Hans Otto Erdmann

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Hans Otto Erdmann
Born(1896-12-18)18 December 1896
Died4 September 1944(1944-09-04) (aged 47)
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
OccupationArmy Officer

Hans Otto Erdmann (18 December 1896 – 4 September 1944) was a German Army officer, and member of the German Resistance.

Biography[edit]

Erdmann was born in Insterburg, East Prussia (modern Chernyakhovsk, Russia). In the First World War, Erdmann served as an officer in the German Army and later worked as a postal clerk. In 1935 he joined the Wehrmacht and was deployed at the Generalkommando in Königsberg in 1944 in the rank of Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel).[1]

In June 1944 Claus von Stauffenberg informed Erdmann about the planned assassination of Hitler. In the Operation Valkyrie plans, Erdmann was supposed to organize the occupation of public buildings and broadcasting stations in East Prussia.[1]

After the 20 July plot had failed, Erdmann was arrested on 17 August 1944 and sentenced to death by the Volksgerichtshof under Günther Nebelung on 4 September 1944, along with Kurt Hahn, Gerhard Knaak, Heinrich Graf von Lehndorff-Steinort and Max Ulrich von Drechsel. All were hanged on the same day at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.[2]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Biography at German Resistance Memorial Center (in German)
  2. ^ Vollmer, Antje (2012). Heinrich und Gottliebe von Lehndorff im Widerstand gegen Hitler und Ribbentrop (in German). Eichborn. pp. 328 ff. ISBN 978-3-442-74373-5.