Stauffenberg: The man who wanted to kill Hitler and save Germany

He deliberately placed the briefcase with the bomb. She had parked in front of one of the two huge wooden pedestals on which the oak table of the meeting table was resting. It was the pedestal beside which Adolf Hitler stood on July 20, 1944 during the briefing in the Wolfsschanze, the "Fiihrer Headquarters" in East Prussia. The badbadin was sure that the explosive power was strong enough. When Claus Schenk, Count of Stauffenberg, 37, staff officer, father of a family, heard a loud report at 12:42 from the barracks, he firmly believed that Germany was the only one for having released "leaders". With his adjutant and co-conspirator, Lieutenant Werner von Haeften, he returned to Berlin to effect the coup d'etat. He still had about eleven hours to live.

What had really happened in the Wolfsschanze, he had no idea. Four mortal men, others seriously wounded. And Hitler? Only minor injuries. About why the bomb did not shred it, there are different versions. After a Stauffenberg had extinguished the towel so that Hitler was virtually protected by the pedestal, after bothering one of the military present at the table approach, he placed it on the other side of the pedestal, opposite Hitler. 19659002] A question of centimeters then. A tiny fork that decided the successes and failures that determined the fate of man and his comrades who wanted to save their land, and millions of people who would perish in the nine months following the end of the war.

History a change

If Hitler were dead, probably not only Hitler's opponents would have celebrated Stauffenberg as heroes. So, as a failure, it was the revolving fad and the old Nazis, who made the post-war career again, for a long time as a traitor who had broken the oath of allegiance. Why, of all, did Stauffenberg, who a few years earlier, have been an ardent defender of the idea of ​​the "Great German Reich," decided to intervene in the history of the movement? The story of Claus Schenk Count von Stauffenberg, born in 1907, is also one of change. He and his twin brothers Berthold and Alexander, two years old, were influenced by the idyllic monarchy of a good old time: Father Alfred was marshal at the service of the King of Württemberg, his mother Caroline was a lady of honor. honor. Stuttgart Castle became a second home for boys, spending most of their time on their father's property at the foot of the Swabian Alb

The world was light years away from social struggles in Germany. Claus, a tender, intelligent and sick boy, grew up to become a precocious esthete. He loved his cello, wanted to become an architect and wrote: "Often, it's like I have to draw plans / Great immeasurable palaces / With white marble red stairs / And long corridors of fairy tales. At 16, he falls in love with the poet Stefan George. Forgotten today, the poet was a star in his day. The George Eleven celebrated the old German dream of imperial glory and allegiance. "I like to roar in the old heroes Say / And feel so bound to such noble / glorious blood", enthusiastic Claus, a teenager

After graduation, Stauffenberg has exchanged the cello against the rifle

Germany, torn country, politically immature, suffers from the "shame of Versailles", feels humiliated by the victors of the First World War. There was a strike and a fire outside, and George 's approach was sacred and aristocratic. Abitur pbaded Claus without glare and came across an astonishing career choice: he exchanged the cello for the rifle, was infected with the delirious nationalism of those years and dreamed of the ideal of a romantic officer. In a corporate evaluation, the 23-year-old lieutenant states: "Reliable and independent character with independent determination of will and judgment. With excellent tactical and technical capabilities in excellent capabilities. (…) Tend occasionally to comrades of arrogance Slightly mocking, but never hurtful. Quite casual in attitude and costume, his young officer appearance is likely to be a little cooler and more energetic. (…) Authorized that development progresses towards the best hopes. "The testimony dates back to 1933. It was a fateful year: Stauffenberg was promoted to first lieutenant.He married Nina von Lerchenfeld.His spiritual adoptive father Stefan George died.Hitler became chancellor of the Reich.

The scum the Nazis disgusted him, the new kingdom welcomed

His political ideas at that time seem hazy and contradictory.The scum of the Nazis repugnant to him, the new kingdom was welcome Hitler overturned all the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and At least on this point he appeared Stauffenberg as savior.

The young noble, 1.82 meters tall, steel blue eyes, skillfully became an officer of the staff, as a As a logistician, he took part in the Polish campaign and wrote letters to his countrywoman, violently impudent: "In the last headquarters, I saw some pretty Empire furniture in castles. p dilapidated fiddles – incredibly beautiful things that make me turn my eyes. He was less impressed by the locals: "The population is an incredible crowd, many Jews and many half-breeds, a people that feels good under the knout, and thousands of prisoners will be doing very well in agriculture."

