Hofacker's main activity in
relation to the events culminating in the attempted assassination of Hitler at the Wolf's Lair on 20
July 1944 consisted of acting as a secret liaison between his cousin and
another plotter in occupied Paris, General Carl-Heinrich
von Stülpnagel, France's military
governor, to whom he was personal adviser. Hofacker assessed the chances of the
coup attempt as "only ten percent". He had a
point of introduction to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel as he
considered his father something of a hero, having served under him in World War
I. He tried to draw
him into the plot to rid Germany of
Hitler, but although Rommel gave his backing to the conspiracy he did not agree
that he should be killed
On 26 July 1944, Hofacker was
arrested in Paris, taken to Berlin Gestapo headquarters where, according to
William Shirer in "The Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich", he was
horrifically tortured and gave up the name of Erwin Rommel stating that Rommel
said to "Tell the people in Berlin they can count on me". This was
support for the conspiracy to overthrow Hitler, not to kill him- but this made
no difference to Hitler who ordered the forced suicide of Erwin Rommel and
false hero's funeral. ] The
torture confession was taken down and Hofnacker was put on trial before the Volksgerichtshof.
He was found guilty of treason and
sentenced to death. He was hanged at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.
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