I recently read an article about one of the plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The one I refer to took place on July 20, 1944. And on that day, Hitler cheated death. A bomb had been planted in a briefcase very near to him. The thing exploded, but it failed to kill him.
The scenario played out like this. High-ranking German officials had made up their minds that Hitler must die. He was leading Germany in a suicidal war on two fronts. It was apparent to everyone. But Hitler pressed on. So, these officials decided that assassination was the only way to stop him. A coup d’etat would follow, and a new government in Berlin would save Germany from complete destruction at the hands of the Allies. Or so was the plan.
The steps of the plan were this: Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, chief of the army reserve, was supposed to plant a bomb during a conference that was to be held at Berchtesgaden. But, the meeting location was changed to Hitler’s “Wolf’s Lair, a command post at Rastenburg, Prussia.
Regardless, Stauffenberg still planted the explosive in a briefcase. The plan had been altered slightly, but he still managed his task, placing the case under a table and then leaving quickly.
At that point, Hitler was studying a map of the Eastern front. Another guy, Colonel Heinz Brandt, trying to get a better look at the map, moved the briefcase out of place, farther away from where the Fuhrer was standing.
At 12:42 p.m., the bomb went off. When the smoke cleared, Hitler was wounded, charred, and even suffered the temporary paralysis of one arm—but he was very much alive. (He was even well enough to keep an appointment with Benito Mussolini that very afternoon. He gave Il Duce a tour of the bomb site.) Four others present died from their wounds.
Things went wonky from there. The whole plan of the overthrow went awry. The guy in charge of the operation, General Fromm, turned on the conspirators. Stauffenberg and others were shot that same day. Once Hitler figured out the extent of the conspiracy, he began the systematic liquidation of his “internal” enemies. More than 7,000 Germans would be arrested, and up to 5,000 would wind up dead—either executed or as suicides.
While the exact number of assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler remains debated, historians have documented at least 42 plots against him. This figure likely represents a minimum, as countless other attempts may have gone unrecorded or remain shrouded in secrecy. At least four others where bombs were planted but failed to explode, or Hitler had already left the scene.
I wonder how often these sorts of things occur, and we have no idea that they are taking place. I’m not sure how many German rulers, kings, presidents, and leaders have died by assassination. But in the United States, there have been four. Yes. That’s right. Four sitting presidents have been killed: Abraham Lincoln (1865, by John Wilkes Booth), James A. Garfield (1881, by Charles J. Guiteau), William McKinley (1901, by Leon Czolgosz), and John F. Kennedy (1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald).
And with that, several attempts have been made on other presidents. On Wiki, they run through a large list of these attempts, many of which I did not know about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots
This world of ours is strange and interesting.
Sometimes it feels very bright and hopeful. Other times, it feels very dark and disturbing.
These events go this way or that. Why was Hitler allowed to survive? Why was Lincoln killed?
I guess our existence, our Universe, is much like the flip of the coin. You never know which side will turn up.
But.
Is it chance, or is it destiny?
Even the greatest minds cannot agree on this question.
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“Chance is a word void of sense; nothing can exist without a cause.” – Voltaire
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“Life is full of chance and random events, and strength lies in adapting to them.” – Woody Hayes
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“There is no such thing as chance; and what seem to us merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny.” – Friedrich Schiller
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“The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius
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The events of good and bad. What goes on?
