New Documents Show Hitler Survived July 20 Bomb Due to Relocated Meeting

A previously unpublished document discovered in the Salzburg State Archives by US researcher Rolf Windbiel indicates that the high‑level military briefing scheduled for 20 July 1944 was originally intended to be held in a salon at Schloss Kleßheim, a guest house near Salzburg, rather than in the Wolf’s Lair (Wolfsschanze) in East Prussia.

Because the visit of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was cancelled, the meeting was moved to the wooden barracks at the Wolf’s Lair. The lighter construction, open windows and hollow floor space reduced the effect of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg’s bomb, allowing Adolf Hitler to survive. Hotelier Erwin Gutwinski, who coordinated Mussolini’s state visit, confirmed the original plan. Historians note that had the meeting taken place at Schloss Kleßheim, the explosion would likely have been far more lethal.