Claus von Stauffenberg

Claus von Stauffenberg
Stauffenberg in June 1944
Birth name	Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
Born	(1907-11-15)15 November 1907 Jettingen,Bavaria,German Empire
Died	21 July 1944(1944-07-21)(aged 36) Berlin,Gau Berlin,Nazi Germany
Cause of death	Execution by firing squad
Allegiance	Weimar Republic Nazi Germany German resistance(1943–1944)
Branch	Reichsheer German Army
Years	1926–1944
Rank	Oberstim Generalstab
Battles	World War II Invasion of Poland Battle of France Operation Barbarossa Tunisian campaign
Spouse(s)	Magdalena Freiin von Lerchenfeld ​ ​ (m.1933)​
Children	5, includingBerthold,Franz-LudwigandKonstanze
Relations	Alexander Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg(brother) Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg(brother)

Claus von Stauffenberg(German:[ˈklaʊ̯sˈfɔnˈʃtaʊ̯fn̩bɛʁk];15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a Germanarmyofficer who is best known for hisfailed attempt on 20 July 1944toassassinateAdolf Hitlerat theWolf's Lair.

Alongside Major GeneralsHenning von TresckowandHans Oster,Stauffenberg was a central figure in theconspiracy against Hitlerwithin theWehrmacht.Shortly following the failedOperation Valkyrieplot, he was executed by firing squad.

As a military officer from a noble background, Stauffenberg took part in theInvasion of Poland,the1941–42 invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossaand theTunisian campaignduring theSecond World War.

Family history

See also:Stauffenberg

Stauffenberg was born in Stauffenberg Castle,Jettingenon 15 November 1907 and baptised as Claus Philipp Maria Justinian.Born into the ancientHouse of Stauffenberg,he was the third of four sons of Count Alfred Schenk von Stauffenberg (1860–1936), the lastOberhofmarschallof theKingdom of Württembergand his wife, Countess Caroline vonÜxküll-Gyllenband(1875–1956), the daughter of Count Alfred Richard August von Üxküll-Gyllenband (1838–1877) and Countess Valerie vonHohenthal(1841–1878).

From birth, Stauffenberg inherited the hereditary titles ofGrafandSchenk,leaving him referred to by his first name and Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg until the 1919 Weimar Constitutional Law abolished privileges of nobility.His maternal ancestors included Field MarshalAugust von Gneisenau.

Early life

In his youth, Stauffenberg grew up in Bavaria, where he and his brothers were members of theNeupfadfinder,aGerman Scout associationand part of theGerman Youth movement.Though he and his brothers were carefully educated, and Stauffenberg was inclined towards literature, he eventually took up a military career, fitting with his family's traditional expectations. In 1926, he joined the family's traditional regiment, the Reiterregiment 17 (17th Cavalry Regiment) inBamberg.

Around the beginning of his time in Bamberg,Albrecht von Blumenthalintroduced the three brothers to the poetStefan George's influential circle,Georgekreis,from which many notable members of the German resistance later emerged. George dedicatedDas neue Reich( "the new Empire" ) in 1928, including theGeheimes Deutschland( "secret Germany" ) written in 1922, to Berthold.

By 1930, Stauffenberg had been commissioned as aleutnant(second lieutenant), studying modern weapons at theKriegsakademiein Berlin, but remaining focused on the use of horses – which continued to carry out a large part of transportation duties throughoutWorld War II—in modern warfare. His regiment became part of theGerman 1st Light Divisionunder GeneralErich Hoepner,another later member of the covertGerman Resistance,and the unit was among the Wehrmacht troops that moved intoSudetenlandfollowing its annexation to the Reich as per the Munich Agreement.

Early views on Nazism

Though Stauffenberg had supported the German colonization of Poland and had made extremist remarks regarding Polish Jews, he refrained from joining the Nazi Party.However, during the1932 German presidential election,he voiced tentative support for Hitler:

The idea of the Führer principle [...] bound together with aVolksgemeinschaft,the principle "The community good before the individual good," and the fight against corruption, the fight against the spirit of the large urban cities, the racial thought (Rassengedanke), and the will towards a new German-formed legal order appears to us healthy and auspicious.

