Conquer Club

The Complicated Life Of Erwin Rommel, Anti-Semite, Nazi General, And Attempted Hitler Assassin
By Mark Oliver | Checked By Leah Silverman
Published September 15, 2021
Updated October 7, 2021

Adolf Hitler literally trusted Erwin Rommel with his life. He never could have expected that in 1944, the "Desert Fox" would join a conspiracy to assassinate him.

Erwin Rommel is remembered today as one of the “good Nazis” who tried to kill Adolf Hitler. The short version of the General’s history is that he became so appalled with the barbarity of the Third Reich that he turned against the Führer himself. But the truth is a bit more complicated than that.

While Rommel conspired in a plot that nearly succeeded in taking out Hitler, he spent the first six years of World War II as one of Hitler’s most loyal and devout followers. In private letters, Rommel even assured his family that Hitler was worth trusting, once writing to his wife that: “The führer knows what is right for us.”

He called Hitler the “unifier of the nation” and even kept an autographed copy of Mein Kampf proudly on display in his home. But after those first six years of fighting a failing war, Rommel changed. He had become one of the men Hitler most trusted, and indeed, Hitler never could have expected that in 1944 Rommel would join a conspiracy to assassinate him.

Rommel had come to believe that the only possible future for Germany was one where Hitler didn’t exist.

Rommel was such a masterful general that even his enemies couldn’t help but respect him. While fighting in North Africa, which is where Rommel spent most of the war, the British referred to him as a gentleman soldier. They dubbed him the “Desert Fox” for his humane treatment of his enemies and even called their battle against him a “War Without Hate.”

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill himself sang Rommel’s praises: “We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general.”