| OCR Text |
Show 152 «we are to be hanged for thinking together," (In this group can be found a parallel to the wise men of the community whom the monarchomachs said should be consulted before any attempt was made to take the life of a tyrant. Considering the fate of the Kreisau Circle when the topic of their conversations was discovered, monarchomachsv the suggestions is fraught with obvious perils.) Another eminent figure who counseled against assas- sinating Hitler was Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel, Commander of the Afrika Corps, Who opposed assassination not on moral but on practical grounds. make a martyr of him. To kill Hitler, Instead, he argued, would Rommel insisted, Hitler should be arrested by the Army and tried by a German court for crimes against his own people and those of occupied countries. For his disloyalty, Rommel was forced by Hitler to commit suicide on October 14, 19446 Still another objection was voiced by even some of the more active conSpirators. regime, To overthrow the Hitler it was argued, might merely perpetrate another nstab-in-the-backn legend like the one which deluded so many Germans after World War I. In contrast to the Kreisau Circle was the Beck- GoerdeleraHassell group of conSpirators who believed in deeds rather than words. |