Stauffenberg's views of Hitler were conflicted during this period. He vacillated between a strong dislike of Hitler's policies and a respect for what he perceived to be Hitler's military acumen, before becoming more disassociated with the party afterThe Night of the Long KnivesandKristallnachtwhich he saw as proof Hitler had no intentions to pursue justice.As a practicing Catholic, it was noted that the growing systematic ill-treatment ofJewsand suppression of religion had offended Stauffenberg's strong sense of Catholic morality and justice.

Even though Stauffenberg joined the covert resistance movement within theWehrmacht,like many members of theNazi Party,he displayed a tentative opposition to parliamentary democracy.

Second World War

Activities in 1939–40

Following the outbreak of war in 1939, Stauffenberg and his regiment took part in theInvasion of Poland.During this time, he was a strong supporter of Poland's occupation, and the Nazi Party's colonisation, exploitation and use of Pole slave workers to bring about German prosperity.Stauffenberg himself noted, "It is essential that we begin a systemic colonisation in Poland. But I have no fear that this will not occur".After the Invasion, Stauffenberg's unit was reorganised into the6th Panzer Division,and he served as an officer on itsGeneral Staffin theBattle of France,for which he was awarded theIron CrossFirst Class.

While his uncle,Nikolaus Graf von Üxküll-Gyllenband,together withFritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg,had approached Stauffenberg to join the resistance movement against the Hitler regime, it was only after the Polish campaign that Stauffenberg began to consider the offer.Peter Yorck von WartenburgandUlrich Schwerin von Schwanenfeldhad urged him to become the adjutant ofWalther von Brauchitsch,then Supreme Commander of the Army, to facilitate a coup against Hitler. Though, Stauffenberg declined at the time, reasoning that all German soldiers had pledged allegiance not to the institution of the presidency of the GermanReich,but to the person ofAdolf Hitler,due to theFührereidintroduced in 1934.

Operation Barbarossa, 1941–42

During the quieter months of 1940 to 1941, Stauffenberg was transferred to the organisational department of theOberkommando des Heeres( "Army High Command"; OKH), which was directing the German invasion of theSoviet Unionand operations on the Eastern Front. Though Stauffenberg did not engage in any coup plotting at this time, his brothers Berthold and Alexander maintained contact with anti-regime figures such as theKreisau Circleand former commanders such as Hoepner.

Hoffman, in citing Brigadier Oskar Alfred-Berger's letters, noted Stauffenberg had commented openly on the ill-treatment of the Jews when he "expressed outrage and shock on this subject to fellow officers in the General Staff Headquarters inVinnitsa, Ukraineduring the summer of 1942. "When Stauffenberg's friend, Major Joachim Kuhn, was captured by theRed Army,during interrogation on 2 September 1944, Kuhn claimed that Stauffenberg had told him in August 1942 that "They are shooting Jews in masses. These crimes must not be allowed to continue."

Tunisia, 1943

In November 1942, theAllieslanded in French North Africa,and the10th Panzer DivisionoccupiedVichy France(Case Anton) before being transferred to fight in theTunisian campaign,as part of theAfrika Korps.In 1943, Stauffenberg was promoted toOberstleutnanti.G.(lieutenant-colonel of the general staff), and was sent to Africa to join the 10th Panzer Division as its Operations Officer in the General Staff (Ia). On 19 February,Rommellaunched his counter-offensive against British, American and French forces in Tunisia. The Axis commanders hoped to rapidly break through either the Sbiba or Kasserine Pass into the rear of the BritishFirst Army.The assault at Sbiba was halted, so Rommelconcentrated on the Kasserine Passwhere primarily the Italian7th Bersaglieri Regimentand131st Armoured Division Centaurohad defeated the American defenders.During the fighting, Stauffenberg drove up to be with the leading tanks and troops of the 10th Panzer Division.The division, together with the 21st Panzer Division, took up defensive positions nearMezzounaon 8 April.

