Fritz Todt conflict World War II
Death
On 8 February 1942, soon after take-off from the Wolfsschanze ("Wolf's Lair") airfield near Rastenburg, in East Prussia, Todt's aircraft crashed and he was killed. He was buried in the Invalids' Cemetery in the Scharnhorst-Strasse in Berlin. Posthumously, he became the first recipient of the newly created Deutscher Orden ("German Order").It has been suggested that Todt had been the victim of an assassination orchestrated by Hitler, but that has never been confirmed. A possible motive for killing Todt was that he had flown to the Wolf's Lair to recommend that Hitler sue for peace with Russia. Todt's production figures suggested that the German economy was not able to support the defeat of Russia and, by February, it was apparent Hitler's plan to rapidly subdue Russia in a Blitzkrieg was not succeeding.Todt's successor as Reichsminister was Albert Speer, whom Hitler awarded an Org.Todt ring during May 1943. Speer was supposed to be on same plane as Todt. In his autobiography, Speer mentioned a Reich Air Ministry inquiry into the airplane accident, which he said ended with the sentence: "The possibility of sabotage is ruled out. Further measures are therefore neither requisite nor intended". Speer, who was present but had declined to travel on the same flight because he had been kept up late the night before, talking with Hitler, thought that the wording was "curious".: 279
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