The Oster Conspiracy of 1938

1938, Adolph Hitler was planning to invade Czechoslovakia, ostensibly to repatriate the country’s ethnic German population. Believing that the incursion would be a failure, several senior German military leaders conspired to kill Hitler and seize power. The conspirators, headed by intelligence officer Lieutenant Colonel Hans Oster (1887-1945), included the Berlin police, members of the foreign ministry, and religious and civic leaders. The coup was scheduled to take place following the anticipated decision by the British and French to attack Hitler. However, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain refused to go to war over Czechoslovakia. Although Oster had alerted the British military intelligence of his plans, they did nothing to help him and the attempted coup failed. In the book, Professor Terry Parssinen speculates about the historical outcome had the coup been successful and averted World War II. close