MovieChat Forums > Valkyrie (2008) Discussion > Why didnt Tresckow leap across the front...

Why didnt Tresckow leap across the front line? (SPOILER)

posted 8 years ago by realkillerthing
9 replies | jump to latest

Tresckow, the man who masterminded the plan but was later transfered to the front, was seen committing suicide at the end of the movie by holding a granade to his throat. He seemed to have known the plot failed before anyone could arrest him, and went out somewhere in the middle of nowhere to kill himself.

But if he was able to do that, why didnt he just "go for it" and leap across the boarder to the Russians, he might get shot yes, he might get tortured and sent to the gulag, ultimately die anyway, but he would still have a chance of survival.

This is interesting because the real life Tresckow did exactly what was portrayed in the movie, why didnt he surrender to the Russians instead?

[–] matt21-690-602571 8 years ago

The Germans killed/slaughtered 20 million Russians. Of the 190,000 or so soldiers captured at Stalingrad, only like 5 or 10,000 ever saw Germany again- and for those few it wasn't for about 10 years.
I believe that staying ALIVE is usually the foremost motive and instinct that we have. That said, I would probably lean towards suicide before surrendering to the enemy. THAT enemy in particular. I think you'd be hard pressed to find many or any Germans who would go that route. By the end of the war, nothing scared the Germans more than the RedArmy.

[–] realkillerthing 8 years ago

That is not a legitimate answer.

If he stayed he WOULD die. If he leaped over and surrendered to the Red army he COULD die.

No matter how badly they treated the german POW, his survival chance at the hands of the Russians would still be significantly higher compared to certain death at the hands of the SS.

Also, while I am well aware of that the Red army misstreated their prisoners (instant executions, ignoring everything of the Geneva convention, starving and working in the Gulag etc), you mentioned Stalingrad as an example, which is actually a bad example because its probably the most extreme you can find.
The reason most of the prisoners from Stalingrad died was because they were in such a bad condition after having been trapped in the city, and needed urgent medical attention and nutrition in order to survive, something the Red army was not about to offer and instead set them off to march on foot to Siberia to work in extreme conditions that only the healthy soldiers were able to endure.

Tresckow was not starving, he was not injured, weak or dying, he would actually have a fairly moderate chance of surviving, not the mention he just tried to assassinate Hitler. If Paulus became a special POW because of his high rank and stance towards Hitler, chances are that Tresckow would too.

[–] franzkabuki 8 years ago

Since you mention Friedrich Paulus... it is well known that he was the first German general ever to have been taken prisoner by the enemy - something that was apparently considered a major dishonor. So it is quite possible that Von Tresckow also saw giving himself up to the Soviets as a cowardly, threacherous act not befitting a man of his standing.

"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

[–] MrRazorz 8 years ago

You're placing personal survival above all other considerations. Tresckow wasn't a coward (he'd hardly have been involved in the conspiracy if he was) and he was more concerned with the fate of others than with his own. Some killed themselves to avoid being interrogated and giving up the names of their fellow conspirators; Tresckow took things a step further by trying to make it look like he'd been killed in an enemy ambush, so that suspicion would be deflected from himself and others who were still alive. If he'd gone AWOL at the first sign of the plot's failure, it wouldn't have taken the SS long to figure out the reason.

In fact, his recorded last words were: "A man's moral worth is established only at the point where he is ready to give his life in defense of his convictions." Somehow I don't think saving himself at any cost was high on his list of motivations.

[–] fnj-07126 8 years ago

He wasn't about looking out for himself. Already by 1939 he told his cousin "both duty and honor demand from us that we should do our best to bring about the downfall of Hitler and National Socialism to save Germany and Europe from barbarism". He saw this as his solemn duty. He acted, unsuccessfully, in 1943.

But by October 1943, though not found out, there was some suspicion of him, and his duty assignment made it impossible for him to have further involvement in active planning. In June 1944 he said "It is almost certain that we will fail. But how will future history judge the German people if not even a handful of men had the courage to put an end to that criminal?"

My guess is that he probably found out the plot had failed the same way as most Germans did, by hearing Hitler's address on the radio. In any event, his parting words to a confidante, either on the 20th or the 21st, were:

"When, in few hours' time, I go before God to account for what I have done and left undone, I know I will be able to justify what I did in the struggle against Hitler. God promised Abraham that He would not destroy Sodom if only ten righteous men could be found in the city, and so I hope for our sake God will not destroy Germany. No one among us can complain about dying, for whoever joined our ranks put on the [poisoned] shirt of Nessus. A man's moral worth is established only at the point where he is ready to give his life in defense of his convictions."

The movie does not show this, but in order to do what he could to protect the other conspirators, he staged a fake partisan attack by firing his pistols before activating his own grenade and holding it under his chin.

Not implicated right away, he was taken home and buried honorably. Only in late August was he found out. The Nazis exhumed his body and took it to the crematorium in Sachsenhausen.

I would surely like to look this gentleman up and shake his hand, were I ever to find myself in Valhalla.

[–] mikecanevari 8 years ago

Nice posts everyone. I really like your last line fnj.

[–] larry8827 8 years ago

I have read quite a few sources on this an it appears to me that Trescow was making sure his family would be OK. He considered himself neither a Nazi or a traitor, simply a patriot trying to rid Germany of a cancer.
When he heard the plot had failed he knew his days would be numbered but he was not yet implicated. Knowing he would immediately be suspected by committing suicide and this may endanger his family, he went to the bother of staging a fake partisan attack to ensure he died in action.
As it turned out families, even Stauffenbergs, were left alone. Nina went on to have their child and his grand child was actually in the film.

[–] NeilNR 8 years ago

Nina Stauffenberg was arrested and gave birth to their child while imprisoned.
Her other children were removed from her custody.

[–] larry8827 8 years ago

Yes I know. My point was that they weren't shipped off to a concentration camp or executed. All the conspirators families were originally arrested under the German rule of family guilt. But ultimately all were released again and lived their lives.