How the Nazi Salute Saved Hitler’s Life During an Attempted Assissination

During Adolf Hitler’s reign of terror in Germany, Germans used the Nazi Salute as a symbol of respect for the Fuhrer. Nowadays, the Nazi Salute serves as a symbol of hate and a grim reminder of the Holocaust and the atrocities of WWII. Interestingly, the government banned the Nazi Salute after Hitler’s death, although before the ban and his death, it actually saved his life during one of the many attempted assassinations against him.

Appointed chancellor of Germany by the Nazi Party in 1933, Adolf Hitler served as Fuhrer until his death by suicide in 1945. “He promised economic recovery and a ‘powerful, unified Germany,’ but instead, he transformed the country into a war state with the intent of conquering Europe to benefit the ‘Aryan race.’ The September 1, 1939 invasion of Poland triggered World War II, further destroying hope for peace in Europe.

The Nazi Party created concentration camps that became home to the country’s ‘undesirables,’ including Jews, disabled people, homosexuals, political descendants, and others. Victims endured unspeakable horror at the camps, including forced labor, starvation, physical and psychological abuse, and serving as guinea pigs for medical experiments.

As the Nazi Party gained more power, their treatment of innocent Germans and Europeans worsened. In 1939, the Nazi Party created ‘Aktion T4,’ a plan to kill disabled and mentally ill people inside a specially constructed gas chamber hidden within what would later become known as a death or extermination camp. Come 1942, the Nazi Party added the Jewish population to its list of individuals they planned to exterminate from Europe. This later became known as the Holocaust.

The Nazi Salute

Photo: Nazi-saluut. (2022, March 18). In Wikipedia. https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi-saluut

Most Germans had no idea of the sheer terror taking place under Hitler’s reign until he was dead and WWII ended. Many still supported him under the guise he had Germany’s best interest at heart. The Nazi salute, first used in the 1920s, became an official greeting under Hitler’s regime, making its use mandatory at official rallies and events. The Nazi salute later become known as “Heil Hitler.” (Salute Hitler.)

Of course, some Europeans saw right through Hitler; they sensed the evil that lurked through his words and his mere presence. They wanted him dead, as evidenced by the many attempted assassinations against his life. Hitler claimed Divine Providence protected him, a rather hubristic assumption considering he ordered the suffering, torture, and/or deaths of more than 11 million people.

Nazi Salute Saves Hitler’s Life

One of those attempts on Hitler’s life stands out among them all due to the irony of his survival. The Nazi salute actually saved Hitler’s life.

Maurice Bavaud armed himself with a .25 caliber handgun before attending a rally in Nuremberg on November 9, 1938. He blended in well with the other spectators, all of whom gathered atop an overpass to hear Hitler speak.

As Hitler approached the underpass, Bavaud reached into his pocket, resting his hand around the weapon, waiting for the perfect moment to shoot Hitler dead. His assissination attempt failed as spectators raised their arms to pay respects using the obligatory “Nazi salute,” blocking his vision of the fuhrer.

He was adamant that Hitler would die. Learning Hitler was headed to Berchtesgaden, Bavaud purchased a train ticket to the city. He learned that Hitler was still in Munich, so Bavaud purchased another train ticket. In Munich, Bavaud learned Hilter had traveled on to Berchtesgaden. Without money to purchase another ticket, police arrested Bavuad at the train station on the charge of vagrancy.

Bavaud Arrested, Executed

Police found the .22 caliber pistol, a handwritten letter to Hitler, and another document inside Bavaud’s coat pocket. Obviously concerned that a foreigner was in Germany with these items, stuck at a train station without money, police questioned his intentions. Bavaud broke down and told them his intentions to assassinate Hitler. He was charged with several crimes and immediately taken to jail.

After two trials, the German government sentenced Bavaud to die by guillotine, the sentence carried out at Berlin’s Ploetzensee prison in 1941.

In 1955, his death sentence was commuted to five years and overturned entirely the following year.