Oster plot (WFAC)

On October 6, 1938, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside the Reichkanzlei (Reich Chancellery) in Berlin, Germany, as a response to Germany going to war with Czechoslovakia over the Sudetenland, which had triggered declarations of war by the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union.

The apparent purpose of the assassination attempt was to seize political control of Germany and its armed forces from the Nazi Party (including the SS) in order to obtain peace as soon as possible by installing a constitutional monarchy. The underlying desire of many of the involved high ranking Wehrmacht officers was apparently to show to the world what they considered to be widespread opposition to Hitler's policies.

The failure of the assassination and the military coup d'état led to the arrest of at least 7,000 people by the Gestapo. Of these, 5,000 were executed for high treason.