Людвиг Бек: Начальник Генерального штаба и участник заговора против Гитлера

Chief of Staff of the German Army between 1935 and 1938

Ludwig August Theodor Beck (; 29 June 1880 – 20 July 1944) was a German general and Chief of the German General Staff during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II. Although Beck never became a member of the Nazi Party, in the early 1930s he supported Adolf Hitler's forceful denunciation of the Treaty of Versailles and the need to re arm, although he believed Germany needed more time to rearm before starting a war. In serving as Chief of Staff of the German Army between 1935 and 1938, Beck became increasingly disillusioned and stood in opposition to the rising totalitarianism of the Nazi regime and to Hitler's aggressive foreign policy. Public foreign policy disagreements with Hitler made Beck resign as Chief of Staff in August 1938. Beck became a major leader within the conspiracy against Hitler. The 20 July plot failed, however, and Beck shot himself in the head but succeeded only in severely wounding himself. One of General Friedrich Fromm's men then shot him in the back of the neck.

Beck was born on 29 June 1880 in Biebrich (now a borough of Wiesbaden, Hesse) in Hesse Nassau, at Biebrich, Hessen in Germany to Bertha (nee Draudt) and industrialist Ludwig Georg Ernst Wilhelm Beck. He served on the Western Front during the First World War as a staff officer. After the war, he served in various staff and command appointments. In 1931 and 1932, he led the group of army writers, at the Department of the Army (Truppenamt), which published the German Army Operations Manual, Truppenführung. The first section was promulgated in 1933 and the second section in 1934. A modified version is still in use today by the Bundeswehr. He was promoted to Generalleutnant in 1932. Two years later, in 1934, he replaced General Wilhelm Adam as chief of the Truppenamt, the camouflaged General Staff (the Treaty of Versailles explicitly forbade the existence of the General Staff). Beck had no moral objection to the idea of a war of aggression to eliminate Czechoslovakia as a state. In 1935, he had a series of meetings with Prince Bernard von Bülow, the State Secretary of the German Foreign Office and the Chief of the Hungarian General Staff to discuss plans "for the division of Czechoslovakia". On 12 November 1937, Beck submitted a memorandum stating that "various facts" show the requirement "for an imminent solution by force" of the problem of Czechoslovakia and that it was desirable to start preparing "the political ground among those powers which stood on our side or who were not against us" and that the "military discussion in either the one case or the other should begin at once". However, Beck felt that Germany needed more time to rearm before starting such a war. In Beck's assessment, the earliest date Germany could risk a war was 1940, and any war that was started in 1938 would be a "premature war" that Germany would lose. Most of the generals felt that the idea of starting a war in 1938 was highly risky, but none of them would confront Hitler with a refusal to carry out orders since most of them thought that Beck's arguments against war in 1938 were flawed. From May 1938, Beck had bombarded Hitler, Wilhelm Keitel and Walther von Brauchitsch with memoranda opposing Fall Grün (Case Green), the plan for a war against Czechoslovakia. In the first memorand, on 5 May 1938, Beck argued that the Sino Japanese War meant Japan would be unable to come to Germany's aid, that the French Army was the best fighting force in Europe and that Britain would certainly intervene on the side of France if Germany attacked Czechoslovakia. In his May memorandum, Beck argued that Hitler's assumptions about France, which were made in the Hossbach Memorandum of 1937, were mistaken and stated his belief that France "wishes for peace or, perhaps more accurately, abhors a new war" but that "in case of a real threat, or what is perceived by the people to be foreign policy pressure, the French nation comes together as if one". Beck believed "The French army is and remains intact and is at the moment the strongest in Europe". Beck ended with these comments: "The military economic situation of Germany is bad, worse than in 1917–1918. In its current military, military political and military economic condition, Germany cannot expose itself to the risk of a long war". The May Crisis of 21–22 May 1938 further convinced Beck of the dangers of going to war in 1938 and led him to increase his efforts to stop a war that he felt that Germany could not win. In November 1938, Beck informed a friend that from the time of the May Crisis, he had only one consideration in his mind: "How can I prevent a war?" On 22 May 1938, Hitler stated that he had deep respect for Beck for his pro Nazi testimony at the Ulm trial of 1930, but his views were too much that of a Reichswehr general and not enough of a Wehrmacht general. Hitler commented that Beck was "one of the officers still imprisoned in the idea of the hundred thousand man army". On 28 May 1938, Beck had a meeting with Hitler, Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Admiral Erich Raeder, Hermann Göring, Wilhelm Keitel, and Walther von Brauchitsch, during which Hitler restated the views that he had first expressed in the Hossbach Memorandum. In response, Beck drafted another memo on 29 May in which he presented a case that the Czechoslovak Army was not, as Hitler argued, a weak force and that a limited regional war in Central Europe was not a realistic possibility. In the same memorandum, Beck proclaimed his