Rommel was involved in a conspiracy against Hitler called the July 20th plot. When the plot failed and it came to light Rommel had supported the conspirators (though he was not for Hitler being assassinated, he wanted Hitler to be brought to trial) Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf and Ernst Maisel came to Rommel's house to tell him the ultimatum Hitler had decided : kill yourself and we will make sure your family is taken care of and you will be given a state funeral, or go before the Volksgerichtshof, a mock court that had predetermined guilty sentences, after which you will be executed (his family almost certainly persecuted) and die in disgrace. Rommel chose the former and took a cyanide pill on October 14, 1944.