Coronel stauffenberg biography samples

Stauffenberg served combat positions in all of Hitler's major campaigns from the Sudetenland to PolandFrance and Tunisia. He was equally appalled by the atrocities committed by the German Army against Soviet prisoners-of-war and by the treatment of the civil population in Russia at the hands of the German occupation administration and forces. Stauffenberg cited these matters to Major Joachim Kuhn in August On April 7,he was seriously wounded at Sebkhet en Noual, south of Mezzouna in the North African desert, when Allied fighters strafed his vehicle.

He lost his left eye, right hand, and last two fingers of his left hand after surgery. Stauffenberg had decided earlier in that he must try to help overthrow Hitler. He had attempted throughout the summer of to persuade senior commanders to move against Hitlerand he had declared in September that he himself was prepared to kill Hitler. According to the plan, after HitlerHermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler were assassinated, Ludwig BeckErwin von Witzleben and Friedrich Fromm would take control of the German Army and seize key government buildings, telephone and signal centres, and radio stations.

Stauffenberg was to become State Secretary of the War Ministry in the post-coup government. This gave him direct access to Hitler's briefing sessions.

Coronel stauffenberg biography samples: Claus von Stauffenberg, German

He wrote of Evans, "In the course of his problematic argument he walks into two traps: 1. Inthe 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. The Bendlerstrasse was renamed the Stauffenbergstrasseand the Bendlerblock now houses the Memorial to the German Resistancea permanent exhibition with more than 5, photographs and documents showing the various resistance organisations at work during the Hitler era.

The courtyard where the officers were shot on 21 July 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. Stauffenberg lived with his family in Berlin- Wannsee. Berthold, Heimeran, Franz-Ludwig, Valerie and Kostanze, who were not told of their father's deed, [ 64 ] were placed in a foster home for the remainder of the war and were forced to use new surnames, as Stauffenberg was considered taboo.

Nina died at the age of 92 on 2 April at Kirchlauter near Bamberg and was buried there on 8 April. Berthold went on to become a general in West Germany 's post-war Bundeswehr. He let things come to him, and then he made up his mind Conservatives were convinced that he was a ferocious Nazi, and ferocious Nazis were convinced he was an unreconstructed conservative.

He was neither. After the war, a United States intelligence officer, Ernie Blakewho was involved in interrogation of Nazi officers, went on to establish a ski area in Taos, 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.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. German army officer — Weimar Republic Nazi Germany German resistance — Reichsheer German Army.

Coronel stauffenberg biography samples: Claus von Stauffenberg used his access

Magdalena Freiin von Lerchenfeld. Family history [ edit ]. See also: Stauffenberg. Early life [ edit ]. Early views on Nazism [ edit ]. Second World War [ edit ]. Activities in —40 [ edit ]. Operation Barbarossa, —42 [ edit ]. Tunisia, [ edit ]. In the resistance, —44 [ edit ]. Main article: 20 July plot. Assassination attempt [ edit ].

Execution [ edit ]. Assessment [ edit ]. Related topics. Family [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ]. In media [ edit ]. See also [ edit ].

Coronel stauffenberg biography samples: A biography of the man

Notes [ edit ]. In Germany, it has formed part of family names since References [ edit ]. Augsburger Allgemeine. Archived from the original on 23 June Retrieved 23 June The Telegraph. Juli " PDF in German. Archived from the original PDF on 19 July Retrieved 7 February Archived from the original PDF on 5 June Oberst Claus Graf Stauffenberg in German.

Casemate Publishers. ISBN Resistance and Conformity in the Third Reich. New York: Routledge. Stauffenberg: A Family History, — McGill-Queen's Press. Who resisted the Third Reich and why did they do it? Archived from the original on 12 July Retrieved 14 July Die deutsche Gesellschaft und der Widerstand gegen Hitler. Since he only had three fingers on one hand he had to use a pair of pliers and this would certainly have been seen.

It has been claimed that if he had bent down "to his briefcase and began to open it with his three fingers - someone would certainly have come to his assistance, lifted it on to the table and helped him take out the papers - impossible then to search round for the pliers, squeeze the fuse and put the briefcase back on the floor. For sometime he had become entangled in a web of philosophical and religious reflection.

He asked Werner: "Are you absolutely sure this is your duty before God and our forefathers? His religious and ethical beliefs led him to the conclusion that it was his duty to eliminate Hitler and his murderous regime by any means possible. Just before he left on his mission to kill Hitler he said: "It is now time that something was done.

But he who has the courage to do something must do so in the knowledge that he will go down in German history as a traitor. If he does not do it, however, he will be a traitor to his conscience. Colonel-General Ludwig Beckwho had been an coronel stauffenberg biography samples part of the resistance from the beginning, continued to argue that the attempt must be made, regardless of the consequences.

