Heidenheim on Brenz, Germany - Hellenstein-Gymnasium ...

Georg Elser 6
Two villages near <strong>Heidenheim</strong> claim to be
connected with Georg Elser: Hermaringen,
he was born there on 4th of
January 1903. His father was a farmer
and he also traded in wood. Königsbronn
because his parents moved there after
their marriage in 1904. After school he
started to work at the iron factory there to
become a turner. But because of bad
health he had to stop it two years later.
Then he decided to become a joiner. He
succeeded and was the best of the
youngsters who did their exam. In 1925
he moved to Constance – a city on Lake
Constance – were he constructed models for clocks. Those skills should
become very helpful in future times. He also joined a communist workers’
association there. The Black Friday in October 1929 changed his life. He
tried to get a job in Switzerland. Three years later he came back to his
family. Working at a factory in <strong>Heidenheim</strong> he had the impression that
military warfare was being prepared for. That made him aware of the
danger involved in the new regime. From November 1938 to November
1939 Elser kept thinking of how to rid Germany of the dictator. First he
joined a famous meeting of the most important Nazi fighters at a restaurant
in Munich called “Bürgerbräukeller”. There he watched the procedure and
devised how to realize his idea. Back home he started experiments on
explosions. For a short time he worked at a stone factory where he learned
a lot and gathered the things he needed. In August 1939 he moved to
Munich. Now he worked day and night on putting his plan into practice. He
went to the restaurant and stayed there until they closed. That way he could
spend the whole night inside preparing one of the big columns to hold the
bomb. His preparations were finished just in time. So he moved to
Constance where he knew he could cross the border quickly. But the plan
miscarried. The bomb exploded, seven people died and 60 were wounded,
only the dictator stayed alive and was on his way back to Berlin because
due to dense fog Hitler had decided to leave earlier that evening. – Georg
Elser was caught and made prisoner at the concentration camp of
Sachsenhausen. The Nazi Regime could not believe that he had done that
all alone. They suspected English Intelligence to have used him. But this
was not true. To prepare a big show after the final victory they kept him
alive till 1945. Finally, on 9th April he was shot in Dachau. Elser said at the
trial that he had done it all just to prevent more bloodshed.