Crucial Minutes That Made Adolf Hitler Survive The Munich Murder

Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (Source: NIOD Institute)

JAKARTA - Today, November 8, 81 years ago or in 1939, Nazi frontman Adolf Hitler attended the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch - his first attempt at the 1923 coup - in Munich. On that occasion he chlorinated Germany's success in starting the war. One thing Hitler and the Nazis were not aware of: there is an active bomb that will explode in a matter of minutes.

To quote the BBC, the time bomb has been embedded just below the podium where Hitler was speaking. Roter Frontkämpferbund (RFB) cadre Johann Georg Elser has buried the bomb there for weeks.

Elser had indeed drawn up plans for the bombing last year. His motivation to do so came after learning that Hitler was about to start a major war.

It all started when Elser started experimenting with explosives while working for a weapons company near his hometown, Swabia. He then moved to work at a bar, Buergerbraeuhaus, in Munich, where Hitler would give a speech. This is where he gets valuable information.

Johann Georg Elser (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

For more than 30 days Elser was always late for dinner. After investigating, he apparently tried to perforate a pillar near the stage to plant a bomb. All of this he did secretly and carefully.

In an investigative note by the Gestapo quoted by the BBC, Elser said he did "when the smallest sound rang loudly in an empty hall at night." Meanwhile, the historian Roger Moorhouse in his book, Killing Hitler, describes how this process.

"Every sound of digging must be suppressed. Any sawdust collected and thrown away," he wrote.

Meanwhile the Gestapo assumed that Elser was affiliated with a larger group, such as British Intelligence. Over the decades, that assumption has continued to roll.

However, in reality, as Hitler's biographer Ian Kershaw explains, "The truth is more astonishing." Elser is an ordinary working class person who acts without anyone's help or knowledge.

Although he had a short relationship with the communist group, he was not very active in politics. Elser is said to have had a deep sense of justice and was concerned about the problems faced by ordinary workers under the Hitler regime.

In addition, Elser was also worried that after annexing Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia in the 1930s, Hitler would start a major war. Therefore Elser was determined to execute Hitler's assassination plan.

He knows that his bomb can kill many people. "I want my actions to prevent more bloodshed," said Elser.

How did Hitler survive?

Elser believes his bomb can get rid of Hitler. However, his estimates missed. As reported by Historia, at that time, Hitler was planning to return from Munich to Berlin sooner.

The bad weather at that time seemed to save Hitler from death. This made him have to go home by taking the land route by train. That is why Hitler had to hasten his return.

This made Hitler change his schedule for his return. Automatically, it also made his speech schedule shortened from two hours to an hour. As a result he had left the podium at 21.07, or 13 minutes before the bomb exploded.

Elser's bomb finally exploded at 9:20 p.m., destroying the building where Hitler was standing giving a speech. According to History, eight people died as a result of the incident while 62 others were injured.

Elser was later arrested in Konstanz, near the Swiss border. His fate ended at the Dachau Concentration Camp. In the end he was executed on April 9, 1945.

Bomb-destroyed Bürgerbräukeller Hall (Source: Wikimedia Commons)