Stauffenberg lived the countryside of France as if he was in a hurry. From the scene he wrote to Nina: "We are delicious, how could it be otherwise with such successes – coffee, eggs for breakfast, wonderful Bordeaux, Burgundy and Heidsieck, so the adage" life as the god in France "is true." He corrected his previous and condescending verdict on the "Führer": "The father of this man was not a petit-bourgeois, the father of this man is the war. "

Barbarian atrocities overburdened him

Initially, the campaign of extermination and of extermination against the Soviet Union did not cause any scruples to the career officer.His cousin Peter Yorck von Wartenburg had long recognized: "This leads absolutely to imperialist thinking, which must be countered quickly. "His co-conspirator later Helmut Stie ff said under the impression of mbad shootings and persecution of Jews in Poland: "I am ashamed to be a German." And Berthold von Stauffenberg also tried to win his younger brother for resistance. In vain. Frustrated, he says to friends: "I spoke to Claus, he said that we must first win the war, you can not do it during the war, especially not during a war against the Bolsheviks. Come home, we will clean up with the brown plague. "

Claus von Stauffenberg was promoted to the commander and moved to the General Staff of the Army. "I never opened Claus's door without him on the phone," recalls another officer. In front of him there were stacks of paper, his left hand on the receiver, his right hand armed with a pencil, turning the records, he spoke with a lively expression, laughing (we could never do that) or swearing , his tone and concentration were ironic as fresh in the morning as in the morning, his nerves and his health, that he certainly did not spare (he smoked what he had, drank as much as he did). he had time, he rode almost every morning, he slept little), were enviable. "

But then the strong nerves swayed, barbaric atrocities in the occupied eastern territories overloaded him more and more.And Hitler now revealed his folly in ridiculous strategic decisions that pushed the 39, officer in the frenzy In the middle of the year 1942, he was unleashed: "Is there no officer at the Führer's headquarters who puts the pig with the pistol? Military resistance by Major General Hans Oster and General Friedrich Olbricht declared in Berlin: "He has now seized and participated."

A victim at the center of the resistance

It is only belatedly that Stauffenberg "Understood" he vehemently opposed the regime Offensively, he campaigned for support and confronted commanders with the horror behind the front line: "We must act because – and this Is the most serious thing – crimes were comm is on your back that tarnish the shield of honor of the German people. He was listened to. But to oppose the leader? Break the oath of the soldier?

Stauffenberg mocked the "general-rank carpeting" and swore, "The guys have their pants full or straw in their heads, they do not want to!" Frustrated, he is allowed to be transferred to the front. He took the lead of the 10th Panzer Division in North Africa. During an air raid on April 7, 1943, he lost the left eye, the right hand, two fingers of the left, shattering wounds. For weeks, he fought death. Meanwhile, the decision must have matured in him. Always at the bedside, he said to his wife, "You know, I have the feeling that I have to do something now to save the Reich. We are all responsible as general staff. "

The conspirators led Stauffenberg to the center of the resistance. There, in Berlin, Henning von Tresckow, one of the brightest minds, had written the scenario of the coup d'etat. But Tresckow was transferred to the front. Stauffenberg took his place. As obsessed he worked: official business until late in the evening, the conspiracy after work. It agitates, revises subversion plans and, over time, gets closer to civilian resistance. Although he made fun of "conspiratorial crowns, in which one relieves the heart during bad times," but with Julius Leber, a social democrat, he made friends. Stauffenberg was certainly not a Democrat, he despised the "lie of equality" and did not mourn the Weimar Republic. He wanted to end the war, save from Germany what could still be saved and prevent the advance of the Red Army on the territory of the Reich in all circumstances. The co-conspirators insisted that another should lead the attack against Hitler; The organizational talent of Stauffenberg was necessary in the coup d'etat. So he searched for and instructed killers. One was swaying, the other was escaping Hitler by a hair, the third was not getting close enough to him, a fourth was giving courage. The danger of the conspiracy flying away increases every hour.

He was convinced that he had killed Hitler

Finally, Stauffenberg himself decided to proceed to badbadination. On July 11, 1944, he spoke at the Führer headquarters, but he did not detonate the bomb. The Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler and the appointed successor of Hitler Hermann Goering were not present; the plan was to eliminate both. Himmler was no longer in the room on July 15th. On July 20, Stauffenberg did not care. This time, it must have happened, one way or the other. Henning von Tresckow had encouraged it: it no longer depends on the practical purpose, "but on the fact that the German resistance movement before the world and before the story by the use of life dared the crucial throw ". Stauffenberg had dared.

