SMGO-0696 Generalmajor Fritz Lindemann Signature Hitler Assassination Conspirator Operation Valkyrie

A rare and highly collectible signature from a high-profile conspirator in Hitler’s assignation attempt. Since he was killed in 1944 by the Gestapo, his signature is also rare. He was also a Knights Cross Award winner. This signature is clearly written on a common War merit Cross Second class award document on January 30 1943.

From Wikipedia:

Fritz Lindemann (11 April 1894 – 22 September 1944) was a German officer in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany and member of the resistance to Adolf Hitler.

Lindeman was born on 11 April 1894 in Berlin-Charlottenburg, a borough of the capital of the German Empire. His father was the son of Friedrich Lindemann [de], a military officer. In 1912, Lindemann graduated from the Viktoria-Gymnasium in Potsdam, present-day Helmholtz-Gymnasium Potsdam [de], receiving his Abitur (university entry qualification) at the top of his class.^[1]

On request by the Foreign Minister of Germany, Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, Lindemann was selected as one of six officers providing security for the German delegation during the negotiation of Treaty of Versailles.^[2]

After serving in World War I, Lindemann participated in the suppression of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 as a member of the Freikorps. However, as a member of the Reichswehr and a loyalist to the Weimar Republic, he refused to participate in the Kapp Putsch.^[3]

Lindemann served as commander of the 132nd Infantry Division from January 1942 to August 1943, before appointment as Chief of Staff of the Artillery Oberkommando des Heeres.^[3]

Lindemann developed contacts with conspirators against Adolf Hitler including General Helmuth Stieff, and following the assassination of Hitler it was proposed that he would read the conspirators’ proclamation to the German people over the radio, but he did not appear at the Bendlerblock on 20 July 1944 in order to do so.^[4] After the failure of the 20 July plot, he went into hiding. When the Gestapo came to arrest him, Lindemann tried to jump out of a window. However, he was shot in his leg and stomach, and later died in hospital from his injuries.

After standing trial for helping Lindemann at the People’s Court, Erich and Elisabeth Gloeden, Hans Sierks and Carl Marks were all sentenced to death. They were executed by guillotine at Plötzensee Prison in September 1944.

The German Resistance Memorial Center Website writes:

“Fritz Lindemann fought in the First World War and was a temporary member of the German peace delegation in Versailles in 1919. After 1922 he completed an illegal general staff training course in the Reich Army, and started training officers himself at the end of the 1920s. He was married to Lina von Friedeburg, with whom he had a daughter and two sons. In the Second World War he fought in Poland, France and the Soviet Union, and increasingly used his travel opportunities for contact with the military conspirators, some of whom, including Hellmuth Stieff, were among his close friends. After the unsuccessful assassination attempt of July 20, 1944, Fritz Lindemann managed at first to hide with relatives in Dresden. When his involvement in the plot was discovered, he was given shelter in Berlin by Erich and Elisabeth Gloeden, who helped persecuted Jews as well. The Gloedens were sentenced to death with other helpers in November 1944. Following a denunciation, the Gestapo arrested Fritz Lindemann on September 3, 1944, seriously injuring him. He died in hospital shortly afterwards.”

Fritz Lindemann was born on 11th April 1894. Lindemann served as commander of the 132nd Infantry Division from January 1942 to August 1943, before appointment as Chief of Staff of the Artillery on the staff of General Friedrich Fromm, Commander in Chief of the Reserve Army. (1)

In January, 1942, a group of men that included Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, General Friedrich Olbricht, Colonel-General Ludwig Beck, Colonel-General Erich Hoepner, General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, Colonel Albrecht Metz von Quirnheim, General-Major Henning von Tresckow, General-Major Helmuth Stieff, General Erich Fellgiebel, General Paul von Hase, General Lieutenant Karl Freiherr von Thüngen, Lieutenant Fabian Schlabrendorff, Major Hans Ulrich von Oertzen, Wolf-Heinrich Helldorf, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, General-Major Hans Oster, and Hans Gisevius, all senior figures in Abwehr, Wilhelm Leuschner, Ulrich Hassell, Hans Dohnanyi, Carl Langbehn, Josef Wirmer, Carl Goerdeler, Julius Leber, Helmuth von Moltke, Peter von Wartenburg, Johannes Popitz and Jakob Kaiser, decided to overthrow Adolf Hitler. The conspiracy was called Operation Valkyrie. (2)

General Fritz Lindemann also joined the conspiracy. It was agreed that on the death of Hitler, three speeches were to be broadcast over German radio. Two of the speeches were to be directed to the armed forces and were to be delivered by Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben and General Ludwig Beck. The other was addressed to the German people and would be given by the conservative politician, Carl Goerdeler, who would come out of hiding once the coup had been confirmed. General Erich Fellgiebel, Chief of Signals of the OKW, would cut down all communications from Hitler’s headquarters following the assassination and General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, the military governor of France, would arrange for the troops under his command to arrest all Gestapo and SS officers. (3)

Lindemann was to be involved in the radio broadcasts but did not turn up after the attempted assassination of Hitler and went into hiding when he discovered the July Plot had failed. (4) General-Major Helmuth Stieff was arrested and tortured. According to a Gestapo report: “The confession eventually made by Major-General Stieff with the interrogations of Schulenburg and various others provide important information.” Although he did give the name of General Fritz Lindemann and General Eduard Wagner. It was later claimed that he implicated primarily only himself and others already dead. For example, he never gave the name of Captain Axel von dem Bussche, who he had helped in a previous failed assassination attempt. (5)

General Fritz Lindemann went into hiding. He was tracked down by the police in Berlin on 3rd September. Lindemann tried to jump out of a third-floor window but was shot in the legs and stomach. He was immediately operated on so that he might be tortured and brought to trial. Five of those who had helped him while on the run or had kept him hidden at various times between 22nd July and 3rd September, were executed. Two of them were described as “Jewish half-castes” and another the widow of a Jew. (6)

On 20th October, 1944, General Lindemann went on trial with Julius Leber, Adolf Reichwein, Theodor Haubach, and many others. He was found guilty and executed on 22nd September 1944. (7)