Following his acquittal , Fritsch attempted to challenge SS leader Heinrich Himmler to a duel . Fritsch composed a formal challenge and reportedly practiced his pistol skills in his free time , of which he had plenty as an officer without a command . The letter was given to General Gerd von Rundstedt for delivery , but Rundstedt , seeking to bridge the distrust between the Wehrmacht and SS , ultimately convinced Fritsch to abandon the idea . ( It is unlikely the encounter could have come about regardless , as Hitler had forbidden highly placed party members , such as Himmler , from dueling . ) Despite the false charges , Fritsch remained loyal to the Nazi regime , and maintained his firmly held belief Germany was faced with an international Jewish conspiracy out to ruin the '' Reich '' . After the '' Kristallnacht '' pogrom of November 1938 , Fritsch wrote in a letter to a friend on 22 November 1938 that " Of course the battle with international Jewry has now officially begun , and as a natural consequence that will lead to war with England and the United States , the political bastions of the Jews " . In another letter to his friend , the Baroness von Schutzbar , on 11 December 1938 Fritsch wrote : " It is very strange that so many people should regard the future with growing apprehension , in spite of the '' Führer '' 's indisputable successes in the past ... Soon after the War , I came to the conclusion that we have to be victorious in three battles , if Germany were again to be powerful : . ( 1 ) The battle against the working class . Hitler has won this ; ( 2 ) Against the Catholic Church , perhaps better expressed as Ultramontanism and ( 3 ) Against the Jews.We are in the midst of these battles , and the one against the Jews is the most difficult . I hope everyone realizes the intricacies of this campaign . " Fritsch told Ulrich von Hassell — when the latter tried to involve him in an anti-Nazi plot — that Hitler was Germany 's destiny , and nothing could be done to change that fact
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Werner von Fritsch