As Theodore S. Hamerow pointed out: "Some of those involved in planning the coup started to suggest that the attempt to overthrow the Nazi regime must be made not primarily to save Germany but as an act of atonement or expiation. Even if it should fail, even if the fatherland should be conquered and occupied, the resistance must wage its struggle against National Socialism as a moral obligation, as a sacrifice for mankind, as an appeal for forgiveness and redemption What mattered was proving to the world that at least some Germans, acting out of conscience and in accordance with universal moral values, were willing to sacrifice themselves to protect humanity against an unspeakable evil.

Claus von Stauffenberg stands to attention next to Fromm. Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitelwith folder, looks on. After a two-hour flight from Berlin, they landed at Rastenburg at As soon as the meeting was over, Stauffenberg, met up with Haeften, who was carrying the two bombs in his briefcase. They then went into the toilet to set the time-fuses in the bombs.

They only had time to prepare one bomb when they were interrupted by a junior officer who told them that the meeting with Hitler was about to start. Stauffenberg then made the fatal decision to place one of the bombs in his briefcase. Almost certainly, in such an event, no one would have survived. Stauffenberg had to elbow his way forward a little in order to get near enough to the table and he had to place the briefcase so that it was in no one's way.

Despite all his efforts, however, he could only get to the right-hand corner of the table. After a few minutes, Stauffenberg excused himself, saying that he had to take a telephone call from Berlin. There was continual coming and going during the briefing conferences and this did not raise any suspicions. Shortly afterwards, according to eyewitnesses: "A deafening crack shattered the midday quiet, and a bluish-yellow flame rocketed skyward Shards of glass, wood, and fiberboard swirled about, and scorched pieces of paper and insulation rained down.

They got into a car but luckily the alarm had not yet been given when they reached Guard Post 1. The Lieutenant in charge, who had heard the blast, stopped the car and asked to see their papers. Stauffenberg who was given immediate respect with his mutilations suffered on the front-line and his aristocratic commanding exterior; said he must go to the airfield at once.

After a short pause the Lieutenant let them go. Consequently, the table acted as a partial shield, protecting Hitler from the full force of the blast, sparing him from serious injury of death. Hitler's right arm was badly coronel stauffenberg biography samples but he survived. The most calamitous flaw in Operation Valkyrie was the failure to consider the possibility that Hitler might survive the bomb attack.

Olbricht told Hans Giseviusthey decided it was best to wait and to do nothing, to behave "routinely" and to follow their everyday habits. Stauffenberg insisted that Hitler was dead. Fromm replied that he had just learnt from Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel that Hitler had survived the bomb attack. Stauffenberg replied, "Field Marshal Keitel is lying as usual.

I myself saw Hitler being carried out dead. Fromm became very angry and declared that all the conspirators were under arrest, whereupon Stauffenberg retorted that, on the contrary, they were in control and he was under arrest. He resumed his work immediately. He described the scene outside: "The office windows looked out on the street.

A few minutes after my arrival I saw fully equipped soldiers, in steel helmets, hand grenades at their belts and submachine guns in their hands, moving toward the Blandenburg Gate in small, battle ready groups. They set up machine guns at the gate and stopped all traffic. Meanwhile, two heavily armed men went up to the door along the park and stood guard there.

No real attempt had been made to arrest the Nazi leaders or to kill them. Nor did they secure immediate control of the radio and telephone communications systems. This was surprising as weeks earlier the original plan included the seizure of the long-distance telephone office, the main telegraph office, the radio broadcasting facilities in and around Berlin, and the central post office.

They had an enormous chance. What dolts! What childishness? He joined the army in and enthusiastically welcomed Hitler's rise to power inbelieving that the Nazi regime would bring about the revival of Germany.

Coronel stauffenberg biography samples: Nina and Claus von

However, his attitude towards Nazi ideology changed as he witnessed the atrocities committed against Jews and the persecution of religious leaders in Germany. Inhe was in North Africa where he suffered a severe injury in Tunisia, losing his left eye, his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand. Despite his injuries, Stauffenberg survived and returned to active duty.

By this time, he had come to realize that Hitler was leading Germany to disaster. The conspirators, a group of German generals and high-ranking officers, planned to assassinate Hitler and seize control of the General Staff in Berlin, hoping to negotiate a peace treaty and avoid Germany's ultimate defeat in the war. Stauffenberg played a crucial role in the conspiracy as he was responsible for establishing communication with the commanders of regular military units throughout Germany after the planned assassination and issuing orders for the arrest of local Nazi leaders and Gestapo officers.

As the newly appointed Chief of Staff of the Reserve Army at Bendlerstrasse in Berlin, Stauffenberg was in a unique position to carry out this task. He was also the only conspirator who had regular access to Hitler himself. Stauffenberg, accompanied by Major Joachim Kuhn and General-Major Henning von Tresckow, prepared two explosive devices concealed in a briefcase for the assassination.

Stauffenberg was supposed to set the detonators and timers just before the attack. However, he discovered that the meeting had been rescheduled and would now take place in a wooden barrack on the surface instead of an underground bunker due to the heat.