Ride of the Valkyrie?

It is not widely known that during the horrors of the Third Reich in Germany there was an active resistance movement amongst the German people, and it is even less known that many of those most involved and most active in the plots for removal of the Nazi hierarchy and for making peace were practising Christians. Although the work and the eventual martyrdom of the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer are well enough known amongst Christians, there were many others of equal vision and courage who are not celebrated.

The recent film Valkyrie (now on general release) may serve to educate us in this. It tells the story of what has been called "the Von Stauffenberg Plot". Claus von Stauffenberg was a career soldier from an aristocratic, Roman Catholic background. Horrified by what he had seen of the SS and heard of the concentration camps and the persecution of the Jews, and fearful for the destruction of the nation he loved as the war turned against Germany. He and others came to the conclusion that Hitler had to be removed, the Nazi leadership and SS neutralized and an alternative government put in place. This new government would, it was planned, close the concentration camps, restore democracy, and seek a negotiated peace in Europe. In this vision of a new Germany the Jesuit theologian and social philosopher Fr Alfred Delp was a significant influence.

In order to do this it was concluded that Hitler had to be assassinated and the army and government taken under control of the plotters. Stauffenberg and others intended to use "Operation Valkyrie", a contingency plan for regaining control in the event of civil unrest, to achieve this. On 21st July 1944 Stauffenberg and a co-conspirator planted a bomb at Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia and returned to Berlin in order to put the Valkyrie coup into operation.

They almost succeeded. However, the bomb (placed in a briefcase in a conference room) was moved and Hitler was only lightly wounded. Some of the military plotters dithered, the Nazi authorities regained power by the end of the day and Stauffenberg and others were summarily executed by firing squad. Many of the others involved in the plot (over 200, including Fr. Delp) were subjected to appalling show trials and were brutally executed by hanging in the following weeks and months.

The film is remarkably accurate and makes hard, but compulsive and moving viewing. There has clearly been careful research and for once in a "historical drama" there are no fictional characters or events intruded on the narrative, and no sub-plots either. There had been concerns about the casting of Tom Cruise in the role of Stauffenberg, but it has to be said that he carries off the part well Stauffenberg's Christian faith is quietly explicit: at one point as he is dressing the camera deliberately lingers on a cross worn around his neck, a crucifix is seen on the wall of the family home, the plotters meet in a Catholic Church in Berlin, and Stauffenberg's defiant cry to the firing squad "Long live sacred Germany !" is a reference to the Germany's Christian history. For those who have eyes to see them, the Christian roots of the conspirators are there.

We need to be reminded that in wartime Germany there were good men (and women), and that for many of them it was their Christian faith that was the catalyst and inspiration for their action. With countless other Christians over the centuries they have recognised that there is a higher authority than that of the State, that of the Kingdom of God.

Were they justified in seeking such a violent solution? Sixty-five years later we should be wary of judging them in our terms but need to imagine ourselves ruled by an oppressive, irresponsible and unjust regime which was destroying a once great and civilized nation and its people - what would we do ? Dietrich Bonhoeffer. who was not himself involved in the plot (and was indeed already in prison by the time it took place), but who had been active in gathering and passing intelligence to the Allies, made a cogent analogy: If, he wrote, a madman was at the wheel of a car heading at speed towards a group of innocent pedestrians, you would have the moral obligation to prevent him, if necessary by force.

If the film "Valkyrie" makes us think hard about Christianity and the State, if it helps us understand the dilemmas of believers living under unjust powers, and if it helps us look with a new perspective on the popular history of the Second World War it will have done its work. It is not an easy film to watch, but I am grateful to have had the opportunity.

If there is a little more light and truth in the world through one human being, his life has had meaning. Fr Alfred Delp SJ

Roger Clarke

April 2009