When he returned to Berlin on July 20, 1944, after the attempted badbadination of Wolfsschanze, he was convinced that he had killed Hitler. From Bendlerblock to Landwehrkbad, headquarters of the main command posts of the Wehrmacht, he directed the planned coup d'état to a group of men who wanted to snatch out Germany like the Nazis, many of whom were military . In telex letters addressed to the regional Wehrkreise, the conspirators claimed to make a coup d'etat. With this list, they wanted to use the replacement army for their purposes. The state of emergency was imposed, they reported, SS and Gestapo should be extinguished, the radio stations occupied, the government district secured militarily.

For now, the bluff seems to be working: contact with the Führer's headquarters is interrupted. The guard battalion "Greater Germany" moved to protect the government district. The residence of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels was surrounded. Also in Kbadel and Munich, the troops of Vienna and Prague marched against the Nazi state. In Paris, about 1,200 party members and SS were trucked to the Wehrmacht prison.

Stauffenberg leaves no doubt about the fact that Hitler was eliminated. "He died, I saw him wearing it outside." General Olbricht, the central figure of military resistance, hesitates. He knew that all the conspirators – and one after the other were now arriving at Bendlerstrbade – were risking their lives. But he let himself be carried away by Stauffenberg and explained to his supervisor Fritz Fromm, commander-in-chief of the replacement army, that military units against the regime had been mobilized on his behalf – a commitment to high treason [19659034]. coup d'etat

Fromm, an end-to-end opportunist, was aware of plans for an uprising, but still kept all options open. After a phone call with the Wolfsschanze, he loosely dropped the "leader". Stauffenberg summoned him: "Generaloberst, I blew up the bomb during Hitler's briefing, there was an explosion as if a 15-centimeter grenade had been smashed. No one in the room could have survived! But Fromm mimed the loyal indignant line. There was a scuffle. Werner von Haeften fired the rifle, Fromm was driven away.

Then, in the evening, the end: on the radio, the Wolfsschanze reported: "The chef lives! Totally healthy!" The conspirators burst out of the sweat of fear. But Stauffenberg continued indefinitely, encouraged, summoned, ordered the phone as a weapon, his ammunition words: "You must immediately occupy all radio and news stations – any resistance is broken – you probably get countermeasures from the Fuehrer's headquarters – who are not allowed – No, the Wehrmacht has taken executive power … did you understand? – Yes, the Reich is in danger – as always in the most dangerous hours, the soldier now has executive power. "

lonely around the director of the coup d'etat. The Gauleiter was telegraphed: "Only the orders of Chief Adolf Hitler or his men are valid." It seems from the radio: "The chef has not suffered any injuries other than minor burns and bruises." He will speak soon "to the German people". Ludwig Beck was one of those people on Bendlerstraße that night who was ready to "use the last force in a turn of fate". Colonel-General a. D. had already retired from military service in 1938 because of Hitler's war policy; After the coup d'etat, he should take the direction of the general governor. Now he realized that they were finished.

Vendetta brutal against all opposition

And Stauffenberg also felt that he had failed. At 23:15 in the Bendlerblock, Fromm was again in charge. A last phone call to Paris Stauffenberg ended with the sentence: "The minions are already out in the corridor. He hung up and spoke, half to himself, half to the secretary: "They all abandoned me."

After an exchange of gunfire, Fromm arrested the conspirators. The leaders sentenced him to death – no one should know of his own knowledge. Beck wanted to commit suicide. two attempts failed, a sergeant fired at the unconscious man. Olbricht, von Haeften, Mertz von Quirnheim and Stauffenberg were taken to the courtyard. Shortly after midnight, they collapsed by the light of car headlights under the fire of a special squad. It is said that Stauffenberg died with the call: "Long live Holy Germany!"

Nazi rulers immediately began a brutal campaign of revenge against all opposition. In total, about 7,000 suspects fell into the hands of the Gestapo, nearly 200 opponents of the regime were murdered, many of whom were hanged in the penitentiary Berlin-Plötzensee. Some, like Henning von Tresckow, preferred suicide. Berthold von Stauffenberg was sentenced to death at a show trial and executed the same day, August 10, 1944.