Following the 20 July failed attempt to assassinate Hitler, Josef Bürckel, "Gauleiter" of Gau Westmark where Germersheim was located, pressed Heinrich Himmler, who was the Reich's Security Official, to have Sponeck executed in retribution for the assassination plot, even though the latter had no contact with the German military resistance. On Himmler's orders, Sponeck was shot to death on 23 July 1944. Sponeck was buried in Germersheim and no citations or speeches were permitted at his grave. After the war, Sponeck's remains were transferred to the Soldiers' Cemetery at Dahn in the Palatinate Forest.