On 7 April 1943, Stauffenberg was involved in driving from one unit to another, directing their movement.Near Mezzouna, his vehicle was part of a columnstrafedbyP-40 Kittyhawkfighter bombers of theDesert Air Force– most likely fromNo. 3 Squadron RAAF– and he received multiple severe wounds. Stauffenberg spent three months in a hospital in Munich, where he was treated byFerdinand Sauerbruch.Stauffenberg lost his left eye, his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand.He jokingly remarked to friends never to have really known what to do with so many fingers when he still had all of them. For his injuries, Stauffenberg was awarded theWound Badgein Gold on 14 April and for his courage theGerman Crossin Gold on 8 May.

In the resistance, 1943–44

For rehabilitation, Stauffenberg was sent to his home, SchlossLautlingen(today a museum), then still one of the Stauffenberg castles in southern Germany. The Torfels nearMeßstettenBueloch had been visited many times.Initially, he felt frustrated not to be in a position to stage a coup himself. But by the beginning of September 1943, after a somewhat slow recovery from his wounds, he was propositioned by the conspirators and was introduced toHenning von Tresckowas a staff officer to the headquarters of theErsatzheer( "Replacement Army" – charged with training soldiers to reinforce first line divisions at the front), located on theBendlerstrasse(laterStauffenbergstrasse) inBerlin.

There, one of Stauffenberg's superiors wasGeneralFriedrich Olbricht,a committed member of the resistance movement. TheErsatzheerhad a unique opportunity to launch a coup, as one of its functions was to haveOperation Valkyriein place. This was a contingency measure to let it assume control of theReichin the event that internal disturbances blocked communications to the military high command. TheValkyrieplan had been agreed to by Hitler but was secretly changed to sweep the rest of his regime from power in the event of his death. In 1943, Henning von Tresckow was deployed on the Eastern Front, giving Stauffenberg control of the resistance. (Tresckow never returned to Germany, as he committed suicide atKrólowy Most,Poland, in 1944, after learning of the plot's failure.)

A detailed military plan was developed not only to occupy Berlin, but also to take the different headquarters of the German army and of Hitler inEast Prussiaby military force after the suicide assassination attempt byAxel von dem Busschein late November 1943. Stauffenberg had von dem Bussche transmit these written orders personally to Major Kuhn once he had arrived atWolfsschanze(Wolf's Lair) nearRastenburg,East Prussia. However, von dem Bussche had left the Wolfsschanze for the eastern front, after the meeting with Hitler was cancelled, and the attempt could not be made.

Kuhn became aprisoner of warof the Soviets after the 20 July plot. He led the Soviets to the hiding place of the documents in February 1945. In 1989, Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachevpresented these documents to German chancellor Dr.Helmut Kohl.The conspirators' motivations have been a matter of discussion for years in Germany since the war. Many thought the plotters wanted to kill Hitler in order to end the war and to avoid the loss of their privileges as professional officers and members of the nobility.

OnD-Day,6 June 1944, the Allies had landed in France. Stauffenberg, like most other German professional military officers, had absolutely no doubt that the war was lost. Only an immediate armistice could avoid more unnecessary bloodshed and further damage to Germany, its people, and other European nations. However, in late 1943, he had written out demands with which he felt the Allies had to comply in order for Germany to agree to an immediate peace. These demands included Germany retaining its 1914 eastern borders, including the Polish territories ofWielkopolskaandPoznań.

Other demands included keeping such territorial gains asAustriaand the Sudetenland within the Reich, giving autonomy toAlsace-Lorraineand even expansion of the current wartime borders of Germany in the south by annexing Tyrol as far asBozenandMeran.Non-territorial demands included such points as refusal of any occupation of Germany by the Allies, as well as refusal to hand over war criminals by demanding the right of "nations to deal with its own criminals." These proposals were directed to only the Western Allies – Stauffenberg wanted Germany to retreat from only the western, southern, and northern positions, while demanding the right to continue military occupation of German territorial gains in the east.

