July 20

  • ARMY PLOT TO KILL HITLER NEARLY SUCCEEDS

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 7 minutes

    Wolf’s Lair, Rastenburg, East Prussia, Germany • July 20, 1944 Adolf Hitler had been the target of 4 assassi­na­tion attempts before he became Germany’s head of state in January 1933 and perhaps 2 dozen more after­wards. On July 11, 1944, 36‑year-old Lt. Col. Claus von Stauf­fen­berg arrived at the Berg­hof on the Ober­salzberg, Hitler’s Bava­rian retreat near Berch­tes­gaden, carrying a…

  • VATICAN SIGNS PACT WITH NAZIS

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 6 minutes

    Rome, Italy · July 20, 1933 On this date in 1933 in Rome, represen­ta­tives of German Pre­si­dent Paul von Hin­den­burg (1847–1934) and Pope Pius XI (papacy 1922–1939), among them Vati­can Sec­re­tary of State Euge­nio Pa­celli (later Pope Pius XII), announced that a con­cor­dat (treaty) had been forged between the Holy See and the German Reich. The Reichs­kon­kor­dat…