Erich Fellgiebel Fritz Erich Fellgiebel ( 4 October 1886 – 4 September 1944 ) was a German Army officer and a conspirator in the 20 July plot to assassinate Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler . Military career . Fellgiebel was born in Pöpelwitz ( Present - day Popowice in Poland ) near Breslau , in the Prussian Province of Silesia . At the age of 18 , he joined a signals battalion in the Prussian Army as an officer cadet . During the First World War , he served as a captain on the General Staff . After the war he was assigned to Berlin as a General Staff officer of the Reichswehr . His service had been exemplary , and in 1928 he was promoted to the rank of major . Fellgiebel was promoted lieutenant colonel in 1933 , and became a full colonel ( " Oberst " ) the following year . By 1938 , he was a major general . That year , he was appointed Chief of the Army ' s Signal Establishment and Chief of the " Wehrmacht " s communications liaison to the Supreme Command ( OKW ) . Fellgiebel became " General der Nachrichtentruppe " ( General of the Communications Troops ) on 1 August 1940 . Adolf Hitler did not fully trust Fellgiebel , considering him too independent - minded , but needed Fellgiebel ' s expertise . He was the first to understand the use that the German military could have of an encryption machine called Enigma , and worked to have it adopted by the Wehrmacht . As head of Hitler ' s Signal services , Fellgiebel knew every military secret , including Wernher von Braun ' s rocketry work at the Peenemünde Army Research Center . Resistance activities . Through his acquaintance with Colonel General Ludwig Beck , his superior , and then Beck ' s successor , Colonel - General Franz Halder , Fellgiebel contacted the anti - Nazi resistance group in the " Wehrmacht " armed forces . In the 1938 September Conspiracy on the eve of the Munich Agreement , he was supposed to cut communications throughout Germany while Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben would occupy Berlin . Fellgiebel was again involved in the preparations for Operation Valkyrie and during the attempt on the " Führer " s life on 20 July 1944 tried to cut Hitler ' s headquarters at Wolf ' s Lair in East Prussia off from all telecommunication connections . He only partly succeeded , as he could not prevent the information of Minister Joseph Goebbels in Berlin via separate " SS " links . When it became clear that the attempt had failed , Fellgiebel had to override the communications black - out he had set up . Fellgiebel ' s most famous act that day was his telephone report to his co - conspirator General Fritz Thiele at the Bendlerblock , after he was informed that Hitler was still alive : " " Etwas schreckliches ist passiert ! Der Führer lebt ! " " ( " Something awful has happened ! The " Führer " lives ! " ) . Fellgiebel was arrested immediately at Wolf ' s Lair . He was charged before the " Volksgerichtshof " ( " People ' s Court " ) . On 10 August 1944 , he was found guilty by Roland Freisler and sentenced to death . He was executed on 4 September 1944 at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin . Memorials . The " Bundeswehr " s barracks , a signals and intelligence school ( " Führungsunterstützungsschule " ) in Pöcking - Maxhof is named the " General - Fellgiebel - Kaserne " in his honour . Fictional portrayal . Vernon Dobtcheff portrayed him in a 1990 television film , " The Plot to Kill Hitler " . Fellgiebel was portrayed by Harald Krassnitzer in the 2004 German TV film " Stauffenberg " . He was portrayed by actor and comedian Eddie Izzard in the 2008 Bryan Singer thriller " Valkyrie " .