forced to withdraw to Silesia as winter approached. In the interim, Frederick successfully claimed his inheritance to the minor territory of East Frisia on the North Sea coast of Germany, occupying the territory after its last ruler died without issue in 1744. In January 1745, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII of Bavaria died, taking Bavaria out of the war and allowing Maria Theresa's husband Francis of Lorraine to be eventually elected Holy Roman Emperor. Now able to focus solely on Frederick's army,

26832-399: Was his first major battle in command of an army. Frederick's cavalry was disorganised by a charge of the Austrian horse. Believing his forces had been defeated, Frederick galloped away to avoid capture, leaving Field Marshal Kurt Schwerin to lead the disciplined Prussian infantry to victory. Frederick would later admit to humiliation at his abdication of command and would state that Mollwitz

27004-456: Was his school. Disappointed with the performance of his cavalry , whose training his father had neglected in favour of the infantry, Frederick spent much of his time in Silesia establishing a new doctrine for them. Encouraged by Frederick's victory at Mollwitz, the French and their ally, the Electorate of Bavaria , entered the war against Austria in early September 1741 and marched on Prague . Meanwhile, Frederick, alongside other members of

27176-474: Was in fact dead. The Bendlerblock plotters did not know whom to believe. Finally, at 16:00 Olbricht issued the orders for Operation Valkyrie to be mobilised. The vacillating General Fromm, however, phoned Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel at the Wolf's Lair and was assured that Hitler was alive. Keitel demanded to know Stauffenberg's whereabouts. This told Fromm that the plot had been traced to his headquarters and that he

27348-482: Was in mortal danger. Fromm replied that he thought Stauffenberg was with Hitler. Meanwhile, General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel , military governor of occupied France , managed to disarm the SD and SS and captured most of their leadership. He travelled to Field Marshal Günther von Kluge 's headquarters and asked him to contact the Allies, only to be informed that Hitler was alive. At 16:40 Stauffenberg and Haeften arrived at

27520-419: Was known to be more tolerant of Jews and Roman Catholics than many neighbouring German states, his practical-minded tolerance was not fully unprejudiced. Frederick wrote in his Testament politique : 20 July plot The 20 July plot was a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler , the chancellor and leader of Nazi Germany , and overthrow the Nazi regime on 20 July 1944. The plotters were part of

27692-426: Was not as disciplined or thorough as his military successes. In contrast to his devoutly Calvinist father, Frederick was a religious sceptic , and has been described as a deist . Frederick was pragmatic about religious faith. Three times during his life, he presented his own confession of Christian faith: during his imprisonment after Katte's execution in 1730, after his conquest of Silesia in 1741, and just before

27864-466: Was on more familiar terms with this page than was proper in his position, I did not know how intimate the friendship was." As Frederick was almost certainly homosexual, his relationship with Keith may have been homoerotic, although the extent of their intimacy remains ambiguous. When Frederick William heard rumours of their relationship, Keith was sent away to an unpopular regiment near the Dutch frontier. In

28036-439: Was polite, charismatic and learned. The political and personal differences between Frederick's parents created tensions, which affected Frederick's attitude toward culture, his role as a ruler, and his relationship with his father. In his early youth, Frederick lived with his mother and sister Wilhelmine, although they regularly visited their father's hunting lodge at Königs Wusterhausen . Frederick and his older sister formed

28208-462: Was removed in 1754. Although Frederick's debasement of the coinage to fund the Seven Years' War left the Prussian monetary system in disarray, the Mint Edict of May 1763 brought it back to stability by fixing rates at which depreciated coins would be accepted and requiring tax payments in currency of prewar value. This resulted in a shortage of ready money, but Frederick controlled prices by releasing

28380-553: Was restored in 2007; it features frescos that are now almost unique in Berlin and that were in a critical state. Future restoration work is expected to cost €6 million. The cemetery contains a monument to resistance fighters killed by the Nazi regime : a tall cross rises above a stone block bearing the names of Klaus Bonhoeffer , Hans John , Richard Kuenzer , Carl Adolf Marks , Wilhelm zur Nieden , Friedrich Justus Perels , Rüdiger Schleicher and Hans Ludwig Sierks , who were involved in

28552-451: Was soaked through with sweat, it being a very hot day. There, assisted by von Haeften, he used pliers to crush the end of a pencil detonator inserted into a 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) block of plastic explosive wrapped in brown paper, that was prepared by Wessel von Freytag-Loringhoven . The pencil detonator consisted of a thin copper tube containing cupric chloride that would take about ten minutes to silently eat through wire holding back

28724-478: Was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled King in Prussia , declaring himself King of Prussia after annexing Royal Prussia from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772. His most significant accomplishments include military successes in the Silesian wars , reorganisation of the Prussian Army , the First Partition of Poland , and patronage of

28896-465: Was the twelfth largest country in Europe in terms of population, but its army was the fourth largest, after France, Russia and Austria. Prussia had one soldier for every 28 citizens, whereas Britain only had one for every 310, and the military absorbed 86% of Prussia's state budget. The Prussian infantry trained by Frederick William I were, at the time of Frederick's accession, arguably unrivalled in discipline and firepower. By 1770, Frederick had doubled

29068-649: Was to overthrow Hitler's regime and bring the war to a swift end. There is evidence of the plot encompassing a broad spectrum of plotters which included Communists that April, before the attempted coup, Stauffenberg agreed to cooperate with the Operational Leadership of the KPD (Communist Party of Germany) remaining in Germany. Contacts were established through the Social Democrats Adolf Reichwein and Julius Leber. Among demands initially countenanced by

29240-464: Was to seek a Prussian title; Frederick obliged. Peter III was so enamoured of Frederick that he not only offered him the full use of a Russian corps for the remainder of the war against Austria, he also wrote to Frederick that he would rather have been a general in the Prussian army than Tsar of Russia. More significantly, Russia's about-face from an enemy of Prussia to its patron rattled the leadership of Sweden, who hastily made peace with Frederick. With

29412-435: Was victorious against the Austrian army at the Battle of Prague on 6 May 1757, but his losses were so great he was unable to take the city, and settled for besieging it. On 18 June 1757, Frederick suffered his first major defeat at the Battle of Kolín , which forced him to abandon his invasion of Bohemia. When the French and the Austrians pursued him into Saxony and Silesia in the fall of 1757, Frederick defeated and repulsed

29584-597: Was written in French—as were all of Frederick's works—and published anonymously in 1740, but Voltaire distributed it in Amsterdam to great popularity. Frederick's years dedicated to the arts instead of politics ended upon the 1740 death of Frederick William and his inheritance of the Kingdom of Prussia. Frederick and his father were reconciled at the latter's death, and Frederick later admitted, despite their constant conflict, that Frederick William had been an effective ruler: "What

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