Mission Impossible? The assassination of Adolf Hitler

These two lessons borrow use primary sources made available from the National Archives concerning the Special Operations Executive’s planning for the assassination of Hitler. Students are first introduced to the SOE (James Bond is referenced) and their role, including a chance to make educated guesses about real SOE gadgets, with students then evaluating how successful the two proposals would be in killing Hitler (I’ve have edited these slightly, but it remains a really good chance for students to analyse primary, formerly top secret material). In the second lesson student consider why the assassination attempts didn’t go ahead by looking at the results of Reinhard Heydrich’s assassination and the possible consequences of killing Hitler on the war. There is a chance to evaluate historical interpretations.