Almost Killing Hitler

Mr Will is an absolute genious with the written word. He's a poet and an eye opener.
And as to "the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza", Hamas broke the cease fire and Israel was very patient but couldn't avoid an attack when the rockets just wouldn't stop.

http://anhouraday.blog.com

George Will's column about "Valkyrie," the movie based on the July 20, 1944, attempt to kill Hitler, came at a strategic time to take attention away from the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. When Israel killed 34 highly trained, highly educated American men when they attacked the USS Liberty, also burning and maiming 171 on June 8, 1967, George Will was silent. When hundreds were killed at Sabra Chatilla refugee camps while Arial Sharon stood by, George Will was silent. When Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz spat upon the first amendment while ruining the career of another Jewish professor at DePaul Univerity, George Will was silent. George Will is a cynical propagandist for Zionism.

Uh, George? You've always struck me as the one least susceptible to undermining Newsweek's credibility with an absurd typo. But there it is, in this article... "was one of perhaps 15 attempts, according Joachim Fest's 1994 book..." I can't bring myself to even finish reading the article. I won't be reading your work for a long time.

Gaza is the worlds largest Concentration Camp.
Fascist Israel using Hitler like details to crush Gaza.

Well, at least Mr. Will wasn't giving a condescending sermon on baseball. I doubt many Americans even know of the German resitance. They DO know the names of Britney's kids. And a pedantic George Will isn't going to change that. Hollywood aims at the most ignorant person in the audience. Smart people usually have read a book or two and know how the story ends. Alas, Americans, like the Germans in the 30's and 40's, simply accept the status quo. MIllions of empty, apathetic minds may not be the holocaust of WWII, but it's a damn shame nonetheless. Movies like "Valkyrie" should be shown in school, and then the students assigned the task of explaining the story in context. If they can still write complete sentences.

Mr. Will???s article seems to be claiming that Valkyrie fails in the sense that it ???misses a chance to revive interest in the German Resistance.??? I disagree with this ???failure???. True, the movie provides more action and less history, and fails to shed light upon the many other heroes of the German Resistance. Yet, for the millions of people that are viewing Valkryrie it may be the first time they have even heard of the German Resistance Movement or an attempt to assassinate Hitler. As pathetic as it may be, our society has a growing disinterest with history(???Marley and Me??? is a box-office hit and bestselling book). To make a movie focusing on a historical event requires this Hollywood ???dilution??? that Mr. Will has cited in order to draw attention. However diluted it may be, for the average viewer the ???complex moral drama??? is still evident.
Valkyrie is not just an average thriller movie. By nature the movie draws attention to the German Resistance movement, and by bringing the story of just a few of it???s heroes it is not a failure. As a 21 year old college student(as sad as this may sound) I can confirm it???s success. I had gone into the movie knowing little about any attempts to assassinate Hitler, and had stayed up till 2 in the morning reading about the German Resistance movement after viewing Valkyrie.
If it can spark enough interest for some members of it???s audience to educate them selves more on the movement it is indeed successful.

Mr. Will???s article seems to be claiming that Valkyrie fails in the sense that it ???misses a chance to revive interest in the German Resistance.??? I disagree with this comment. True, the movie provides more action and less history, and fails to shed light upon the many other heroes of the German Resistance. Yet, for the millions of people that are viewing Valkryrie it may be the first time they have even heard of the German Resistance Movement or an attempt to assassinate Hitler. As pathetic as it may be, our society has a growing disinterest with history(???Marley and Me??? is a box-office hit and bestselling book). To make a movie focusing on a historical event requires this Hollywood ???dilution??? that Mr. Will has cited in order to draw attention. However diluted it may be, for the average viewer the ???complex moral drama??? is still evident.
Valkyrie is not just an average thriller movie. By nature the movie draws attention to the German Resistance movement, and by bringing the story of just a few of it???s heroes it is not a failure. As a 21 year old college student(as sad as this may sound) I can confirm it???s success. I had gone into the movie knowing little about any attempts to assassinate Hitler, and had stayed up till 2 in the morning reading about the German Resistance movement after viewing Valkyrie.
If it can spark enough interest for some members of it???s audience to educate them selves more on the movement it is indeed successful.

