I think it grows on me, as we go through the seventh year of this dictatorship, how courageous they were, to resist what we now consider the greatest political monstrosity in history.
Imagine yourself as von Stauffenberg, walking into that conference room, sitting at the table with so many murderers.
Wonder if you might have decided to "sit this one through," by staying in the room, to be sure of the detonation!
And we quibble over the politics of impeachment. (I know -- it's worth discussing strategy, tactics, possible outcomes, and being sure rather than impulsive about timing. Be better planners than your opponents.)
But -- think of it...
Spend some time reflecting, while enjoying the excellent Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Conspiratorial groups planning a coup of some kind had existed in the German Army and the military intelligence organization (the Abwehr) since 1938. ... Plans to stage a coup and prevent Hitler from launching a new world war were developed in 1938 and 1939...
If only...
In 1941 a new conspiratorial group formed.
It could have turned out so differently, for so many millions...
During late 1943 and early 1944 there were at least four failed attempts to get one of the military conspirators near enough to Hitler
Why does this feel so familiar?
By the summer of 1944 the Gestapo was closing in on the conspirators. There was a sense that time was running out, both on the battlefield, where the Eastern front was in full retreat and where the Allies had landed in France on 6 June, and in Germany, where the resistance’s room for maneuver was rapidly contracting. The belief that this was the last chance for action seized the conspirators. By this time the core of the conspirators had begun to think of themselves as doomed men, whose actions were more symbolic than real. The purpose of the conspiracy came to be seen by some of them as saving the honor of themselves, their families, the Army and Germany through a grand, if futile gesture, rather than actually altering the course of history.
Today, we may celebrate how many political -- and nonviolent -- avenues we still have for action, while honoring those who found themselves in a most desperate trap, and gave their lives courageously.