Caesar von Hofacker
Caesar von Hofacker | |
---|---|
Caesar von Hofacker | |
Born |
Ludwigsburg, German Empire | 2 March 1896
Died |
20 December 1944 48) Berlin, Plötzensee Prison | (aged
Allegiance |
German Empire Weimar Republic Nazi Germany |
Service/branch | Luftwaffe |
Years of service |
1914 - 1920 1939 - 1944 |
Rank | Lieutenant Colonel |
Battles/wars |
World War I World War II |
Relations | Eberhard von Hofacker |
Other work | jurist |
Caesar von Hofacker (sometimes Cäsar[1]) (2 March 1896 – 20 December 1944) was a German Luftwaffe Lieutenant Colonel and member of the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler.
Career
Hofacker was born in Ludwigsburg; his father Eberhard von Hofacker was a general in World War I.
Hofacker's main activity in relation to the events culminating in the attempted assassination of Hitler at the Wolf's Lair on 20 July 1944 consisted of acting as a secret liaison between his cousin and another plotter in occupied Paris, General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, France's military governor, to whom he was personal adviser. Hofacker assessed the chances of the coup attempt as "only ten percent".[2] He had a point of introduction to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel as he considered his father something of a hero, having served under him in World War I.[3][4] He tried to draw him into the plot to rid Germany of Hitler, but although Rommel gave his backing to the conspiracy he did not agree that he should be killed.[5]
On 26 July 1944, Hofacker was arrested in Paris and put on trial before the Volksgerichtshof. He was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.
Notes
- ↑ Hofacker's memorial, using the umlaut spelling variant
- ↑ Joachim Fest, Plotting Hitler's Death: The German Resistance to Hitler, 1933–1945, 1996, p. 362.
- ↑ Caddick-Adams, Peter (2011). Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives. Preface Publishing. ISBN 1-84809-152-4.
- ↑ Peter Hoffmann, The History of the German resistance, 1933-1945, McGill-Queen's Press, 1996, p. 354
- ↑ William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon and Schuster, 1960, p. 1047.