Otto Ernst Remer (18 August 1912 – 4 October 1997) was a German Wehrmacht officer in World War II who played a major role in stopping the 20 July plot in 1944 against Adolf Hitler. In his later years he became a politician and far right activist. He co-founded the Socialist Reich Party in West Germany in the 1950s and is considered an influential figure in post-war neo-fascist politics in Germany. Early life Otto Ernest Remer was born at Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, in the German Empire on 18 August 1912. He attended a military academy and was commissioned as an officer in the German Army 1932 at the age of 20, a few months before Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, initiating a series of laws in the Weimar Republic which made him the sole leader in the country. Military career Remer took part in the Invasion of Poland in 1939, the Balkans Campaign, and Operation Barbarossa. In April 1942, he was posted to Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland. In February 1943, he commanded a battalion in the Großdeutschland Division (GD), after Infantry Regiment GD was reformed into a division. His troops covered the withdrawal of a Waffen-SS tank corps during the Third Battle of Kharkov. He was awarded the Knight's Cross for his service as battalion commander and, in November 1943, he was awarded the Oak leaves to the Knight's Cross, which was presented personally by Adolf Hitler. 20 July 1944 Plot In March 1944, Remer was appointed as the commanding officer of Wachbataillon Großdeutschland. On 20 July 1944 Wehrmacht officers staged a coup d'etat and attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler by means of a bomb-attack at the "Wolf's Lair" in East Prussia. Remer, who was in Berlin at the time, first heard news of it from members of the Nazi Party, and waited for official word of Hitler's fate. In the evening of 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg, the officer who had carried out the attack upon Hitler arrived back in Berlin, and, believing that he had succeeded in killing him, issued orders to Remer to arrest several senior Nazi Government officials, claiming that they were part of a coup. Upon being ordered by General Paul von Hase to arrest Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, Remer went to Goebbels' office to do so. However, on arrival Remer was met by Goebbels' protestations that Hitler was still alive, and