Georg Elser – Biographical Details
January 4, 1903
Born in Hermaringen/Württemberg, oldest son of the farmer and timber merchant Ludwig Elser and his later wife Maria Müller;
Georg Elser had five brothers and sisters: Friedrike (born 1904), Marie (born 1906), Ludwig (born 1909), Anna (born 1910), and Leonhard (born 1913).
1904
Parents marry and move to Königsbronn.
1910 to 1917
Attends elementary school in Königsbronn.
Fall 1917
Begins iron turner apprenticeship in the Königsbronn iron and steel mill
(abandoned in 1919 for health reasons) and attends vocational school in Heidenheim.
March 1919
Carpentry apprenticeship to Robert Sapper in Königsbronn.
Spring 1922
Highest marks in final apprenticeship examination at Heidenheim vocational school;
works as carpenter for Robert Sapper.
February 1923 to February 1925
Carpenter for Rieder in Aalen;
after dismissal due to inflation, works in parents’ firm,
then for a short time in Matthias Müller’s furniture workshop in Heidenheim.
March 1925
Begins time as journeyman carpenter;
up to 1932, works for various companies in Bernried bei Tettnang,
Manzell, Constance, Meersburg, and Bottighofen in Switzerland;
takes odd jobs to bridge periods of unemployment.
1926
Joins the Oberrheintaler traditional costume association in Constance and buys a zither;
member of a zither club in Constance.
1928/1929
Joins the Red Front Fighters’ Alliance in Constance.
September 1930
Only son Manfred born.
August 1932
Returns to Königsbronn; supports his mother in family conflicts;
sets up small carpentry workshop and helps on parents’ farm;
works as self-employed carpenter.
1933/1934
Joins the zither club in Königsbronn;
buys a double bass to play at dances.
1936
After the sale of his parents’ land, moves to Schnaitheim and works as a carpenter
for the master carpenter Grupp in Königsbronn; later, odd jobs as self-employed carpenter.
December 1936 to March 1939
Employed by the Waldenmaier fittings factors in Heidenheim;
becomes aware of a “special department” for armaments orders in 1938.
Spring 1937
Moves into parents’ new house in Königsbronn; sets up provisional workshop there.
Autumn 1938
Decides to “remove the current leadership” due to threat of war.
November 8, 1939
Stages assassination attempt in the Munich Bürgerbräukeller and arrested in Constance.
1940 to 1945
Solitary confinement in the cell blocks at Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps.
April 9, 1945
Johann Georg Elser is murdered in Dachau concentration camp.