20 July plot

Main article:20 July plot

Stauffenberg, left, with Hitler (centre) andWilhelm Keitel,right, in anaborted assassination attemptatRastenburgon 15 July 1944

As early as September 1942, Stauffenberg was consideringHans Georg Schmidt von Altenstadt,author ofUnser Weg zum Meer,as a replacement for Hitler. From the beginning of September 1943 until 20 July 1944, Stauffenberg was the driving force behind the plot to assassinate Hitler and take control of Germany. His resolve, organizational abilities, and radical approach put an end to inactivity caused by doubts and long discussions on whether military virtues had been made obsolete by Hitler's behaviour. With the help of his friend Henning von Tresckow, he united the conspirators and drove them into action.

Stauffenberg was aware that, under German law, he was committinghigh treason.He openly told young conspirator Axel von dem Bussche in late 1943,"Ich betreibe mit allen mir zur Verfügung stehenden Mitteln den Hochverrat..."( "I am committing high treason with all means at my disposal..." ).He justified himself to Bussche by referring to the right under natural law (Naturrecht) to defend millions of people's lives from the criminal aggressions of Hitler.

Only after the conspirator GeneralHellmuth Stieffon 7 July 1944 had declared himself unable to assassinate Hitler on a uniforms display at Klessheim castle near Salzburg, did Stauffenberg decide to personally kill Hitler and to run the plot in Berlin. By then, Stauffenberg had great doubts about the possibility of success. Tresckow convinced him to go on with it even if it had no chance of success at all, "The assassination must be attempted. Even if it fails, we must take action in Berlin", as this was the only way to prove to the world that the Hitler regime and Germany were not one and the same and that not all Germans supported the regime.

Stauffenberg's part in the original plan required him to stay at the Bendlerstraße offices in Berlin, so he could phone regular army units all over Europe in an attempt to convince them to arrest leaders of Nazi political organisations such as theSicherheitsdienst(SD) and theGestapo.When General Hellmuth Stieff, Chief of Operation atArmy High Command,who had regular access to Hitler, backtracked from his earlier commitment to assassinate Hitler, Stauffenberg was forced to take on two critical roles: kill Hitler far from Berlinandtrigger the military machine in Berlin during office hours of the very same day. Beside Stieff, he was the only conspirator who had regular access to Hitler (during his briefings) by mid-1944, as well as being the only officer among the conspirators thought to have the resolve and persuasiveness to convince German military leaders to throw in with the coup once Hitler was dead. This requirement, alone, greatly increased the chance of a successful coup.

Assassination attempt

After several unsuccessful attempts by Stauffenberg to encounter Hitler,Göring,andHimmlerat the same time, he went ahead with the attempt at theWolfsschanzeon 20 July 1944. Stauffenberg entered the briefing room carrying a briefcase containing two small bombs. The location had unexpectedly been changed from theFührerbunkertoAlbert Speer's wooden hut due to the heat on this summer's day. He left the room to arm the first bomb with specially adapted pliers. This was a difficult task for him as he had lost his right hand and had only three fingers on his left hand. A guard knocked and opened the door, urging him to hurry as the meeting was about to begin. As a result, Stauffenberg was able to arm only one of the bombs. He left the second bomb with hisaide-de-camp,Werner von Haeften,and returned to the briefing room, where he placed the briefcase under the conference table, as close as he could to Hitler. Some minutes later, he received a planned phone call. He then excused himself and left the room. After his exit, the briefcase was moved by ColonelHeinz Brandt.

When the explosion tore through the hut, Stauffenberg was convinced that no one in the room could have survived. Although four people were killed and almost all survivors were injured, Hitler himself was shielded from the blast by the heavy, solid-oak conference table leg, which Colonel Brandt had placed the briefcase bomb behind, and was only slightly wounded.

Stauffenberg and Haeften quickly left and drove to the nearby airfield. After his return to Berlin, Stauffenberg immediately began to motivate his friends to initiate the second phase: the military coup against the Nazi leaders.Joseph Goebbelsannounced by radio that Hitler had survived and later, after Hitler spoke on the state radio, the conspirators realised that the coup had failed. They were tracked to theirBendlerstrasseoffices and overpowered after a brief shoot-out, during which Stauffenberg was wounded in the shoulder.

