A Thought In Response To Valkyrie

As I mentioned in my last post, my family and I saw several movies while I was home for Christmas. I could definitely tell you my thoughts about each and every one of them, discussing things I liked, things I didn't like, and whether I would recommend them. But one in particular has stayed with me, due mostly to the truth of the story.

As I was not familiar with the story of Operation Valkyrie before the movie, I will not presume that you, my readers, are. But, I would not presume to tell you what happens, either, because I am also a movie buff who hates to know the whole plot when going into a movie. This is what I will tell you, which you would easily get from the trailer or a quick google search: Valkyrie the movie is based on what is referred to as the July 20th plot - an attempted assassination of Hitler during World War II. I will presume that my readers took some form of history class in school, and so they know that Hitler was not assassinated, but committed suicide at the end of the war. With that tidbit of history and the word "attempted" in my description, I hope I'm not shocking you by telling you that it didn't work.

I will now delve into some discoveries I made about why it didn't work, but that requires some spoilers to the movie. If you don't like spoilers, skip to the end of this section.


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I came home after the movie and looked up what really happened, and they actually portrayed it accurately, as far as I can tell. A group of Germans who were in a position to deal directly with Hitler came up with a plot to kill him during one of their planning meetings. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (played by Tom Cruise) was the main guy who thought up the plan, and carried it out. In short, it involved bringing a bomb carried inside his briefcase into the meeting, setting the fuse, and excusing himself before the bomb detonated. Obviously there was a lot more to the strategy behind it and what was to be done after Hitler died, which is a huge part of the movie, but that's the gist of the actual deed to be done. Unfortunately, a few key circumstances changed which precluded the attempt from being successful. First, the bomb used was meant to be detonated inside the bunker at the Wolf's Lair. The bunker was an enclosed space created to be impenetrable, and so would contain the blast and therefore everyone inside would be killed. The meeting place was changed, however, to a conference room with open windows. It did not contain the blast, and Hitler did not die. Second, Stauffenberg had two bombs with him, but for some reason, he only set the fuse for one of them (the movie gives an explanation as to why in a scene that just about stopped my heart, it was so intense). Thinking one would be enough to do the job, instead of leaving the second bomb in his briefcase, he took it with him when he left. If he had left it there, the blast from the first would have set off the second, and the combined explosion would have killed Hitler. But only one was set, and Hitler did not die. Third, the table in the conference room was made of solid oak. Stauffenberg set his briefcase on one side of the table leg, nearest to Hitler, but after he left, someone else in attendance unknowingly moved it to the other side of the table leg. If it had stayed where Stauffenberg had set it, it would have been close enough to kill Hitler. But it was moved and the oak table blocked the main force of the blast, and Hitler did not die.

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Three seemingly insignificant things - uncontrollable by any of the parties involved - resulted in a failed rather than successful attempt to assassinate one of the most evil men who ever lived. And it has gotten me to thinking. I don't understand the mind of God. I do believe wholeheartedly that He is sovereign, and if it had been in His will, any one of those three things would have gone differently, and Hitler would have died on July 20th, 1944. I don't know exactly what would have come from that, but I would think at the very least that thousands of lives would have been saved. And I just can't imagine why on earth God would want to allow Hitler to live that much longer.

I suppose that's the key, though, isn't it? I can't imagine why "on earth" God would do it that way. But God is not on earth. He is not limited to our 3 1/2 dimensions and our feeble perspectives. He is not ruled by what we think is right, but by what IS RIGHT. And maybe someday, Jesus and I might be talking in Heaven, and He'll reveal the big picture of Operation Valkyrie to me. Or maybe once I'm in His presence, that won't matter in the light of His glory. In any case, it's given me a lot to think about for now, and plenty of unanswered and unanswerable questions.

With that, let me say that I highly recommend this film. Clearly it's gotten me to thinking about eternal things, which is always a good outcome from a movie. Plus, I didn't even mind the fact that Claus von Stauffenberg was played by Tom Cruise. In fact, I thought he did a really good job. So there you go.