How did Adolf Hitler respond when Erwin Rommel’s contacts with the July Plot conspirators became known?

When Erwin Rommel’s contacts with the July Plot conspirators were discovered, Adolf Hitler sought to avoid the public scandal of putting a popular national hero on trial as an enemy of the state.

Instead of having Rommel arrested and sent to the gallows, Hitler dispatched two generals to offer him a choice: he could either face a trial before the People’s Court or take poison. Hitler provided the assurance that if Rommel chose the latter, his reputation and that of his family would remain unsullied. Rommel chose to take his own life on October 14, 1944, and was subsequently buried with full military honors.1