Execution

In an ultimately failed attempt to save his own life, co-conspirator GeneralFriedrich Fromm,Commander-in-Chief of the Replacement Army present in theBendlerblock(Headquarters of the Army), charged other conspirators in an impromptucourt martialand condemned the ringleaders of the conspiracy to death. Stauffenberg, his aide 1st Lieutenant Werner von Haeften, General Friedrich Olbricht and ColonelAlbrecht Mertz von Quirnheimwere executed before 1:00 in the morning (21 July 1944) by a makeshiftfiring squadin the courtyard of the Bendlerblock, which was lit by the headlights of a truck.

Plaque in the Bendlerblock "Here died for Germany on 20 July 1944...Colonel Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg..."

Death certificate (issued in 1951)

Remembrance stone inAlter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhofcemetery. "Here the corpses were buried and then moved to an unknown place"

Stauffenberg was third in line to be executed, with Lieutenant von Haeften after. However, when it was Stauffenberg's turn, Lieutenant von Haeften placed himself between the firing squad and Stauffenberg, and received the bullets meant for Stauffenberg. When his turn came, Stauffenberg spoke his last words,"Es lebe das heilige Deutschland!"( "Long live sacred Germany!" ),or, possibly,"Es lebe das geheime Deutschland!"( "Long live secret Germany!" ), in reference to Stefan George and the anti-Nazi circle.

Fromm ordered that the executed officers (his former co-conspirators) receive an immediate burial with military honours in theAlter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhofin Berlin's Schöneberg district. The next day, however, Stauffenberg's body was exhumed by the SS, stripped of his medals and insignia, and cremated.

Another central figure in the plot was Stauffenberg's eldest brother,Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg.On 10 August 1944, Berthold was tried before Judge-PresidentRoland Freislerin the special"People's Court"(Volksgerichtshof). This court was established by Hitler for political offences. Berthold was one of eight conspirators executed by slow strangulation atPlötzensee Prison,Berlin, later that day. Before he was killed, Berthold was throttled and then revived multiple times.The entire execution and multiple resuscitations were filmed for Hitler to view at his leisure.

More than 200 were condemned inshow trialsand executed. Hitler used the 20 July Plot as an excuse to eliminate anyone he feared would oppose him. The traditional military salute was replaced with theNazi salute.Eventually, over 20,000 Germans were killed or sent to concentration camps in the purge.

Assessment

One of the few surviving members of the German resistance,Hans Bernd Gisevius,portrayed Colonel Stauffenberg, whom he had met in July 1944, as a man driven by reasons which had little to do with Christian ideals or repugnance of Nazi ideology. In his autobiographicalBis zum bitteren Ende( "To the Bitter End" ), Gisevius wrote:

Stauffenberg wanted to retain all the totalitarian, militaristic and socialistic elements of National Socialism (p. 504). What he had in mind was the salvation of Germany by military men who could break with corruption and maladministration, provide an orderly military government and inspire the people to make one last great effort. Reduced to a formula, he wanted the nation to remain soldierly and become socialistic (p. 503).

Stauffenberg was motivated by the impulsive passions of the disillusioned military man whose eyes had been opened by the defeat of German arms (p. 510). Stauffenberg had shifted to the rebel side only after Stalingrad (p. 512).

The difference between Stauffenberg,Helldorfand Schulenburg – all of themcounts– was that Helldorf had come to the Nazi Movement as a primitive, I might almost say an unpolitical revolutionary. The other two had been attracted primarily by a political ideology. Therefore, it was possible for Helldorf to throw everything overboard at once: Hitler, the Party, the entire system. Stauffenberg, Schulenberg and their clique wanted to drop no more ballast than was absolutely necessary; then they would paint the ship of state amilitary grayand set it afloat again (p. 513–514).

Historian Peter Hoffman questions Gisevius's evaluations based on the latter's brief acquaintance with Stauffenberg, misreporting of Stauffenberg's actions, and apparent rivalry with him:

Gisevius met Stauffenberg for the first time in Berlin on July 12, 1944, eight days before the colonel's last assassination attempt against Hitler.... In view of Gisevius's own record as a transmitter of historical information for which he had displayed strong personal feelings, and in light of what is known about both Gisevius's alleged sources and Stauffenberg himself, Gisevius's account is at best questionable hearsay. Gisevius disliked Stauffenberg. He sensed that this dynamic leader would be an obstacle to his own far-reaching ambitions and intrigues. In his book he mocked Stauffenberg as a presumptuous and ignorant amateur.... Stauffenberg must have been informed of Gisevius's background and it cannot have inspired his confidence. Gisevius was understandably upset by Stauffenberg's attitude toward him.... Stauffenberg seemed to regard him merely as an incidental source of background information.

