General Friedrich Olbricht quotes from Valkyrie (2008)

I have better things to do with my time than to come down here and clean up your mess! If you were enough of a man to run this department, I wouldn't have to do it myself! You're an old woman, Fromm! I'd send you to the front if I didn't think you'd surrender, just to be Montgomery's whore! [storms out as Fromm's secretary brings Stauffenberg and Olbricht in.]

General Friedrich Fromm

What is it you want?

General Friedrich Olbricht

I wanted to introduce our new man, Colonel Stauffenberg.

Fromm

Ah! From Africa. Well, I'd offer you my hand, but I might not get it back.

I'd say the General's lost more important things this morning.

Fromm

It's about time they put somebody with balls into this office, [laughs] Please sit down, Colonel. And Olbricht, if you must. [Stauffenberg and Olbricht sit at Fromm's desk] They tell me you're critical of the war, Colonel, not that you don't seem to have good reason.

Stauffenberg

I am critical of indecision, General.

Fromm

In the field?

Stauffenberg

In Berlin.

Fromm

So, that's why you're here, I take it. To make decisions...

Stauffenberg

I've already made my decision. I'm here to help others make theirs.

Fromm

They say when there's no clear option, the best thing is to do nothing.

Stauffenberg

We're at war. We must act. Sometimes rashly.

Fromm

And what rash action did you have in mind, Colonel?

Stauffenberg

That would be a decision for the supreme military commander, sir.

Fromm

A supreme commander. Second only to the Chancellor. If I were that man, this war would be going quite differently.

Olbricht

Well, we were thinking the same thing. [pause]

Fromm

I don't need to remind you that we have all sworn an oath to the Fuhrer. [Carefully disables a listening device in his telephone] Having said that, I'm going to forget this conversation ever took place, in the strict understanding that such talk never occurs again under this roof. Is that clear?!

Stauffenberg

Yes, sir.

Olbricht

Yes, sir.

Fromm

Now you can tell your friends, Colonel, that I always come down on the right side, and as long as the Fuehrer is alive, you know what side that is.

General Friedrich Fromm

How dare you put the Reserve Army on standby without my knowledge! It damn near cost me my commission! And what in God's name made you think you even had the authority?!

General Friedrich Olbricht

It was only a drill. An exer-

Fromm

Oh, don't lie, Olbricht! Not to me. We both know it wasn't a drill.

General, if I may...

Fromm

No you may not, Colonel. You may not do anything. Because not only have you proven to me you can't deliver, you've painted a target on my back. If I so much as sense you trying to move the Reserve Army again, I will personally have you both arrested. Do I make myself abundantly clear?

Olbricht

Yes, sir.

Stauffenberg

Yes, sir.

Fromm

Heil Hitler!

Olbricht

Heil Hitler. [Stauffenberg and Olbricht start to leave.]

Fromm

I'll hear you say it, Colonel!

Stauffenberg

Heil Hitler!

General Friedrich Fromm

If you have any last messages to your wives and children, I will hear them now. [Silence] Very well. A court martial convened by me in the Fuhrer's absence will pronounce sentence. Beck, you're under arrest. Colonel Mertz von Quirnheim, General Olbricht, Lieutenant Haeften, and the Colonel whose name I will not mention, are condemned to death.

General, my orders are to take these men alive.

Fromm

Noted, Major.

Ludwig Beck

I'd like a pistol please. [General Fromm looks at him suspiciously] For personal reasons.

Fromm

Get on with it.

With all respect sir-

Fromm

That will be all, Major!

General Friedrich Olbricht

Killing us won't hide your involvement.

Fromm

My involvement? I don't know what you're talking about.

You knew and did nothing. You're as guilty as any of us.

Fromm

Spare me, Lieutenant.

No one will be spared.

Valkyrie.

General Friedrich Olbricht

We've already considered Valkyrie, it isn't suitable.

Not as it's currently written, but the colonel has an idea I think we should consider.

Excuse me, what is Valkyrie?

Ludwig Beck

Operation Valkyrie. The Reserve Army has thousands of men all over Berlin. Valkyrie is Hitler's contingency plan to mobilize those men during a national emergency.

The sole purpose of the order is to protect Hitler's government if he's cut off or killed.

And what use is this to us?

Stauffenberg

Valkyrie is designed to contain civil unrest, but what if the SS was staging a coup? State Security is trying to overthrow Hitler; how would High Command respond?

Olbricht

We'd have no choice, we would declare a military state of emergency.

Exactly, and initiate Valkyrie.

Stauffenberg

Hitler's own Reserve Army, using Hitler's own plan, will have no choice but to seize power in Berlin to prevent the SS takeover. They'll think they're fighting for Hitler's government, not against it.

While we quietly put a new government in place.

But only if he's dead. That's what you're saying, isn't it? How else are you going to convince people the SS are trying to seize power?

Stauffenberg

We have to kill Hitler.

I'm disappointed in you, Colonel. I thought a man of your background would suggest a more honorable approach.

Olbricht

Your plan has a few minor obstacles, Colonel. Firstly, Valkyrie would have to be rewritten to exclude the SS.

Stauffenberg

And I'll need your help to get a copy.

Beck

Rewriting an order is one thing, distributing it is another. In this case, we'd be willfully circulating written evidence of high treason.

Olbricht

Evidence requiring Hitler's signature.

Stauffenberg

Well, we can all draw straws for that job.

Olbricht

And what about Fromm?

Fromm, who is Fromm?

Beck

He's the commander of the Reserve Army.

Olbricht

I can put the Reserve troops on alert, but only Fromm can initiate Valkyrie.

Beck

Can you get to him?

Erwin von Witzleben

We're running out of time, can you get to Fromm?

Olbricht

He's a careerist pig.

But one who's gone as far as he can go in Hitler's army. It's no secret he's unhappy about it.

Beck

Offer him a key position in the new regime. Make him see the light.