Today's the anniversary of the July 20th plot to kill Hitler in 1944. these days talked about again because Bryan Singer cast Tom Cruise as Stauffenberg in his film about the event, Valkyrie, which he has just started to shoot and promptly got an illustration of the complete loathing Scientology is regarded with here in Germany. As one of Stauffenberg's sons put, casting a prominent propagandist for a totalitatarian brainwashing sect as someone who lost his life trying to get rid of Hitler is in bad taste. (This being said, I thought the refusal to grant permission to film at some of the locations was a bad idea as well, because it made gave Scientology the chance to paint themselves as discriminated martyrs again.) Anyway, this is of course not the first fictional presentation of the July 20th plot, called "Operation Valkyrie" by the conspirators; there have been several movies here in Germany, which usually get summed up, a little unkindly, under "worthy". There has always been some unease about the conspirators, though the reasons have changed. Early on, directly after the war, there was still some "treason or no treason, sworn oath versus tyrannicide" debate; these days, it's more "why did they wait that long?" and "several of them, including Stauffenberg, were pro-Hitler in 1933, so how can we honor them as heroes?"

(Things are a little bit different in my hometown, Bamberg, due to the very personal connection of the Stauffenberg family to it; they're basically locals, Stauffenberg's widow Nina died only last year in nearby Kirchlauter at age 92. So, around here, people feel protective of Stauffenberg if anything, and it's going to be interesting to see what happens when/if there is some location shooting as well.)

My favourite fictional use of July 20th, 1944, isn't any of the films, and it's not Stauffenberg-centric; it's the Highlander episode, Valkyrie, from that show's fifth (and probably best) season. You have to suspend some disbelief as Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod speaks truly atrocious German in the flashbacks, as well as one key character having a gun when she really shouldn't (one of the reasons why Stauffenberg was the only one who could carry out the assassination attempt by 1944 was that you did not get to be armed Hitler's presence), but never mind that, because the story is that good, layered and touching. Our immortal of the week is Ingrid, played by Musea Vandemar, who was involved in the July 20th plot, had a chance to kill Hitler, couldn't bring herself to fire, and hasn't forgiven herself ever since. Her method of atonment is killing racist demagogues of rising influence where she finds them. It's a variation of the old "would you have killed Hitler if you had met him in the 1920s and had known..." question, with the added problem that Ingrid, of course, can't know the people she kills will ever rise to genocidal level; she can only judge them by what the damage she sees already.

But does she have the right to judge them at all? That's of course the question the hero of the show asks, who is friends with Ingrid and stuck with the judging gig himself when it comes to other immortals going on a rampage. Valkyrie is a story without villains (Hitler and various racist demagogues aside), because Ingrid, in flashback and present, is drawn sympathetically, you understand her motivation... but you also understand Duncan's point that what she does is still murder, and as he tries to persuade her to stop throughout the episode, you hope he succeeds. The detective pursuing Ingrid is another great one-shot character, melancholy and wise, both understanding Ingrid and determined to put her behind bars (not knowing what she is, of course). Last but not least, this is an episode with everyone's favourite HL guest star, Methos, in it, full of cynical one liners as ever. (What baffles me is that Methos little speech near the end is sometimes cited as his enlightening black-and-white seeing Duncan about shades of grey; actually, Methos isn't presenting a shades of grey position at all in this episode, but is as black and white as they come. He very pragmatically tells Duncan to kill Ingrid from the get go; it's Duncan who tries everything not to.) What finally makes a difference is Ingrid being willing to blow up a hall full of people along with her current target, but again, there is an ambiguity about her action; you can argue that she's arrived at a point where she wants to stop but doesn't know how to anymore, so manouevres Duncan in a position to be her executioner. The scene where she dies, with both of them having tears in their eyes, is one of the saddest in the show.

In the end, you're left with the memory of a discussion Ingrid and Duncan have in one of the flashbacks, talking about the Valkyrie plot, with Ingrid confessing she never killed a mortal before, and pointing out Hitler won't be the only one who dies if the bomb explodes as planned; so will everyone else currently in the bunker, and do they, too, deserve to die? And the juxtaposition to Ingrid decades later, asking why hate mongerers like character X deserve to live. It's to the show's credit that it doesn't try to give a pat answer to either question.