A Hollywood Take on the German Resistance
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Director: Bryan Singer. Valkyrie. Hollywood: United Artists, 2008. Film. Rated PG-13 for violence and brief strong language. Country: USA and Germany. Runtime: 121 min. Reviewed by Edward N. Snyder Published on H-German (October, 2009) Commissioned by Benita Blessing (Oregon State University) When I frst heard that Tom Cruise would U.S.-style republic. Ultimately, historians should play Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in the flm consider Valkyrie a success, because it introduces Valkyrie, my initial reaction was to recoil in hor‐ the audience not only to the July 1944, conspiracy, ror at the thought of Cruise tarnishing the legacy but also to several of the larger questions and de‐ of the great hero of German resistance during bates surrounding the nature of German resis‐ World War II. Furthermore, I could only imagine tance to the Third Reich. the damage an American popular flm director Valkyrie opens with Stauffenberg on the bat‐ (Bryan Singer) would do to the memory of this im‐ tlefields of Tunisia just before an Allied air raid at‐ portant aspect of the war. I expected to hear tacks the German division and severely wounds Stauffenberg, Ludwig Beck, and the other leaders Stauffenberg in the process. In the meantime, of the July 1944 plot proclaim a belief in freedom Henning von Treschkow attempts to assassinate and democracy in the face of Nazi tyranny. I Hitler by sending a bomb disguised as a bottle of feared that the complex debates the resistors had alcohol on a plane carrying Hitler back from the about their vision for postwar Germany would go eastern front. The bomb fails to detonate, howev‐ unmentioned. I thus entered the theater with a er, and Treschkow hurriedly travels to Berlin to number of reasons why I wanted to dislike this retrieve the package. On screen, the two events film. happen concurrently. In fact, Treschkow's assassi‐ However, I was pleasantly surprised by nation attempt occurred on March 13, 1943, al‐ Valkyrie and its depiction of the 1944 attempt to most one month before Stauffenberg suffered his assassinate Adolf Hitler. Cruise's energetic por‐ injuries. The flm also uses Treschkow's plan to trayal of Stauffenberg was entirely satisfactory stand in for other assassination plots; several pre‐ and, at times, even enjoyable. More important, di‐ vious attempts to eliminate Hitler had been made. rector Bryan Singer did a respectable job of high‐ However, due to numerous mechanical problems, lighting the conflicts and debates that arose with‐ coincidence, and the Führer's unusually good in the circle of resistors prior to the assassination luck, all of these attempts failed. attempt. Although Singer did not articulate fully When Treschkow went to retrieve the bomb, the issues of contention among the resistors, he he learned that the Gestapo had arrested Hans Os‐ nevertheless made clear that the 1944 plot leaders ter, a member of the conspiracy. Treschkow then did not intend to replace the Third Reich with a instructed General Friedrich Olbricht to fnd a re‐ H-Net Reviews placement for Oster. Olbricht selected Stauffen‐ tance activities, but the greater population also berg and invited the colonel to a meeting with the stigmatized them as traitors for years after the other conspiracy leaders. Before the meeting, war. Peter Hoffmann, a consultant for the flm Stauffenberg explained to Olbricht why he was and an eminent scholar on the German resis‐ willing to engage in resistance: "I am a soldier. I tance, argued this point in his book Stauffenbergs serve my country, but this is not my country.... I Freund, which describes the problems that the re‐ know now there is only one way to serve Ger‐ sistor Joachim Kuhn faced following his release many, and in doing so I’ll be a traitor. I accept from a Soviet prison several years after the war. that." This brief exchange with Olbricht is key to [1] understanding the anxieties of many resistors in Furthermore, by asking what would happen deciding to engage in resistance activity. Stauffen‐ after Hitler, Stauffenberg opened the door to dis‐ berg saw himself as remaining true to his princi‐ cussing one of the larger and more interesting ples of protecting the German nation, while ac‐ questions surrounding the German resistance to knowledging that the majority of Germans would Nazism: what ultimately pushed the various cir‐ view any attempt to destroy Nazism as treason. In cles comprising the resistance to act, and what did the flm as in the historical record, it is a testa‐ they envision for a post-Hitler Germany? Al‐ ment to Stauffenberg's personal courage that he though the flm hints at the real motivations be‐ did not back out of the plot even after recognizing hind Operation Valkyrie, it never deals with the the dangers that the assassination attempt would question