Nikolaus von Halem

Monument plaque to Nicholas Christoph von Halem at the train station in Halemweg, in Charlottenburg, Berlin

Nicholas Christoph von Halem (born 15 March 1905 in Schwetz, died 9 October 1944 in Brandenburg an der Havel) was a German lawyer, businessman, and resistance fighter against the Nazi Party.

His parents were Gustav Adolf von Halem (1870-1932) and Hertha von Halem(1879-1957). He was the fourth child, his father was an East Prussian district administrator. During the First World War, the family moved to Berlin. As a child Halem was first educated at home, later he attended a school in Schwetz. After moving to Berlin he attend the Protestant monastery school Roßleben. After high school, in March 1922, he studied law at the University of Göttingen in Leipzig, Munich and Heidelberg. During his time at the University he belonged to the Corps Saxo-Borussia Heidelberg fraternity, but was excluded for intoxication. He then became involved so a short time in the illegal Black Reichswehr, an extreme right paramilitary troops. In 1931 he did law clerking and married Marie (Mariechen) Garbe, with whom he had two sons.

Politics

After the 9 November 1923 Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch, the Nazi's march on Munich Feldherrenhalle, he established close contacts with opponents of the Nazi regime Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg, Henning von Tresckow, and Hubert Ballestrem. He became active in conservative Catholic circle around the Berlin, with scholar Carl von Jordans and the Solf Circle, whose goal was to keep the National Socialist movement from power. Through these groups and his legal training he became connected to Wilhelm Freiherr von Ketteler and Karl Winkler. A few months after the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Reich Chancellor and his seizure of power in 1933, Halem quit his legal internship to avoid having to swear allegiance to Hitler. By 1935 under the influence of Ernst Niekisch and Carl von Jordans, Halem already has conclude that killing Hitler was a political necessity to avert a catastrophe. In 1936 Halem was now a working in finance for the Reich Commissioner. By 1938 Halem working as a liaison, with his friend Wilhelm von Ketteler, anti Nazi group in Austria. Hitler's annexation of Austria upset Halem. According to his brother, Halem traveled to Czechoslovakia in March 1938 for a few days and took part in a successful assassination attempt against the Gestapo. In 1940 Halem took a leading position in the Graf-Ballestremschen freight management. This activity served him well as a facade to disguise his renewed activity on assassination planning and goal of political unrest. He took many business trips abroad and used them to contact anti-Nazi groups in England and other countries, as he saw Hitler's war as "sheer madness", the need to end Hitler, the war and eliminate Nazi governance.

Assassination plans

Halem with Herbert and Josef "Beppo" Römer, he planned an assassination of Hitler. Halem offered Josef Römer money to find and hire an assassin who could eliminate Hitler by shooting him or using a grenade.[1] In 1941 Halem broke contact with the Römer who agreed but did want to continue with the plan. In early 1942 Josef Römer was arrested by the Nazi police and under torture revealed Halem plans. Halem was arrested on 26 February 1942 by the Gestapo and suffered through a number of prisons and concentration camps, including Sachsenhausen. In June 1944, shortly before the 20 July 1944 coup attempt, the People's Court indicted Halem for conspiracy to commit treason and undermining the war effort. He was sentenced to death and executed by guillotine in Brandenburg-Görden Prison on 9 October 1944.

Remembrance

In the vicinity of the execution site, Plötzensee Prison, is a street named Halemweg. Near by is the Metro Station named Halemweg. In the station is a plaque, erected in honor of Halem's in September 2010. In Brandenburg an der Havel also is a street named after him: Nikolaus-von-Halem-Straße.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Planung eines Attentates durch die Widerstandsgruppe um Beppo Römer, Paul Joseph Stuermer und Nikolaus von Halem". Bernard-stein.de. Retrieved 2013-02-10.
  2. ↑ Map Nikolaus-von-Halem-Straße, Brandenburg an der Havel GPS Lat. 52.421001 GPS Lo. 12.545869
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