Erich von Hoepner
Erich von Hoepner (1886-1944) was a German military officer who served in WWI, Reichswehr and Wehrmacht, rising to the rank of Generaloberst as a tank and mobile warfare specialist. An anti-Nazi before 1933, he commanded Panzer forces into Poland and Russia, but was dismissed from command and the army, in 1942 for a tactical retreat against Hitler's orders. He was executed for participation in the 1944 assassination attempt against Hitler after an especially humiliating trial in the Peoples' Court.
Early anti-Nazi activities
While commanding an armored division in Thuringia, he was prepared to block SA troops moving against a possible 1938 coup against Hitler for attacking Czechoslovakia.[1]
Russian Front
While an anti-Nazi, he appears to have been an antisemite and anticommunist. The commander of Einsatzgruppe A, Franz Walter Stahlecker spoke of cordiality in their relations. Hoepner issued an order to his troops,
The war against the Soviet Union is the old struggle of the Germans against the Slavs, the warding off of the Jewish Bolshevism. No mercy should be shown towards the carriers of the present Russian Bolshevist system[[2]
20th of July Plot
He was deeply involved in the assassination plot, and Minister of War-designate had they installed the new government. Hoepner was at the Ersatzheer headquarters with Claus von Stauffenberg and the other officers shot the evening of the attempt by order of Friedrich Fromm, but asked to be kept alive so he could offer an active court defense.
References
- ↑ William Shirer (1960), The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Simon & Schuster, p. 375
- ↑ Erich von Hoepner (2 May 1941), Hoepner's order to troops, Holocaust Research Project