British historianRichard J. Evans,in his books on the Third Reich,covered various aspects of Stauffenberg's beliefs and philosophy. He wrote an article originally published inSüddeutsche Zeitung,23 January 2009.entitled "Why did Stauffenberg plant the bomb?" which states, "Was it because Hitler was losing the war? Was it to put an end to the mass murder of the Jews? Or was it to save Germany's honour? The overwhelming support, toleration, or silent acquiescence" from the people of his country for Hitler, which was also being heavily censored and constantly fed propaganda,meant any action must be swift and successful. Evans writes, "Had Stauffenberg's bomb succeeded in killing Hitler, it is unlikely that the military coup planned to follow it would have moved the leading conspirators smoothly into power".

However,Karl Heinz Bohrer,a cultural critic, literary scholar, and publisher,criticized Evans' views in an article originally published in theSüddeutsche Zeitung,30 January 2010.Although agreeing that Evans is historically correct in much of his writing, Bohrer feels that Evans twists time lines and misrepresents certain aspects. He wrote of Evans, "In the course of his problematic argument he walks into two traps: 1. by contesting Stauffenberg's" moral motivation "; 2. by contesting Stauffenberg's suitability as role model." He further writes, "If then, as Evans notes with initial objectivity, Stauffenberg had a strong moral imperative – whether this stemmed from an aristocratic code of honour, Catholic doctrine or Romantic poetry – then this also underpinned his initial affinity for National Socialism which Stauffenberg misinterpreted as 'spiritual renewal'".

In 1980, the German government established a memorial for the failed anti-Nazi resistance movement in a part of the Bendlerblock, the remainder of which currently houses the Berlin offices of the German Ministry of Defense (whose main offices remain in Bonn). TheBendlerstrassewas renamed theStauffenbergstrasse,and the Bendlerblock now houses theMemorial to the German Resistance,a permanent exhibition with more than 5,000 photographs and documents showing the various resistance organisations at work during the Hitler era. The courtyard where the officers were shot on 21 July 1944 is now a memorial site, with a plaque commemorating the events and a bronze figure of a young man with his hands symbolically bound which resembles Count von Stauffenberg.

Family

The grave of Countess Nina Schenk Stauffenberg and memorial to her husband, Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg atKirchlauter

Stauffenberg marriedElisabeth MagdalenaNinaFreiin von Lerchenfeldon 26 September 1933 in Bamberg.Born into an oldBavariannobility,House of Lerchenfeld,she was third cousin ofPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,consort ofElizabeth II.They had five children:Berthold,Heimeran,Franz-Ludwig,Valerie, andKonstanze,who was born inFrankfurt on the Oderseven months after Stauffenberg's execution. Stauffenberg lived with his family in Berlin-Wannsee.Berthold, Heimeran, Franz-Ludwig, Valerie and Kostanze, who were not told of their father's deed,were placed in afoster homefor the remainder of the war and were forced to use new surnames, asStauffenbergwas consideredtaboo.

Nina died at the age of 92 on 2 April 2006 atKirchlauternear Bamberg and was buried there on 8 April. Berthold went on to become a general inWest Germany's post-warBundeswehr.Franz-Ludwig became a member of both the German and European parliaments, representing theChristian Social Union in Bavaria.In 2008, her youngest daughter, Konstanze Alexandra Ruth Maria von Schulthess-Rechberg (b. 1945) wrote a best-selling book about her mother,Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg.

He let things come to him, and then he made up his mind... one of his characteristics was that he really enjoyed playing the devil's advocate. Conservatives were convinced that he was a ferocious Nazi, and ferocious Nazis were convinced he was an unreconstructed conservative. He was neither.