agreement with Hitler's views about the necessity of acquiring Lebensraum in Eastern Europe, called the existence of Czechoslovakia "intolerable" and concluded that "a way must be found to eliminate it (Czechoslovakia) as a threat to Germany, even, if necessary, by war". However, Beck argued that Germany was not strong enough to fight the general war that would result from an attack on Czechoslovakia in 1938 and urged Hitler to avoid a "premature war". In particular, Beck argued, "It is not accurate to judge Germany today as stronger than in 1914". He also presented a detailed military case that more time was needed before the Wehrmacht would be as strong as the army of 1914. Furthermore, Beck contended that he could not "accept these estimates of the military power of France and England Germany, whether alone or in alliance with Italy, is not in a position militarily to match England or France". At first, Beck felt that Hitler's rush to war in 1938 was caused not by his personality but rather him receiving poor military advice, especially from Keitel. As a result, Beck spent much of his time urging a reorganization of the command structure so that Hitler would receive his advice from the General Staff and presumably abandon his plans for aggression. In a memorandum opposing war in 1938, Beck commented: "Once again, the comments of the Führer demonstrate the complete inadequacy of the current top military advisory hierarchy". Beck advocated the need for a "continual, competent advising of the commander in chief of the Wehrmacht on questions of war leadership" and predicted that otherwise, "the future destiny of the Wehrmacht in peace and war, indeed the destiny of Germany in a future war, must be painted in the blackest of colors". It was only in June 1938 that Beck realised that Hitler was behind the drive for war. In a memorandum to Brauchitsch, Beck urged that all of the senior officers threaten a mass collective resignation to force Hitler to abandon his plans for Fall Grün in 1938. Beck ended his appeal to Brauchitsch: "If they all act together, then it will be impossible to carry out military action If a soldier in a position of highest authority in such times see his duties and tasks only within the limits of his military responsibilities, without consciousness of his higher responsibility to the whole people, then he shows a lack of greatness, a lack of comprehension of responsibility. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary actions!" Beck's campaign for a mass resignation was not aimed at the overthrow of Hitler but was rather intended to persuade Hitler to abandon his plans for war in 1938 and to purge certain "radical" elements from the Nazi Party, which Beck believed to have a negative influence on Hitler. Together with the Abwehr chief, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, and the German Foreign Office's State Secretary, Baron Ernst von Weizsäcker, Beck was a leader of the "antiwar" group in the German government, which was determined to avoid a war in 1938 that it felt Germany would lose. The group was not necessarily committed to the overthrow of the regime but was loosely allied to another, more radical group, the "anti Nazi" faction centred on Colonel Hans Oster and Hans Bernd Gisevius, which wanted to use the crisis as an excuse for executing a putsch to overthrow the Nazi regime. The divergent aims between both factions produced considerable tensions. In a June 1938 General Staff study, Beck concluded that Germany could defeat Czechoslovakia but that to do so would leave western Germany empty of troops, which could allow the French to seize the Rhineland with little difficulty. Beck maintained that Czechoslovak defences were very formidable, Prague could mobilise at least 38 divisions and at least 30 German divisions would be needed to break through, which required a campaign of at least three weeks. Beck concluded that Hitler's assumptions about a limited war in 1938 were mistaken. In July 1938, upon being shown Beck's 5 May 1938 memorandum opposing Fall Grün by Brauchitsch, Hitler called Beck's arguments "kindische Kräfteberechnungen" ("childish calculations"). In another memorandum of July 1938, Beck contended that a war against Czechoslovakia, France and Britain would end in Germany's defeat and urged Hitler to postpone his plans for aggression until Germany was strong enough for such a war. In late July 1938, Erich von Manstein, a leading protégé of Beck's, wrote to his mentor urging him to stay at his post and to place his faith in Hitler. On 29 July, Beck wrote a memorandum stating the German Army had the duty to prepare for possible wars with foreign enemies and "for an internal conflict which need only take place in Berlin". The 29 July memo is normally considered to be the start of Beck's efforts to overthrow the Nazi regime. In August 1938, Beck suggested to Brauchitsch that a "house cleaning" of the Nazi regime was necessary, under which the influence of the SS would be reduced, but Hitler would continue as dictator. At a 10 August summit, attended by the leading generals of the Reich, Hitler spent much of the time attacking Beck's arguments against Fall Grün and won over the majority of the generals. Beck resigned alone on 18 August. He was replaced, as head of the General Staff, by General Franz Halder. At Hitler's request, Beck kept his resignation secret and thus nullified the protest value of his resignation. Hitler promised Beck that if he kept his resignation secret, he would be rewarded with a major field command, and Beck was much disillusioned after he was instead put on the retired list.

