Inside of Brandenburg Garden Prison on the 12th March 1945, a German General who was
very senior in the army was led to a stake inside of a courtyard where he was to be shot
by a firing squad.
As Friedrich Fromm was readied by the firing squad, he would have thought how things could
have been very different.
But all very suddenly the order to fire was given, and Friedrich Fromm the Commander in
Chief of the Reserve Army was shot instantly.
But his crimes were considered treason against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi state as he was
involved in a plot that would have seen the whole of the Nazi government crumble, with
a military coup seizing control of the nation that was suffering during World War 2.
In the wake of the July 20th Plot, it’s believed that Hitler ordered the SS and Heinrich
Himmler to execute dozens of his military generals and around 6000 people were executed
following the failed bombing plot inside Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair that wounded the dictator of
Nazi Germany.
But Friedrich Fromm today is considered a heroic figure by some, who gave his life to
ultimately try and bring down one of History’s most evil dictators.
Join us today as we look at the execution of the German General Shot For Plotting Against
Hitler, and as always to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Friedrich Fromm was born on the 8th October 1888, and he was born in Charlottenburg within
the German capital of Berlin.
From a young age it was clear that he was destined for a role inside of the military,
and as the First World War broke out, Fromm then served as a Prussian Army officer during
the conflict.
He reached the rank of leftenant during World War 1, but then after he stayed as part of
the army despite the fact the German armed forces were heavily reduced in their numbers,
with only 100,000 soldiers allowed in the news Reichswehr, as outlined by the Treaty
of Versailles.
At this time the German people were suffering heavily also, but one man who promised to
make the country rise like a phoenix out of ashes of the heavy military defeat was Adolf
Hitler.
Hitler promised to get Germany back to how it used to be, and he wanted to restore national
pride, and because of this the rise of the Nazis and Hitler emerged in the post war Germany,
especially with the issues regarding hyperinflation and political instability plaguing the nation.
But Friedrich Fromm to begin with was an early supporter of Hitler and he was a member of
the Nazi Party, but he remained in the army and worked under General Ludwig Beck, who
at the time was the Chief of the General Staff.
But in 1937 years before the Second World War broke out, with Hitler preparing his nation
for a world war, Fromm was promoted and made the Commander of the Replacement Army.
He also was made the Chief of Army Equipment and armaments, meaning he was someone who
was tasked with ensuring logistics on the front line of the conflict was good, and that
the German war industry was profitable and also making deadly weapons to be used against
their enemies.
However at some point in the conflict, Friedrich Fromm began to become dissenting against Hitler,
and also against his management of the German War Effort.
He saw him as someone who was in the wrong position commanding the war effort, and he
saw better military generals being cast aside whilst Hitler did what he pleased.
His dissent came around 1942, and he actually favoured peace with the Soviet Union believing
that operation Barbarossa was too costly to the German war effort.
When Barbarossa stalled outside of Moscow around December 1941, Hitler seized direct
command of the army and reorganised the armed forces command structure.
Albert Speer wrote of Fromm’s opinions that, ‘General Fromm as Chief of the Reserve Army
deeply concerned about this kind of poor planning.
I took him with me to see Hitler several times so that he could present the arguments of
the military.
Fromm knew how to state a problem clearly; he had presence and had diplomatic tact.
Sitting there, his sword pressed between his knees, hand on the hilt, he looked charged
with energy; and to this day I believe that his great abilities might have prevented many
a blunder at the Fuehrer's headquarters.
After several conferences, in fact, his influence increased.
But immediately opposition appeared, both on the part of Keitel, who saw his position
threatened, and on the part of Goebbels, who tried to persuade Hitler that Fromm had a
dangerous political record.
Finally.
Hitler clashed with Fromm over a question of reserve supplies.
Curtly; he let me know that I was no longer to bring Fromm with me.’
Fromm directly from Hitler is where Fromm gained his role as the Chief of Army Armament
and the Reserve Army.
Fromm at the time had a significant amount of power, and he actually its believed had
enough power to control the German State as his position in army procurement and production
meant he was responsible for supplying all army forces, but he was also in a sense commanding
all army troops inside of Germany.
He was answerable to the Head of the Oberkommando das heeres which was Hitler himself.
