International
80 years since the attack on Hitler that killed Count Claus Schenk von Staufenberg
A day like this Saturday, a bomb placed by Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg exploded in the headquarters of the ‘Führer’ Adolf Hitler in Rastenburg – today Ketrzyn, in Poland – to kill the Nazi dictator who, however, was only slightly injured and would soon trigger his repression against the conspirators.
Von Stauffenberg’s bomb was part of the ‘Valkiria Plan’, an attempted coup d’état conceived between 1943 and 1944 within the Wehrmacht as a desperate response to the unfavorable evolution of the war in Europe.
Shortly before, on June 6, the landing in Normandy had taken place, the allied military operation that would end up being crucial in the defeat of the Third Reich.
Among those responsible for that frustrated attempt to kill the tyrant were retired general Ludwig Beck, division general Henning von Tresckow, colonel general Friedrich Olbricht and other high-ranking officers, although von Stauffenberg was the one who was personally responsible for carrying out his attack on Hitler.
Von Stauffenberg, after being promoted to colonel and relocated as Chief of Staff of the Reserve Army Command, gained such a position in the high instances of the Third Reich that participated in meetings attended by Hitler.
Von Stauffenberg failed in the same way as his conspiratorial comrades, who had to rise up against the regime in Berlin.
That attempt cost them their lives, because the history books show that between 180 and 200 people were executed by the Third Reich, shot, hanged or even strangled, after the failed bomb of Von Stauffenberg.
Von Stauffenberg himself, and three other officers were shot without trial in the courtyard of the building that today houses the Ministry of Defense in Berlin.
Hitler did not die in the explosion of his Rastenburg headquarters, but took his life in his Berlin bunker on April 30, 1945, with Germany – and much of Europe – destroyed, and his regime having committed the systematic murder of six million European Jews on the blackest page in the history of the Old Continent.
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the attack, which happens to be the greatest act of military resistance against Hitler during the Third Reich, the Center for Military History and Social Sciences (ZMSB) in Potsdam (east) recalls through a new digital dossier a historical moment that could have given an unexpected turn to history.
In addition to a compilation of historical documents and analyses, the experts consulted by the ZMSB of Potsdam reflect on how the historical evolution of the perception of those facts has been.
Thus, in the early 1950s, the West Germans saw the heroism of Von Stauffenberg and company with some distance.
In 1951, one in three Germans did not link the date of July 20 “to any event or had no opinion,” “another third saw it with critical eyes” and the other 33% saw the attempted murder against the Führer well, according to John Zimmermann, a member of the team of investigators who has prepared the ZMSB dossier.
“The peak of this negative feeling was reached in 1952: 28% thought that Germany would be better if there had been no resistance, and 39% even believed that they could have won the war without it,” added this researcher.
If Von Stauffenberg finally ended up enjoying the status of “hero in public opinion” this is due to the “political history” of Germany, whose authorities, in particular of the administration and the academic world, have turned July 20 into a date with which to remember a man who could have dealt a mortal blow to the Third Reich before time, according to Zimmermann.
International
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.
“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.
“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”
“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.
The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.
In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.
International
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.
Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.
Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.
In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.
The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.
International
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.
“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”
The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
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