The Outsiders
By far, the most attempts on the life of Adolf Hitler were made by Germans who acted alone, in concert with others, or as part of an organized effort.
A few attempts were made by outsiders, men from other countries: A solo actor from Switzerland followed his own erratic path, two Brits at different times in different circumstances proposed what they considered to be fool-proof plans, and a Soviet agent was establishing a cover story as a defector to Germany only to be called back at the last minute.
Maurice Bavaud
Like lone wolf Georg Elser (last month’s blog subject), Swiss theology student Maurice Bavaud was attracted to the pomp and circumstance of the annual National Socialist Procession held every year in Munich in early November in the late 1930s. His trip was even suggested by a security aide to the chief of the Reich Chancellery, Major Karl Deckert. (Note: Deckert is identified in various sources as Karl Derkert, a captain who was connected with Hitler’s personal security, and a policeman.)
Bavaud was studying to become a Catholic missionary at a seminary in Brittany when he met Marcel Gerbohay in 1935. Together, the two created the current affairs student discussion group Compagnie du Mystére and over time agreed that Hitler had to be removed because of his persecution of the Catholic Church and tolerance of the atheist Soviet Union. (Roger Moorhouse: Killing Hitler)
In the summer of 1938, Bavaud turned thoughts into action. He left the seminary and for a time lived with his family in Neuchâtel before he began tracking Hitler. He first traveled to Berlin, then, when Hitler was at his mountain retreat in Bavaria, Bavaud journeyed to Berchtesgaden in Obersalzberg, along the way purchasing a small automatic pistol and 6.35 mm ammunition, taking long walks in the hills surrounding Hitler’s house, the Berghof, and testing his marksmanship at a range of 25 feet against the trunks of trees.
Over a meal at an inn, Bavaud was pleased to meet two local teachers of French. Speaking in his native language, he told the teachers he was a fervent admirer of National Socialism and hoped to meet the Führer. Deckert, overhearing the conversation from the next table, told Bavaud it was fruitless to try to see Hitler at the Berghof, but he might be able to secure an audience with the leader of the Third Reich by going through channels in Munich. He could at least see Hitler and his entourage at the National Socialist Procession. (Since 1935, the March through Munich was held every year on the afternoon of November 9. Marchers, including the Führer himself, made their way from the Bürgerbräu Beer Hall down city streets and through plazas to the Feldherrnhalle where wreaths were laid in commemoration of the 16 men who had lost their lives during the 1923 putsch.)
In Munich on November 3 or 4, Bavaud posed as a Swiss journalist and got a ticket for a seat on the Holy Ghost Church reviewing stand, situated at the western end of a street where marchers would turn into a narrow archway. On the day of the March, he arrived early enough to get a seat in the front row. Yet, as marchers passed in front of him, Bavaud realized Hitler would be too far away for a clear shot, his line of sight would be blocked by SA who lined up along the curb, and security men at the edges of the marchers would prevent him from moving any closer.
Undeterred, Bavaud pursued other avenues: He forged letters of introduction from the foreign minister of France and traveled back and forth from Munich to Berchtesgarden, trying to deliver the letters in person, only to find Hitler was elsewhere. Running out of money, he boarded a train bound for Salzburg and snuck onto one of the coaches destined for Paris. Caught without a ticket or the means to purchase one, Bavaud was turned over to civilian authorities for trying to ride free on Reich railways.
On December 6, he was sentenced to 60 days in jail for fraud. A month later, the Gestapo confronted Bavaud in his jail cell with information about his actions and the purchase of the handgun. He confessed after a lengthy interrogation, spent 11 months in prison while awaiting trial and another 17 months after conviction before he was executed.
Noel Mason MacFarlane, Alexander Foote
The perfect spot for an assassination: An open bathroom window across the square from the reviewing stand where Hitler watched big parades in Berlin. Osteria Bavaria, the small lunch spot in Munich where Hitler ate eggs, vegetables, and fruit three times a week.
