Chief of Staff of the German Army between 1935 and 1938
Ludwig Beck
Beck in 1936 as Generaloberst
Chief of the General Staff of the German Army High Command
In office 1 July 1935 – 31 August 1938
Chancellor
Adolf Hitler
Leader
Werner von Fritsch as Supreme Commander of the Army
Preceded by
Office established
Succeeded by
Franz Halder
Chief of the Troop Office
In office 1 October 1933 – 1 July 1935
President
Paul von Hindenburg
Chancellor
Adolf Hitler
Preceded by
Wilhelm Adam
Succeeded by
Himself as Chief of the OKH General Staff
Personal details
Born
Ludwig August Theodor Beck
(1880-06-29)29 June 1880 Biebrich, Hesse-Nassau, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died
20 July 1944(1944-07-20) (aged 64) Berlin, Free State of Prussia, Nazi Germany
Spouse
Amelie Pagenstecher
(m. 1916; died 1917)
Domestic partner
Amalie Christine Auguste Luise Pagenstecher
Children
Gertrud Beck
Parent(s)
Ludwig Beck [de] Bertha Draudt
Military service
Allegiance
German Empire (to 1918)
Weimar Republic (to 1933)
Nazi Germany
Branch/service
Army
Years of service
1898–1938
Rank
Generaloberst
Battles/wars
World War I World War II
Ludwig August Theodor Beck (German:[ˈluːt.vɪçbɛk]ⓘ; 29 June 1880 – 20 July 1944) was a German general and Chief of the German General Staff during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II. Although Beck never became a member of the Nazi Party, in the early 1930s he supported Adolf Hitler's forceful denunciation of the Treaty of Versailles and the need to re-arm, although he believed Germany needed more time to rearm before starting a war.
In serving as Chief of Staff of the German Army between 1935 and 1938, Beck became increasingly disillusioned and stood in opposition to the rising totalitarianism of the Nazi regime and to Hitler's aggressive foreign policy. Public foreign-policy disagreements with Hitler made Beck resign as Chief of Staff in August 1938. Beck became a major leader within the conspiracy against Hitler. The 20 July plot failed, however, and Beck shot himself in the head but succeeded only in severely wounding himself. One of General Friedrich Fromm's men then shot him in the back of the neck.
Ludwig August Theodor Beck (German: [ˈluːt.vɪç bɛk] ; 29 June 1880 – 20 July 1944) was a German general and Chief of the German General Staff during the...
There were also notable cases of suicide attempts, such as that of LudwigBeck and Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel. Suicides occurred in Germany, except...
the deputy head of the Military Intelligence Office; Colonel General LudwigBeck, a former Chief of Staff of the German Army High Command (OKH); and Field...
immediate execution by firing squad. As for retired Colonel-General LudwigBeck, Fromm allowed his request to commit suicide, but since the suicide attempt...
Blomberg, of his intentions. The Chief of the General Staff, General LudwigBeck, warned Hitler that the German Army was ill-prepared for conflict with...
Staff of the Army High Command on 1 September. He succeeded General LudwigBeck who had resigned on 18 August amid the Sudetenland crisis. Halder was...
Haeften, General Friedrich Olbricht, LudwigBeck, and Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim are arrested and tried. Beck commits suicide, and the rest are...
the army. Among them, Guderian claimed, was Chief of the General Staff LudwigBeck (1935–1938), who he alleged was skeptical that armored forces could be...
Department (Operations), where he worked in close contact with Generals LudwigBeck, Werner von Fritsch, Adolf Heusinger and Erich von Manstein. Later in...
last years of the Weimar Republic put him under the command of General LudwigBeck.[citation needed] In September 1939, Jodl first met Adolf Hitler. During...
years after "deal[ing] with the situation" in Czechoslovakia. General LudwigBeck, chief of the German general staff, noted that Hitler's change of heart...
General LudwigBeck, regarded this as not only immoral but reckless, since he believed that Germany would lose such a war. Oster and Beck sent emissaries...
distributing Nazi literature at their base, their commanding officer, General LudwigBeck (of the 5th Artillery Regiment based in Ulm), was furious at their arrest...
General Staff Took office Left office Time in office Ref. 1 Beck, LudwigGeneraloberst LudwigBeck (1880–1944) 1 July 1935 31 August 1938 3 years, 61 days...
became a member of General LudwigBeck's private intelligence network. Goerdeler's reports were received not only by Beck but also by General Werner von...
counterintelligence at the Foreign Affairs Office in Berlin through the help of LudwigBeck. There, von Guttenberg worked under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and belonged...
German-occupied Poland. General LudwigBeck from Wiesbaden was one of the planners of the 20 July 1944 assassination attempt of Adolf Hitler. Beck was designated by...
envisioned that General LudwigBeck would become provisional head of state as Reichsverweser after Hitler was killed. When the plot failed, Beck and many other...
Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886), also called the Swan King or the Fairy Tale King (der Märchenkönig), was King...
Colonel-General LudwigBeck and agreed to offer the machinery for mediation. Oster, Wilhelm Canaris, and Hans von Dohnányi, backed Beck, told Müller to...
Global Information
Generaloberst
