Military Officer. He was a World War II German general, who received recognition as one of the five main conspirators in the 1944 attempt to assassinate Nazi Dictator Adolph Hitler. Having a respected military career and known for his work ethics, Beck had served on the Western Front as German General Staff during World War I, and was Chief of the General Staff from 1935. Cautiously, he refused the orders to make plans to wage war against Austria, but after waiting, successfully initiated the Fall Otto of March of 1938 to invade Austria. Becoming disillusioned by the war, he believed the Gestapo was given too much authority over the traditional military. Born Ludwig August Theodor Beck, he supported rearming Germany after World War I, yet he was never a member of the Nazi Party. From the mid-1930s there had been planned and failed assassination attempts of Hitler. He was one of the main conspirators in the anti-Hitler resistance movement, and was to be Hitler's successor as head of state after the planned assassination of Hitler on July 20, 1944. However, by a calamity of events, Hitler survived the bomb blast, although four others did die. Beck and the other main conspirators, who were mainly Wehrmacht officers, were captured and held under arrest in Army headquarters on Bendlerstrasse. For any part in the attempted assassination, the Gestapo arrested, according to sources, at least 110 suspects, which were not only officers but priests, noblemen, farmers and diplomats, and most were eventually executed. To avoid torture by the Gestapo, a colleague secretly gave Beck a pistol. Beck attempted twice to commit suicide, finally causing a serious gunshot wound to his head but did not die. At that point, he was then shot to death by order of General Friedrich Fromm. His body was initially buried in Alter Sankt Matheaus Friedhof in Berlin, but before the end of the war, the Gestapo removed and cremated his remains, and the ashes scattered in a secret place. He was married and had at least one daughter. Besides his name listed with the other four conspirators on the German Resistance Memorial at Bendlerblock courtyard, a plaque to honor him was erected on his home. In 1945, General Fromm was executed for his part of the attempted assassination. Several Hollywood films have retold his story with the last being in 2008.