Fritz Lindemann
Fritz Lindemann was born on 11th April 1894. Lindemann served as commander of the 132nd Infantry Division from January 1942 to August 1943, before appointment as Chief of Staff of the Artillery on the staff of General Friedrich Fromm, Commander in Chief of the Reserve Army. (1)
In January, 1942, a group of men that included Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, General Friedrich Olbricht, Colonel-General Ludwig Beck, Colonel-General Erich Hoepner, General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, Colonel Albrecht Metz von Quirnheim, General-Major Henning von Tresckow, General-Major Helmuth Stieff, General Erich Fellgiebel, General Paul von Hase, General Lieutenant Karl Freiherr von Thüngen, Lieutenant Fabian Schlabrendorff, Major Hans Ulrich von Oertzen, Wolf-Heinrich Helldorf, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, General-Major Hans Oster, and Hans Gisevius, all senior figures in Abwehr, Wilhelm Leuschner, Ulrich Hassell, Hans Dohnanyi, Carl Langbehn, Josef Wirmer, Carl Goerdeler, Julius Leber, Helmuth von Moltke, Peter von Wartenburg, Johannes Popitz and Jakob Kaiser, decided to overthrow Adolf Hitler. The conspiracy was called Operation Valkyrie. (2)
General Fritz Lindemann also joined the conspiracy. It was agreed that on the death of Hitler, three speeches were to be broadcast over German radio. Two of the speeches were to be directed to the armed forces and were to be delivered by Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben and General Ludwig Beck. The other was addressed to the German people and would be given by the conservative politician, Carl Goerdeler, who would come out of hiding once the coup had been confirmed. General Erich Fellgiebel, Chief of Signals of the OKW, would cut down all communications from Hitler's headquarters following the assassination and General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, the military governor of France, would arrange for the troops under his command to arrest all Gestapo and SS officers. (3)
Lindemann was to be involved in the radio broadcasts but did not turn up after the attempted assassination of Hitler and went into hiding when he discovered the July Plot had failed. (4) General-Major Helmuth Stieff was arrested and tortured. According to a Gestapo report: "The confession eventually made by Major-General Stieff with the interrogations of Schulenburg and various others provide important information." Although he did give the name of General Fritz Lindemann and General Eduard Wagner. It was later claimed that he implicated primarily only himself and others already dead. For example, he never gave the name of Captain Axel von dem Bussche, who he had helped in a previous failed assassination attempt. (5)
General Fritz Lindemann went into hiding. He was tracked down by the police in Berlin on 3rd September. Lindemann tried to jump out of a third-floor window but was shot in the legs and stomach. He was immediately operated on so that he might be tortured and brought to trial. Five of those who had helped him while on the run or had kept him hidden at various times between 22nd July and 3rd September, were executed. Two of them were described as "Jewish half-castes" and another the widow of a Jew. (6)
On 20th October, 1944, General Lindemann went on trial with Julius Leber, Adolf Reichwein, Theodor Haubach, and many others. He was found guilty and executed on 22nd September 1944. (7)
Primary Sources
(1) Peter Hoffmann, The History of German Resistance (1977)
Even so prominent a fugitive as General Fritz Lineman was only arrested in Berlin on 3 September after weeks of investigation. He tried to jump out of a third-floor window but was shot in the legs and stomach by the police. He was immediately operated on so that he might be brought to tri al... Five of those who had helped him while on the run or had kept him hidden at various times between 22 July and 3 September, however, were condemned to death by the People's Court on 27 November and 1 December respectively.
