Franz Sperr (born 12 February 1878 in Karlstadt-sur-le-Main; died 23 January 1945 in

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 ...

) was a member of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

resistance against

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 ...

Biography

Franz Sperr was the son of an engineer from the Royal Bavarian Railways. His family moved a few times and lived in different places. After his "

abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

" in 1897, he first did voluntary service in the Bavarian army and then chose it as a career. From 1906 to 1909, Sperr received training at the Bavarian War Academy which enabled him to join the staff. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he was a captain and then a major. In 1916, he left for Berlin and was responsible for representing the army to the Bundesrat. After the war, it is made available. He became a civil servant and worked for the Bavarian Embassy in Berlin. Partisan of federalism, opposed to Nazism, he resigned from the public service on 20 June 1934, set up his business and joined the resistance. He was in contact with Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria and supported the military. He brought together a small group of Bavarian monarchists such as ministers

Otto Geßler Otto Karl Gessler (or Geßler) (6 February 1875 – 24 March 1955) was a Classical liberalism, liberal German politician during the Weimar Republic. From 1910 until 1914, he was mayor of Regensburg and from 1913 to 1919 mayor of Nuremberg. He ...

, Anton Fehr, Eduard Hamm, but also bankers and businessmen. Faced with the impossibility of bringing down Hitler, he organized himself with the resistance groups in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

after the Allied landings with military and police officers from the Third Reich. Thanks to

Alfred Delp Alfred Delp (, 15 September 1907 – 2 February 1945) was a German Jesuit priest and philosopher of the German Resistance. A member of the inner Kreisau Circle resistance group, he is considered a significant figure in Catholic resistan ...

and

Augustin Rösch Augustin Rösch (11 May 1893 – 7 November 1961) was a German Jesuit, Provincial, and significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism. Active in the Kreisau Circle German Resistance group, he was arrested in connection with the 1944 July Plot ...

, he came into contact during the winter of 1942 with the Kreisau Circle and notably met

Helmuth James von Moltke Helmuth James Graf von Moltke (11 March 1907 – 23 January 1945) was a German jurist who, as a draftee in the German Abwehr, acted to subvert German human-rights abuses of people in territories occupied by Germany during World War II. He ...

. In June 1944, a meeting with Claus von Stauffenberg took place, Sperr expressed his skepticism of a coup.

Death

After the failure of 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 ...

, Sperr was arrested for his complicity. The Volksgerichtshof condemned him to death on 11 January 1945. He was hanged on the 23rd in

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 ...

.FRANZ SPERR
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sperr, Franz Executed members of the 20 July plot People executed by hanging at Plötzensee Prison 1878 births 1945 deaths