In the following years, Beck lived in retirement in his Berlin apartment and ceased to have any meaningful influence on German military affairs. His opposition to Hitler had brought him in contact with a small number of senior officers intent on deposing the dictator, and his home became the headquarters of the small circle of opposition. He increasingly came to rely on contacts with the British in the hope that London would successfully exert its influence on Hitler through threats and warnings, but he failed. Beck and his conspirators knew that Germany faced certain and rapid defeat if France and Britain helped Czechoslovakia in 1938. Accordingly, they contacted the British Foreign Office, informed Britain of their plot and asked for a firm British warning to deter Hitler from attacking Czechoslovakia. In September 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier and Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini signed the Munich Agreement, which handed the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany. That ended the crisis and hence Beck's efforts at a putsch. The Vatican considered Müller to be a representative of Beck and agreed to offer the machinery for mediation between the plotters and the Allies. The Pope, communicating with Britain's Francis d'Arcy Osborne, channelled communications back and forth in secrecy. The British were non committal, but the Resistance were encouraged by the talks. In January to February 1940, a series of meetings between Goerdeler, Beck, Ulrich von Hassell and Johannes Popitz produced agreement that when the Nazi regime was overthrown, Beck was to head the Council of Regency, which would govern Germany. In 1940 and 1941, Beck spent much time discussing with Goerdeler, Hassell and Erwin von Witzleben aspects of the proposed state after the successful overthrow of the regime.

In 1943, Beck planned two abortive attempts to kill Hitler by means of a bomb. In May 1944, a memorandum by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel made it clear that his participation in the proposed putsch was based on the condition of Beck serving as the head of state in the new government. In 1944, Beck was one of the driving forces of the 20 July plot, along with Carl Goerdeler and Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. It was proposed that Beck would become Reichsverweser (regent) and head of the provisional government that would assume power in Germany after Hitler had been eliminated. The plot failed, however, and by the evening, Beck was in the custody of General Friedrich Fromm. Beck requested permission to keep his private pistol with the intention to commit suicide to avoid torture by the Gestapo. He shot himself in the head but succeeded only in severely wounding himself, and one of Fromm's men was brought in to administer the coup de grâce by shooting Beck in the back of the neck. Beck, along with other conspirators, was buried in secret that night. In her youth Amalie had been treated for tuberculosis at the Stillachhaus Sanatorium in Oberstdorf. She had been advised by its head, Dr Luebhard Saathoff, never to have children. Following her marriage, he was persuaded to change his opinion. Amalie gave birth to Gertrud Beck on 1 January 1917 in Wiesbaden, Hassen Nassau, Preussen. Nine months later, on 16 November 1917, Amalie died in the sanatorium. Beck was serving on the Western Front at the time of his wife’s death and had little interest in his five year old child. Consequently, Dr Saathoff took responsibility for her and she joined his family of five children and several adopted children. From the age of 14, Gertrud began living permanently with her father. Following the start of World War II, to avoid being conscripted into the labour service, she moved to a family friend's forestry estate in East Prussia. Here she met Gunther Neubaur, who was born on 18 October 1915. Despite already being engaged and his parents objecting, since at 23 they considered her to be too young, the couple went ahead and married in Berlin on 2 March 1940. Karl Ludwig Diehl in Jackboot Mutiny (1955), Ian Richardson in The Plot to Kill Hitler (1990), Remo Girone in Stauffenberg (2004) and Terence Stamp in Valkyrie (2008).