Heinz Brandt was the son of General Georg Brandt and was himself a Wehrmacht officer. He was a renowned show jumper, the winner of an equestrian Olympic Gold medal in 1936, and of numerous other riding awards.
Twice Brandt played an unwitting role in plots to kill Adolf Hitler.
On March 13, 1943 he was asked by Gen. Henning von Tresckow to carry onto Hitler's plane a gift of Cointreau. The gift package actually contained a bomb, but it did not detonate.
On July 20, 1944, he attended a conference at the "Wolf's Lair," at which Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators had planned to kill Hitler with a suitcase bomb. Wishing to get a better view of a map, Brandt moved the suitcase to the other side of a thick table leg from Hitler, sparing Hitler the brunt of the blast when the bomb exploded, but losing a leg and, the next day, his own life as a result.
Hitler awarded Brandt posthumously the rank of Major General.
(Brandt died in the city known at the time as Rastenburg in German. In 1945, it became part of Poland and was known as Rastembork. it is now called Kętrzyn. )
Twice Brandt played an unwitting role in plots to kill Adolf Hitler.
On March 13, 1943 he was asked by Gen. Henning von Tresckow to carry onto Hitler's plane a gift of Cointreau. The gift package actually contained a bomb, but it did not detonate.
On July 20, 1944, he attended a conference at the "Wolf's Lair," at which Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators had planned to kill Hitler with a suitcase bomb. Wishing to get a better view of a map, Brandt moved the suitcase to the other side of a thick table leg from Hitler, sparing Hitler the brunt of the blast when the bomb exploded, but losing a leg and, the next day, his own life as a result.
Hitler awarded Brandt posthumously the rank of Major General.
(Brandt died in the city known at the time as Rastenburg in German. In 1945, it became part of Poland and was known as Rastembork. it is now called Kętrzyn. )
Heinz Brandt was the son of General Georg Brandt and was himself a Wehrmacht officer. He was a renowned show jumper, the winner of an equestrian Olympic Gold medal in 1936, and of numerous other riding awards.
Twice Brandt played an unwitting role in plots to kill Adolf Hitler.
On March 13, 1943 he was asked by Gen. Henning von Tresckow to carry onto Hitler's plane a gift of Cointreau. The gift package actually contained a bomb, but it did not detonate.
On July 20, 1944, he attended a conference at the "Wolf's Lair," at which Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators had planned to kill Hitler with a suitcase bomb. Wishing to get a better view of a map, Brandt moved the suitcase to the other side of a thick table leg from Hitler, sparing Hitler the brunt of the blast when the bomb exploded, but losing a leg and, the next day, his own life as a result.
Hitler awarded Brandt posthumously the rank of Major General.
(Brandt died in the city known at the time as Rastenburg in German. In 1945, it became part of Poland and was known as Rastembork. it is now called Kętrzyn. )
Twice Brandt played an unwitting role in plots to kill Adolf Hitler.
On March 13, 1943 he was asked by Gen. Henning von Tresckow to carry onto Hitler's plane a gift of Cointreau. The gift package actually contained a bomb, but it did not detonate.
On July 20, 1944, he attended a conference at the "Wolf's Lair," at which Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators had planned to kill Hitler with a suitcase bomb. Wishing to get a better view of a map, Brandt moved the suitcase to the other side of a thick table leg from Hitler, sparing Hitler the brunt of the blast when the bomb exploded, but losing a leg and, the next day, his own life as a result.
Hitler awarded Brandt posthumously the rank of Major General.
(Brandt died in the city known at the time as Rastenburg in German. In 1945, it became part of Poland and was known as Rastembork. it is now called Kętrzyn. )
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