Colonel Noel Mason-MacFarlane, British military attaché in Berlin in the 1930s, was sure he could “pick the bastard off from here as easy as winking.” (John Grehan, The Hitler Assassination Plots). ‘Here’ was a window in his flat on Sophienstrasse, just under 100 yards from the raised platform from which Hitler would be watching the parade celebrating his birthday on April 20, 1939.
MacFarlane told Ewen Butler, Berlin news correspondent for The Times from 1937-39, “All that was necessary was a good shot and a high-velocity rifle with telescopic sight and silencer.” (The Hitler Assassination Plots, p 71). “It could have been fired through my open bathroom window from a spot on the landing some 30 feet back from the window.” And the sound of the rifle shot would have been drowned out by the cheering, marching, and music. (Peter Hoffman, Hitler’s Personal Security, p 99)
Sir (Frank) Noel Mason MacFarlane - Person - National Portrait Gallery (npg.org.uk)
All that would be necessary for Alexander Foote, an MI6 double agent working as a Soviet spy in Munich, was a time bomb in an attaché case placed on the other side of the private room where Hitler often lunched when he was in Munich. Foote believed the prospects of successfully assassinating Hitler at the restaurant were “promising.” Security at the restaurant was surprisingly lax. Hitler’s team did not take extra precautions or intensify surveillance while Hitler was lunching. Foote even tested the idea of an assassination attempt at the Osteria with a colleague named Bill Phillips. (Other sources identify Foote’s colleague as Len Brewer.)
“One day, Bill stationed himself at the table next to the gangway, and as Hitler approached, put his hand rapidly and furtively into his pocket, and drew out a cigarette case.” Nothing happened. None of the members of Hitler’s entourage and guests or Gestapo agents even flinched. (The Hitler Assassination Attempts, p 76)
https://prabook.com/web/alexander.foote/3714455
Neither plan made it beyond the talking stage. MacFarlane’s idea withered in London. Not yet at war with Germany, the British war ministry balked. As Butler noted, “the murder of the German Chancellor by the British Military Attaché would create a really formidable diplomatic incident.” But, MacFarlane countered, “Nobody in Germany would go to war on that account, whereas while Hitler lived war is certain.” Nonetheless, MacFarlane’s superiors vetoed the plan. One reason: “the act would have been ‘unsportsmanlike.’” (To Kill the Devil, p 48-49)
Although given an initial go-ahead by the Soviets, Foote was ordered to stand down in the summer of 1939. Germany and the Soviet Union had signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-aggression Pact on August 23 and become allies. (The Hitler Assassination Plots, p 74)
Lev Knipper
Soviet thinking about assassinating Hitler shifted dramatically, at least for a brief time in 1941-43. In March, 1942, Stalin reportedly was “extremely anxious to see Hitler dead and proposed to use every effort to bring this about.” When Hitler was supposed to be in Minsk, Minsk was bombed. When the German General Staff was in Vilna three days later, Vilna was bombed. Minsk was bombed again when Hitler was reportedly in the city. (The Hitler Assassination Attempts, page 131).
The Soviets also recruited Lev Knipper, the nephew of playwright Anton Chekov and brother of a Russian actress who had immigrated to Germany and become part of the Third Reich’s cultural elite, to be an assassin. Knipper was a very willing operative, saying “it’s not even so frightening to die” for his country. (Killing Hitler, p 182).
A composer, Knipper was spending a year in Iran researching and eventually completing Two Preludes on Iranian Themes. His objective was to defect to Germany from Iran, hook up with a Soviet agent who was posing as a defector, and use his connections with his sister to bring him and Hitler together.
The project was canceled in the summer of 1943. Getting close to Hitler was nearly impossible. For one thing, he was rarely seen in public. Even when he was, he was surrounded by security. More important, German troops had just been defeated at Stalingrad and the tide of the war was turning.
Sources
Grehan, John: The Hitler Assassination Attempts, Yorkshire, Pen and Sword Books, 2022.
Hoffman, Peter: Hitler’s Personal Security, Da Capo Press, 2000.
Molly Mason, Herbert: To Kill the Devil, New York, W W Norton & Co., 1978.
Roger Moorhouse: Killing Hitler, New York, Bantam Books, 2006