Hitler’s Last Assassin Dies

Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager acquired the explosive that was used in an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in 1994.

The last member of a group that tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944, Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, died on May 1 at the age of 90, the German army reported, but failed to state the cause of death.

He carried a cyanide capsule 

Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager acquired the explosive that was to be used in the assassination on Hitler. Apart from him, the group included several German soldiers led by Major Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg.

The major took it upon himself to place the explosive near Hitler. He placed the explosive in a suitcase and placed it near Hitler at a meeting of the German military top. But somebody moved the suitcase behind the table which softened the explosion and Hitler was unharmed.

Retribution followed immediately because everybody knew whose suitcase it was that exploded and Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg was arrested, as were many of his soldiers. But despite being tortured, nobody ever revealed von Boeselager’s name.

After the end of the war, von Boeselager told his story. It is an interesting fact that up until the end of the war he had always carried a cyanide capsule which he would have swallowed had his secret ever been revealed.