Legacy

After the war, a United States intelligence officer,Ernie Blake,who was involved in interrogation of Nazi officers, went on to establish a ski area inTaos, New Mexico.He named a ski run on the West Basin Ridge "Stauffenberg", after von Stauffenberg (as well as three other runs after the names of other German officers who took part in the assassination attempt: Oster, von Tresckow, and Fabian).

In media

Dramas with portrayals of Stauffenberg includeThe Night of the Generals(1967;Gérard Buhr), the Russian film seriesLiberation(Освобождение)released in 1970 and 1971, directed byYuri Ozerovand with East German actors,Alfred Struweplayed Stauffenberg, the third film, Part 2 (Direction of the Main Blow), depicts the plot;War and Remembrance(1988,Sky du Mont),The Plot to Kill Hitler(1990,Brad Davis),Stauffenberg(2004,Sebastian Koch),andValkyrie(2008,Tom Cruise).

See also

• Assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler
• Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg

Bibliography

• Baigent, M.;Leigh, R. (1994).Secret Germany: Claus von Stauffenberg and the Mystical Crusade Against Hitler.London:Jonathan Cape.ISBN9780224035255.
• Burleigh, M.(2012).The Third Reich: A New History.London:Pan Macmillan.ISBN9780330475501.
• Fest, J.(1997).Plotting Hitler's Death: The Story of German Resistance.New York:Henry Holt and Company.ISBN9780805056488.
• Gill, Anton(1994).An Honourable Defeat: A History of German Resistance to Hitler, 1933-1945.Henry Holt & Co.ISBN978-0805035148.
• Hoffmann, P.(2013) [1992]. "The Second World War, German Society, and Internal Resistance to Hitler". In Large, D.C. (ed.).Contending with Hitler.Contending with Hitler: Varieties of German Resistance in the Third Reich.Cambridge University Press.pp. 119–128.doi:10.1017/CBO9781139052597.009.ISBN9781139052597.
• Hoffmann, P. (1998).Stauffenberg und der 20. Juli 1944(in German). Munich:C.H. Beck.ISBN9783406433023.
• Hoffmann, P. (2003).Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905–1944.Montreal:McGill-Queen's Press.ISBN9780773525955.
• Jones, N.H.(2008).Countdown to Valkyrie: The July Plot to Assassinate Hitler.Philadelphia:Casemate.ISBN9781848325081.
• Mitcham, S.W.(2006).The Panzer Legions: A Guide to the German Army Tank Divisions of World War II.Mechanicsburg:Stackpole.ISBN9780811733533.
• Moorhouse, R.(2006).Killing Hitler: The Third Reich and the Plots Against the Führer.London:Jonathan Cape.ISBN9780224071215.
• Müller, C. (2003) [1970].Stauffenberg: eine Biographie(in German). Düsseldorf: Droste.ISBN9783770040643.
• Tyson, Joseph Howard (September 2010).The Surreal Reich.iUniverse.ISBN978-1450240192.
• Venohr, Wolfgang (2019).Stauffenberg. Symbol of Resistance: The Man Who Almost Killed Hitler.Frontline Books.ISBN978-1473856837.
• Wheeler-Bennett, J.;Overly, R. (2005).The Nemesis of Power: The German Army in Politics 1918–1945.London:Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN9781403918123.

External links

• Timeline of Stauffenberg's life
• Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg (1934)FromGerman History in Documents and Imagesa project of theGerman Historical Institute
• "Emerging from the Nazi shadow?".BBC News.19 July 2004.Retrieved10 August2008.– BBC report of 60th anniversary of the 20 July plot; by Clare Murphy, BBC News Online
• "Photos of the 20th July 1944 Memorial in Berlin"– Part of the photo collection of Ian J. Sanders
• Photos from the German Stern magazineto the 20 July plot
• "Stauffenberg and the Assassination Attempt of July 20, 1944"– Featured topic at theMemorial to the German Resistance's website
• An "Insight" episode which mentions Claus von Stauffenberg,who was portrayed byDan O'Herlihy
• Operation Valkyrie (History channel documentary)
• Three newly discovered photos of Claus von Stauffenberg including a clear image of his wounded left hand and missing fingers.