Eberhard Finckh (7 November 1899 – 30 August 1944) was a German colonel on the general staff of the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

, a longtime opponent of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and a member of the

German resistance German resistance can refer to: * Freikorps, German nationalist paramilitary groups resisting German communist uprisings and the Weimar Republic government * German resistance to Nazism * Landsturm, German resistance groups fighting against France d ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's regime.

Biography

Finckh was born in

Kupferzell Kupferzell is a small German town in the district of Hohenlohe in Baden-Württemberg, Germany named after the Kupfer river flowing through it. The largest neighbouring towns are Künzelsau (to the north) and Schwäbisch Hall (to the south). Hi ...

and grew up in Urach and

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. He joined the Imperial Army in 1917 and then was a member of the

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' () was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first years of the Third Reich. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...

. In 1927 he was posted to the War Academy in

Berlin-Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2016, around 77,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial and working-class neighbourhood is ...

, where he later met

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg Colonel Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (; 15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair. Despite ...

. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he first served in Poland and on the Eastern Front as quartermaster of the 6th Army and in 1943 for

Army Group South Army Group South (german: Heeresgruppe Süd) was the name of three German Army Groups during World War II. It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland Army Group Sou ...

. He then served under General

Günther Blumentritt Günther Blumentritt (10 February 1892 – 12 October 1967) was an officer in World War I, who became a Staff Officer under the Weimar Republic and went on to serve as a general for Nazi Germany during World War II. He served throughout the war, ...

as the chief

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...

to the commander in chief in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and he was involved in planning the coup attempt in the west linked to the

20 July plot On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...

with Colonel-General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel and his adjutant Lieutenant-Colonel

Cäsar von Hofacker Caesar von Hofacker (sometimes Cäsar; 2 March 1896 – 20 December 1944) was a German Luftwaffe Lieutenant Colonel and member of the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler. Career Hofacker was born in Ludwigsburg; his father Eberhard von Hofacker ...

. On 20 July he was notified by telephone from

Zossen Zossen (; hsb, Sosny) is a German town in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg, about south of Berlin, and next to the B96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were grouped together in 2003 to form the cit ...

that Hitler had been assassinated and with other officers he was called to a meeting in von Stülpnagel's office and was issued with prearranged orders for the arrest of senior

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

, SS and SD personnel in Paris. After the failure of the coup attempt he was arrested by the Gestapo, interrogated at length and dishonorably discharged from the army by a court of honor. He was then tried by the People's Court on 30 August 1944 with von Stülpnagel who had blinded himself in a suicide attempt, Caesar von Hofacker and Ottfried von Linstow. He was sentenced to death by

Roland Freisler Roland Freisler (30 October 1893 – 3 February 1945), a German Nazi jurist, judge, and politician, served as the State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice from 1934 to 1942 and as President of the People's Court from 1942 to 1945. As ...

and executed by hanging the same day at the

Plötzensee prison Plötzensee Prison (german: Justizvollzugsanstalt Plötzensee, JVA Plötzensee) is a juvenile prison in the Charlottenburg-Nord locality of Berlin with a capacity for 577 prisoners, operated by the State of Berlin judicial administration. The d ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

References

External links

Biography at gdw-berlin.de
1899 births 1944 deaths German Army officers of World War II Executed members of the 20 July plot People condemned by Nazi courts People executed by hanging at Plötzensee Prison People from Baden-Württemberg executed at Plötzensee Prison Executed people from Baden-Württemberg German Army personnel of World War I People from Hohenlohe (district) People from the Kingdom of Württemberg Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross {{Germany-army-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links