But Fromm recommended a defensive strategy for the entire year of 1942, and he recommended
that following the stalling of Barbarossa digging in.
This was because at the time the army’s supplies were running out, and production
quotas for armaments were not being hit, with the armies supplies becoming crippled.
But as the Commander in Chief of the Reserve Army, Fromm was in charge of training and
recruiting replacement soldiers for the German Army, but he became aware that a number of
his sub-ordinates and assistants were also becoming dissident to Hitler and he learned
that many of them were planning an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler.
The attempt came in the form of the July 20th Plot, in which Hitler’s wolf’s lair was
bombed by Claus von Stauffenberg, but the death of Hitler was only part of the plan
as the plotters would have launched a military coup and also assassinated huge players in
the Nazi government.
Heinrich Himmler the Head of the SS for example was to be assassinated by a group of soldiers
led by Arthur Nebe.
But news following the bombing came out that Hitler had not been killed, and Fromm then
realised that in was Stauffenberg and the other plotters who were behind the attack
and explosion, and he then attempted to arrest them.
But Fromm when he tried to do this was quickly overwhelmed by the plotters who then locked
him up inside of a prison cell in the Bendlerblock, the Headquarters of the Replacement Army where
the plot and coup were being co-ordinated from.
He was asked to join the plotters, but he refused to do this and Fromm’s signature
had been forged on a number of documents from the start and with this it was believed that
he had been involved in the plot.
After the failing of the coup, Fromm was found by the men of the Ersatzheer and he was then
freed, but Hitler had ordered that the conspirators should be taken alive.
However Fromm had his own plans, and he went after the main co-conspirators and he attempted
to cover his tracks and look favourable in Hitler’s eyes by quickly executing and shooting
von Stauffenberg, Freidrich Olbright and Werner von Haeften outside the very place where they
had orchestrated the coup.
But by organising this, and executing the others he attracted suspicion himself and
Joseph Goebbles when he saw the executions said, ‘You’ve been in a damned hurry to
get your witnesses below ground,’ and with this Fromm was suspected of being a plotter.
Fromm expressed his outrage at the plotters, but he allowed another conspirator Ludwig
Beck to take his own life, but then had him shot and executed after this failed.
Following the executions, Goebbels arrived and Fromm tried to claim credit for suppressing
the coup but then he was arrested days later for being allegedly involved.
But the court at the time tried to prove a direct link with him to the July 20th Plotters,
and they could not do this, but Hitler had made his mind up on Friedrich Fromm and he
then had him charged and found guilty of cowardice before the enemy.
However as he had executed the conspirators he got his hands on, Fromm was spared the
brutal execution that many others got inside of prison cells and execution chambers, as
Hitler ordered the conspirators to be hanged using piano wire, and they were tortured heavily.
These executions were even filmed so Hitler could watch them.
Fromm had been arrested by Heinrich Himmler, and he was then inside of Brandenburg Gorden
Prison executed by a firing squad.
He was brought to the courtyard where he was to be shot and his last words were, ‘I die
because it was ordered, I had always wanted only the best for Germany.’
Following this, the execution squad were readied, and they were then ordered to shoot and with
this one of the most high ranking members of the German military was executed.
Joseph Goebbels wrote of his execution that, ‘Colonel-General Fromm has been sentenced
to death for cowardice in face of the enemy.
He thoroughly deserves this sentence.
Admittedly it could not be proved that he was actually involved in 20 July; but he did
not take the measures which were his duty in order to prevent 20 July.’
Albert Speer also had offered to appear in Fromm’s defence, however he then wrote,
‘I heard, or rather had it hinted to me, that Hitler had ordered the execution of General
Fromm.
A few weeks before Minister of Justice Thierack had remarked to me, offhandedly and completely
unmoved between two courses of a meal: "Fromm's going to lose his bonnet soon tool" My efforts
to speak up for Fromm that evening remained fruitless; Thierack was not in the least impressed.
Consequently, a few days later I sent him a five page official letter in which I refuted
most of the charges against fromm, insofar as I knew what they were and offered to appear
before the People's Court as a witness for the defense.’
But Friedrich Fromm was a high ranking member of the military who was linked to the plot
to assassinate Hitler.
But he was shot inside of a prison yard by a group of soldiers who had been ordered by
the nazi hierarchy to carry out the brutal will of Hitler.
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