Valkyrie: The Plot to Kill Hitler

Although I've already seen some of this footage on the Military Channel, this is a very incisive look at the events that led to the rise of Adolph Hitler, which the documentary traces back to Germany's humiliating defeat in 1918 at the end of WWI. Germany needed a hero, someone to inspire them with his talk of rallying everyone to become a good German and do their individual best to achieve a strong sense of being a proud German.

He does soon impress everyone with his oratorical skills and his popularity keeps building steadily in the 1930s. An interesting point is made that if Hitler had only stopped raising the bar to include war in his plans, he might have gone down in German history as one of the great leaders by 1935. He did give the Germans more prosperity and created jobs. Unfortunately, he didn't stop there. By 1937 his plans extended to conquering Czechoslovakia and then Poland--and soon afterwards, Britain and France.

A good examination of the plots that developed to kill Hitler when it became apparent that he was a madman, are illustrated. Academics, aristocrats, scientists and intellectuals included many among their groups who came up with plans to kill him. But the most famous attempt by Von Stauffenberg, gets the most attention here, since this is really a tie-in to the VALKYRIE film of Bryan Singer.

It does an excellent job of giving a capsule review of the swiftly moving events surrounding the conspiracy and its effect on the various men involved when the plans went astray. I'd advise anyone intending to view VALKYRIE to see this documentary first and gain a better perspective on the events depicted in the film.

Very worthwhile and totally interesting with many comments from the Von Stauffenberg relatives, including members of the family and other people who were around Hitler.