Back to November 9th, 1939 or the 8th
Notes on the bomb plot: A few days after the explosion a carpenter called Georg Elser was arrested while trying to cross the Swiss border. He was carrying a postcard of the Burgerbraukeller but otherwise was not distinguishable from hundreds of other people attempting to flee illegally. According to Walter Schellenberg of the SS he readily confessed that he had planted the bomb, under interrogation. He offered to show exactly how he had put together the elements making up the bomb, and a film was taken of him constructing an exact imitation of the bomb.
The Burgerbraukeller was always closely guarded on the days before Hitler spoke there, and Elser could not conceivably have planted the bomb without the connivance of the SS. Elser was never placed on trial. He was sent to a concentration camp, where he was treated better than other prisoners and during the last days of the was he was shot at Himmler">Himmler's orders. Throughout his imprisonment he was regarded as a state prisoner, the possessor of state secrets and therefore a man to be respected. An announcement of his death 'during an Allied bombing raid' came on April 16, 1945.
Greg Kelley has a different slant on this:
The attempt on Hitler's life at the Burgerbrau by Georg Elser, cabinetmaker/tradesman, has
had its validity questioned in the past but certainly seems to have been the act of one
VERY determined man frustrated by that "luck of the devil", "sixth
sense", whatever that Hitler seems to have been blessed/cursed with. Suggestions that
Hitler
knew about the bomb and used it to fabricate another one of his self-styled Divine Acts
of Providence just don't hold up. Elser set his bomb to go off based on Hitler's prior
appearances and schedules, not knowing that he would arrive early due to a combination
of weather and train schedules (Hitler used his personal train this time rather than the
regular service), which was aggravated by Hitler spending less than his normal time there
in order to make his train connection. As it was, Elser's bomb went off fifteen minutes
earlier than he had planned, missing Hitler by a mere eight (lousy) minutes (aargh). But
to think this was a setup-- no way.
Since Elser worked alone without any contacts to the various anti-Hitler resistance groups
(maybe also because of some "doubting Thomases" who questioned Elser's
validity), he doesn't get much coverage in most of the major works on the anti-Hitler
Resistance. Still, there's a good chapter on him in Herbert Molloy Mason's TO KILL THE
DEVIL: THE ATTEMPTS ON THE LIFE OF ADOLF Hitler (WW Norton, 1978). Peter Hoffmann's two
works THE
HISTORY OF THE GERMAN RESISTANCE 1933-1945 (MIT Press, 1977) and Hitler'S PERSONAL
SECURITY (also MIT Press, 1979) give him at least a bit more than a mention. I think
Piekalkiewicz's SECRET AGENTS, SPIES, and SABOTEURS covers Elser since one of the
"conspiracy" theories tried linking Elser to British intelligence via Major
Best. Unsuccessfully, of course.
Elser languished in concentration camps until finally being executed without trial around
1942 or so (hey, my memory's not what it used to be). Hitler had thought about a show
trial that would cast Elser as a paid tool of the Allies, but even he couldn't concoct
enough lies to make it stick.