The FSB declassified documents about the assassination attempt on Hitler 80 years ago

The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia has declassified archival materials revealing the circumstances of the assassination attempt on the head of the Nazi Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, at his Wolfsschanze headquarters on July 20, 1944.

According to the RIA Novosti news agency, among the released documents are photocopies of the testimony of the former head of Hitler's personal guard, Hans Rattenhuber, and ex—RSHA foreign intelligence officer who worked in Iran, SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Roman Gamota.

These statements were obtained by the Soviet state security agencies after the Great Patriotic War, when both of these German officers were in captivity.

According to Rattenhuber, the conspirators were able to get close to the Fuhrer, thanks to his own carelessness. By personal decree, Hitler forbade the observation of officers of the active army and the search of their belongings.

After the assassination attempt, an order was issued to search all officers visiting the headquarters, as well as to take away their personal weapons and search their personal belongings.

Rattenhuber also reported that after the shock of the failed assassination attempt, Hitler began to develop a nervous disorder, expressed in trembling hands. The "leader of the German nation" did not manage to recover from this tremor, the symptoms worsened in March and April 1945.

The testimony of Hitler's guard was confirmed during the interrogations of Roman Gamota. He told the investigation that the reason for the appearance of the military opposition in Nazi Germany was the situation of the country.

Among the prerequisites for the conspiracy and the attempt to kill the Fuhrer, he called the "failure of the plan for a lightning war against the USSR," increased repression against dissenters, as well as numerous defeats of German troops on various fronts.

The assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944 was planned by the conspirators as part of Operation Valkyrie. During the war council at the Wolfsschanze headquarters (in East Prussia), one of the main participants in the conspiracy, Count Klaus Schenk von Stauffenberg, placed a briefcase with explosives under his desk.

However, Hitler managed to survive the assassination attempt, thanks to the very massive table that covered him during the explosion. As a result, four people present at the meeting died, but the Fuhrer himself escaped with a concussion.