THE WORLD NEEDS TO TAKE A HARD LOOK AT HATRED. We must cultivate values that promote human understanding and communication. Perhaps parenting skills must be enhanced. Children turn into adults that have problems without solutions.. Hitler was filled with evil and hate. He had the power to act on his hate. Each generation must understand why and how hatred can destroy our freedom and quality of life.

I think some of the comments miss this crucial point of Mr. Will's article: He is giving a review of movie in the context of the many assassination attempts that were ignored by the movie. The movie makes von Steffenberg's team and attempts look isolated (btw - Mr. Will references Elser's attempt, just not by name).

Had any of these assassination attempts succeeded, the ultiimate horror and carnage of WWII would almost certainly been much less for several reasons, most important of which is that had Hitler been assassinated, a leadership void would have occurred that would have created multiple, competing factions in German leadership that would have crippled them.

Finally, the would be assassins were heroes. They risked their lives, their family's lives and everything they ever had on the attempts. They and their families (and friends) paid with their lives for their failed attempts.

I think some of the comments miss this crucial point of Mr. Will's article: He is giving a review of movie in the context of the many assassination attempts that were ignored by the movie. The movie makes von Steffenberg's team and attempts look isolated (btw - Mr. Will references Elser's attempt, just not by name).

Had any of these assassination attempts succeeded, the ultiimate horror and carnage of WWII would almost certainly been much less for several reasons, most important of which is that had Hitler been assassinated, a leadership void would have occurred that would have created multiple, competing factions in German leadership that would have crippled them.

Finally, the would be assassins were heroes. They risked their lives, their family's lives and everything they ever had on the attempts. They and their families (and friends) paid with their lives for their failed attempts.

Sorry, but there is little great heroism in this story. The average German citizen did nothing to prevent Hitler's rise to power and little or nothing to oppose him once he got power. They were perfectly happy to ignore the harsher realities of National Socialism and to turn a blind eye to the atrocities going on (literally) right next door. These military men, for the most part, were not acting out of any opposition to Nazism. They were dissatisfied with Hitler's military decisions and strategies and wanted him gone so someone more of their ilk could take control. I doubt if any of these military men you cite would have done anything to stop the excesses of the Nazi regime had they succeeded in eliminating Hitler anyway. The real heroes were the few German citizens who gave their lives fighting Nazi tyranny or who risked thier lives daily by helping the victims of Nazi policies. I have no idea why George Will finds it necessary to praise the non heroes in this situation.

Nothing in this article shows that the average German citizen was involved in any kind of resistance to Hitler or to the Nazis. They were happy to go along with the master plan as long as it was working and as long at they could pretend that no atrocites were being committed. Many of these military attemtps to kill HItler had less to do with any anti-Nazi feelings as much as they did with the military misgivings about Hitler's plans to run the war. If you reallly want to praise some "good Germans" then do a story on the few of them who actually put their lives on the line to fight National Socialism or to save innocents from the concentration camps.

The members of the military whose assassination attempts you cite, had certainly the knowledge and means neccessery. They had access to weapons and intelligence.
For me, one of the most impressive and humbling stories is the one of Georg Elser. A simple man, who aquiered the skills he needed, worked on his plan for over a month and in the end nearly managed to succeed (it was again just dumb luck that saved Hitler).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Elser

I am curious as of why you only cite attemps made by members of the military. Myself being not in the military, the assassination attempt of Georg Elser, was always the most impressive/moving one for me. Military personal certainly had better knowledge and other means to attempt to kill Hitler; Georg Elser was just a simple man and he did not "just" try to take a weapon to Hitler but worked meticulously for other a month on his plan and came close to succeeding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Elser

Its a rare pleasure to read a good history article in a news magazine.

One problem with the attempts on Hitler's life was that the conspirators originally thought they could control the Nazi evil and actually assisted in its growing control over Germany. One cannot negotiate with evil; the better persons with means were able to leave Germany and then do what was necessary to combat Nazism from the outside. Another problem was that these conspirators actually thought by killing Hitler and overthrowing the regime that they could save Germany's honor and end the war. Certainly Stalin would not have called for a truce and I doubt if Churchill and FDR would have done so. Afterall, Stalingrad and Normandy had cost the Allies too many men and resources for there to be a quick peace once Hitler was gone. While I am morally glad there was a German Resistance, practically their efforts were too little, too late.