TheOster Conspiracy, also called theSeptember Conspiracy (German:Septemberverschwörung), of 1938 was a proposed plan to overthrow GermanFührerAdolf Hitler and theNazi regime if Germany went to war withCzechoslovakia over theSudetenland. It was led byGeneralmajorHans Oster, deputy head of theAbwehr, and other high-ranking conservatives within theWehrmacht who opposed the regime for behavior that was threatening to bring Germany into a war that they believed it was not ready to fight.[1] They planned to overthrow Hitler and the Nazi regime through a storming of theReich Chancellery by forces loyal to the plot to take control of the government, who would either arrest or assassinate Hitler, and restore the Monarchy underPrince Wilhelm of Prussia, the grandson ofWilhelm II.
In addition to these military figures, the conspirators also had contact with Secretary of StateErnst von Weizsäcker and the diplomats Theodor Kordt,Erich Kordt andHans Bernd Gisevius. Theodor Kordt was considered a vital contact with the British on whom the success of the plot depended; the conspirators needed strong British opposition to Hitler's seizure of the Sudetenland. However,Neville Chamberlain, apprehensive of the possibility of war, negotiated at length with Hitler andeventually conceded strategic areas of Czechoslovakia to him. Poland also invaded Czechoslovakia on 1 October 1938. This destroyed any chance of the plot succeeding, as Hitler was then seen in Germany as the "greatest statesman of all times at the moment of his greatest triumph", and the immediate risk of war had been neutralized.[2]
The plotters survived to become leaders ofGerman resistance to Hitler and Nazism during theSecond World War. Oster himself was on active duty until 1943, when placed under house arrest after other Abwehr officers were caught helping Jews to escape Germany.[6] He and Canaris were executed by hanging inFlossenbürg concentration camp on 9 April 1945.
Jones, Nigel (2008).Countdown to Valkyrie: The July Plot to Assassinate Hitler. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Casemate.ISBN978-1-84832-508-1.
Mueller, Michael (2017).Nazi Spymaster: The Life and Death of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. New York City, New York: Skyhorse.ISBN978-1-5107-1777-0.
Parssinen, Terry M. (2001).The Oster Conspiracy of 1938 : The Unknown Story of the Military Plot to Kill Hitler and Avert World War II.HarperCollins.ISBN5-559-44059-0.
Parssinen, Terry (2012).The Oster Conspiracy of 1938 : The Unknown Story of the Military Plot to Kill Hitler and Avert World War II. Random House.ISBN1-4481-1480-2.
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Coup d'état