At the beginning of the Second World War, Gehre was a captain in the German Army intelligence service, the
Abwehr. He was an active member of a group, formed originally in the Abwehr, that had formed to remove the
Nazi regime and end the war. This circle included Admiral
Wilhelm Canaris, General
Ludwig Beck,
Hans von Dohnanyi,
Hans Oster and
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as Gehre. By March 1943, Gehre was privy to the preparations under
Henning von Tresckow to assassinate
Hitler. In January 1944,
Helmuth James Graf von Moltke was arrested, and in March 1944 Gehre was also taken by the
Gestapo. Gehre, however, was soon able to flee and disappeared. After the failed
20 July 1944 assassination attempt to kill Hitler, the search for Gehre intensified. Gehre, together with his wife, kept himself hidden for several more weeks. Further shelter was procured by the brothers
Hans and
Otto John. When Gehre realised that he was about to be discovered by the Gestapo on 2 November, he shot his wife and then directed the gun toward himself. Although he was badly hurt, he survived. On 3 February 1945, the building of the Central Reich Security Office on Prinz-Albrecht-Straße, Berlin was destroyed. Gehre, along with Bonhoeffer, was sent to the
Buchenwald concentration camp. From there, he was put onto a transport of
SS special detainees and on 5 April incarcerated in the
Flossenbürg concentration camp. On 9 April 1945, after an SS flying
court-martial, Gehre and Bonhoeffer along with Admiral
Wilhelm Canaris, General
Hans Oster, General
Karl Sack and Captain
Theodor Strünck were executed at
Flossenbürg by hanging. In 1946, the individuals who had participated in the flying court-martial were brought to justice for murder. However
Otto Thorbeck, the presiding officer, was exonerated after appeal. The decision was rescinded by the Berlin State Court in 1996. == References ==