Mertz von Quirnheim was a German officer and a resistance fighter in Nazi Germany involved in the 20 July Plot against Adolf Hitler.
Quirnheim had initially welcomed Hitler's seizure of power, but began to distance himself from the régime as he became more aware of its brutality. In 1941, for example, his support for the more humane treatment of civilians in Nazi-occupied eastern European triggered a dispute between Alfred Rosenberg (Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories) and Erich Koch (Reich Commissar for the Ukraine). In 1942, while being promoted to lieutenant colonel and then to Head of Staff of the 24th Army Corps at the Eastern Front, Quirnheim strengthened his ties to the resistance through his brother-in-law Wilhelm Dieckmann. He was promoted to colonel in 1943, the same year he married Hilde Baier.
Memorial at BendlerblockBy September 1943, Quirnheim had become involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. He, his superior General Friedrich Olbricht and Stauffenberg drew up Operation Valkyrie, a plan of action to be implemented as soon as Hitler had been killed. Meanwhile, he succeeded Stauffenberg as Chief of Staff at the Army's General Office in Berlin. Immediately after the attempt on Hitler's life in East Prussia on 20 July 1944, Quirnheim urged General Olbricht to activate Operation Valkyrie, even though they could not be sure whether Hitler was dead. At about the same time, however, news began to arrive that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt.
Within hours, Quirnheim, Stauffenberg, Olbricht and Werner von Haeften had been arrested, summarily tried by Colonel General Friedrich Fromm – a quiet supporter who betrayed them once he saw the plot had failed – and were shot and buried in the Matthäus Churchyard in Berlin's Schöneberg district. There is a stone in memory of the event in the churchyard. Heinrich Himmler subsequently ordered the bodies exhumed, burnt and the ashes scattered.
Quirnheim had initially welcomed Hitler's seizure of power, but began to distance himself from the régime as he became more aware of its brutality. In 1941, for example, his support for the more humane treatment of civilians in Nazi-occupied eastern European triggered a dispute between Alfred Rosenberg (Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories) and Erich Koch (Reich Commissar for the Ukraine). In 1942, while being promoted to lieutenant colonel and then to Head of Staff of the 24th Army Corps at the Eastern Front, Quirnheim strengthened his ties to the resistance through his brother-in-law Wilhelm Dieckmann. He was promoted to colonel in 1943, the same year he married Hilde Baier.
Memorial at BendlerblockBy September 1943, Quirnheim had become involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. He, his superior General Friedrich Olbricht and Stauffenberg drew up Operation Valkyrie, a plan of action to be implemented as soon as Hitler had been killed. Meanwhile, he succeeded Stauffenberg as Chief of Staff at the Army's General Office in Berlin. Immediately after the attempt on Hitler's life in East Prussia on 20 July 1944, Quirnheim urged General Olbricht to activate Operation Valkyrie, even though they could not be sure whether Hitler was dead. At about the same time, however, news began to arrive that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt.
Within hours, Quirnheim, Stauffenberg, Olbricht and Werner von Haeften had been arrested, summarily tried by Colonel General Friedrich Fromm – a quiet supporter who betrayed them once he saw the plot had failed – and were shot and buried in the Matthäus Churchyard in Berlin's Schöneberg district. There is a stone in memory of the event in the churchyard. Heinrich Himmler subsequently ordered the bodies exhumed, burnt and the ashes scattered.
Mertz von Quirnheim was a German officer and a resistance fighter in Nazi Germany involved in the 20 July Plot against Adolf Hitler.
Quirnheim had initially welcomed Hitler's seizure of power, but began to distance himself from the régime as he became more aware of its brutality. In 1941, for example, his support for the more humane treatment of civilians in Nazi-occupied eastern European triggered a dispute between Alfred Rosenberg (Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories) and Erich Koch (Reich Commissar for the Ukraine). In 1942, while being promoted to lieutenant colonel and then to Head of Staff of the 24th Army Corps at the Eastern Front, Quirnheim strengthened his ties to the resistance through his brother-in-law Wilhelm Dieckmann. He was promoted to colonel in 1943, the same year he married Hilde Baier.
Memorial at BendlerblockBy September 1943, Quirnheim had become involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. He, his superior General Friedrich Olbricht and Stauffenberg drew up Operation Valkyrie, a plan of action to be implemented as soon as Hitler had been killed. Meanwhile, he succeeded Stauffenberg as Chief of Staff at the Army's General Office in Berlin. Immediately after the attempt on Hitler's life in East Prussia on 20 July 1944, Quirnheim urged General Olbricht to activate Operation Valkyrie, even though they could not be sure whether Hitler was dead. At about the same time, however, news began to arrive that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt.
Within hours, Quirnheim, Stauffenberg, Olbricht and Werner von Haeften had been arrested, summarily tried by Colonel General Friedrich Fromm – a quiet supporter who betrayed them once he saw the plot had failed – and were shot and buried in the Matthäus Churchyard in Berlin's Schöneberg district. There is a stone in memory of the event in the churchyard. Heinrich Himmler subsequently ordered the bodies exhumed, burnt and the ashes scattered.
Quirnheim had initially welcomed Hitler's seizure of power, but began to distance himself from the régime as he became more aware of its brutality. In 1941, for example, his support for the more humane treatment of civilians in Nazi-occupied eastern European triggered a dispute between Alfred Rosenberg (Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories) and Erich Koch (Reich Commissar for the Ukraine). In 1942, while being promoted to lieutenant colonel and then to Head of Staff of the 24th Army Corps at the Eastern Front, Quirnheim strengthened his ties to the resistance through his brother-in-law Wilhelm Dieckmann. He was promoted to colonel in 1943, the same year he married Hilde Baier.
Memorial at BendlerblockBy September 1943, Quirnheim had become involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. He, his superior General Friedrich Olbricht and Stauffenberg drew up Operation Valkyrie, a plan of action to be implemented as soon as Hitler had been killed. Meanwhile, he succeeded Stauffenberg as Chief of Staff at the Army's General Office in Berlin. Immediately after the attempt on Hitler's life in East Prussia on 20 July 1944, Quirnheim urged General Olbricht to activate Operation Valkyrie, even though they could not be sure whether Hitler was dead. At about the same time, however, news began to arrive that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt.
Within hours, Quirnheim, Stauffenberg, Olbricht and Werner von Haeften had been arrested, summarily tried by Colonel General Friedrich Fromm – a quiet supporter who betrayed them once he saw the plot had failed – and were shot and buried in the Matthäus Churchyard in Berlin's Schöneberg district. There is a stone in memory of the event in the churchyard. Heinrich Himmler subsequently ordered the bodies exhumed, burnt and the ashes scattered.
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