directly. When Stauffenberg frst enters pose to both himself and his family. the meeting, the leaders of the conspiracy are His co-conspirators, however, were not quite complaining that unless they act quickly, the Al‐ as thoughtful. During the meeting, Stauffenberg lies will soon overrun Germany and "all of Europe asked them what their plan was for post-Hitler will pay a price." Certainly, many members of the Germany. He knew they could not simply assassi‐ resistance were not necessarily supporters of nate Hitler and expect to end the war and destroy Nazism; they were nevertheless willing to tolerate the Nazi regime. Yet some of the conspirators be‐ the ideology insofar as it advanced Germany's lieved such a quick solution possible. In response standing within Europe, a point made by Hans to Stauffenberg's question, one of the resistors ar‐ Mommsen in his work on the German resistance. rogantly replied: "You are in the presence of men [2] The impetus to remove Hitler only grew who would have been in Hitler's inner circle. In‐ stronger once the conspirators realized that stead, we refused, Colonel. The people know we Nazism was leading Germany (as well as Europe) put our principles above personal gain. We have on a path to catastrophic destruction. Along with the respect of the people and the army." These few co-conspirator Carl Goerdeler's assertion that the sentences conveyed the challenges those engaged conspiracy comprised principled men who con‐ in resistance activities faced. sciously chose to oppose Nazism, the flm thus Nonetheless, the scene is not without its presents a misleadingly unified picture of the re‐ flaws. For those unfamiliar with the history of the sistance. In reality, the conspirators' relationship German resistance, the conspirators' reaction to with the regime was much more complex. For in‐ Stauffenberg's question could give the impression stance, the resistors did make a conscious deci‐ that the German public supported the plotters and sion to oppose Nazism actively, yet many of them any attempt to throw off the yoke of Nazism. No had initially been sympathetic to the regime and such grand coalition existed. The Nazi regime its aims--something the flm fails to mention. They ruthlessly hunted those who engaged in resis‐ 2 H-Net Reviews decided to resist only after they realized how de‐ Initially, Stauffenberg traveled to the Wolf's structive and nihilistic the regime was. Lair on July 15, 1944 to carry out the assassina‐ Perhaps the greater failure of Valkyrie's por‐ tion, but aborted the mission after Heinrich trayal of Stauffenberg's initial encounter with the Himmler failed to attend a planning session at the resistance is the response of the circle's leaders to bunker. Stauffenberg returned to the bunker a the colonel’s question of what will happen after second time on July 20, 1944 and set the explo‐ Hitler. Sadly, Goerdeler's reply is not only mis‐ sives, even though the meeting had been moved leading, but it also misses the opportunity to ex‐ from the cement bunker outside to a wooden hut plore the fascinating debates within the conspira‐ due to the heat. The change in venue ultimately cy about how the resistance envisioned postwar reduced the impact of the explosion, allowing Germany. Certainly, Singer accurately illustrates Hitler to survive. Stauffenberg, however, left the the arrogance and naivety of some elements of retreat before he determined whether or not he the resistance, but he also gives the impression had killed Hitler. Without confirmation that Hitler that it failed to give any serious thought to a post‐ had died in the blast, Olbricht hesitated to carry war government. The resistance leaders had no out Valkyrie back in Berlin. The hesitation proved real plan for post-Hitler Germany in part because fatal, because it allowed the regime to regroup their own political views differed significantly. and reassert its authority in the capital. Regime They detested the liberal Weimar Republic and officials quickly arrested the leaders of the coup believed that the growth of mass political move‐ and executed them almost immediately. ments had prepared the ground for Nazism. They Shortly after the flm premiered in theaters, I thus were not ready to turn any power over to the began teaching a lifetime learning class at the people. Ultimately, they wanted Germans to University of Minnesota. I asked my students who forego political parties and embrace a corporatist had seen the flm what they thought of how it de‐ system in which the conspirators would play a picted the German resistance. Their responses leading role in the postwar government. eased my fears considerably. They overwhelming‐ The flm focuses on broader concepts of Oper‐ ly said that, although the flm did not discuss the ation Valkyrie, while also including enough de‐ postwar plans of the resistance, it nevertheless tails of the kind that audiences enjoy.