Just 284 days after July 20, 1944, the earthly lives of the Third Reich and Adolf Hitler both came to an abrupt end. If Stalingrad was the military turning point in the war for Germany, then July 20 was surely the societal. Hitler had promised a classless military and civilian Fatherland even before he became chancellor and he was about to complete the fulfillment of that promise. He had been covertly destroying the historic officer class in Germany long before Stalingrad, but the assassination attempt gave him the opportunity to accelerate the purge and include the nobility and civilian leaders who opposed him.

Specific information about the coup attempt was a closely guarded secret at the time and its investigation was the Gestapo’s number one priority even as the Russians approached Berlin. It is possible today to reliably reconstruct and connect important events and related biographies of the principle characters, coherently piecing together the post-July 20 history. It’s the story of the disappearance of Germany’s officer class, and for a time, its nobility and civilian leadership; all of which has become part of Hitler’s other legacy.