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Investigations and Arrest

During the night of the assassination attempt itself, Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police, set up a special commission comprised of police and Gestapo officers. It was headed by Arthur Nebe, Chief of the Reich Criminal Police Office. The special commission was divided into a crime scene commission led by the criminologist Hans Lobbes and a perpetrator commission under SS-Obersturmbann­führer Franz Josef Huber, a close colleague of the security police chief Reinhard Heydrich since 1933.

Georg Elser was arrested in Constance by two customs officers at around 8:45 p.m. on the evening of November 8, even before his bomb exploded, while attempting to enter Switzerland illegally. It was only when the news of the Munich bombing reached Constance that items in Elser’s pockets aroused suspicion. These included a picture postcard of the Bürgerbräukeller, a Red Front Fighters’ Alliance badge, notes on munitions production, and several parts of the detonator. The Gestapo took him to the state police headquarters in Munich, where he was interrogated and tortured.

The Gestapo seized all Georg Elser’s belongings from his sister’s home, including the tools he had used to prepare the pillar. Among them were several special chisels and a rotary drill.

„Illustrierter Beobachter”, 1939, Folge 48, S. 1706
Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer SS and Chief of the German Police, was kept regularly informed of the investigation’s progress (left to right: Franz Josef Huber, head of the perpetrator commission; Arthur Nebe, Chief of the Reich Criminal Police Office and head of the special commission in Munich; Heinrich Himmler; Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of the Reich Security Main Office and head of the “Munich Attack Central Commission;” Heinrich Müller, Chief of the Gestapo). Printed in the Illustrierter Beobachter on November 30, 1939, this photo was titled “A masterpiece of the Gestapo.”
Institut für Zeitgeschichte, München
Customs assistant Xaver Rieger’s report on the arrest of Georg Elser, Constance, December 15, 1939.

Institut für Zeitgeschichte, München
Customs assistant Xaver Rieger’s report on the arrest of Georg Elser, Constance, December 15, 1939.

Institut für Zeitgeschichte, München
Customs assistant Xaver Rieger’s report on the arrest of Georg Elser, Constance, December 15, 1939.

Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv Bern, E. 4320 (B) 1970/25
Munich State Police Headquarters fingerprint sheet for Georg Elser, Munich, November 15, 1939.
Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv Bern, E. 4320 (B) 1970/25
Munich State Police Headquarters fingerprint sheet for Georg Elser, Munich, November 15, 1939.
[Translate to Englisch:] „Illustrierter Beobachter”, 30. November 1939, Folge 48, S. 1706
The Gestapo seized all Georg Elser’s belongings from his sister’s home, including the tools he had used to prepare the pillar. Among them were several special chisels and a rotary drill.