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Claus von Stauffenberg - The Man Who Tried to Kill Hitler

By Nigel Jones | World War II  | Single Page  | 35 comments  | Print This Post  | Email This Post

Enraged by the attempt on his life, Hitler insisted that the very name 'Stauffenberg' be wiped from history

July 20, 1944, found the Stauffenberg family gathered, as they had so many summers before, at their rambling country house in the village of Lautlingen, in the rolling Swabian Alps of southern Germany. With the war in its fifth year and taking an increasingly ominous turn for Germany, most of the adult male members of the aristocratic Catholic clan—twins Alexander and Berthold, and their brilliant younger brother Claus—were absent. Presiding over the household of six boisterous children were Claus's wife, Nina; the children's grandmother, Caroline, and their great-aunt Alexandrine; and their great-uncle Nikolaus Üxküll, known to all as "Uncle Nux." Only he knew that their lives were about to be shattered.

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"By then the war was getting uncomfortably close," Claus's eldest son, Berthold, recalled in a recent interview—which made the escape from their house in Bamberg, some 130 miles to the northeast, especially welcome. "Even in that provincial backwater there were constant air raids and raid alarms, and I had to sit my school exams in an underground shelter. The continual memorial services for those who had fallen at the front—at which I often served as a Catholic altar boy—were another grim reminder of the war. Nevertheless, Nazi control was still absolute. We were fed a constant diet of propaganda promising us Endsieg, or 'final victory,' in the state-controlled press and radio, which I naturally believed."

So keen a young Nazi was the then-10-year-old boy that he was bitterly disappointed to be just three days too young to join that year's intake of the Jungvolk, the junior branch of the Hitler Youth. "My dearest wish was to march through Bamberg carrying a Nazi banner at the head of a youth parade," said Berthold. "Fortunately my mother who, unknown to me, shared my father's anti-Nazi views, prevented this."

Berthold's father, Claus Schenk, Count von Stauffenberg—a religious man with a philosophic bent, an accomplished horseman, and a lover of poetry—was about to become infamous for those anti-Nazi views. At about the same time his family was sitting down to lunch at Lautlingen on that sweltering July day, Stauffenberg was placing a bomb, hidden inside his briefcase, under a conference table at Wolfschanze ("Wolf's Lair"), Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia, in an attempt to assassinate the führer and overthrow his regime. Stauffenberg came within a hair's breadth of accomplishing his goal when the bomb exploded at approximately 12:40 p.m., demolishing the room and killing three officers and a secretary. But Hitler was merely wounded—and it was the Stauffenberg family instead that was torn apart in the aftermath of the attempted coup.

Young Berthold had not seen much of his father since the war began. Thirty-six-year-old Colonel von Stauffenberg was a popular and able career soldier, singled out by his superiors for a glittering future. He had served as a staff officer in the conquest of Poland in 1939, the invasion of France in 1940, and the campaign against Russia in 1941. Initially Stauffenberg gave the prewar Hitler regime the benefit of the doubt. But from 1942 onward, that changed dramatically. Nauseated by the mass murder of Jews and the treatment of civilian populations on the eastern front, and by Hitler's insatiable appetite for war and his reckless military incompetence, Stauffenberg joined fellow officers in actively conspiring against Nazi rule.

In early 1943, Stauffenberg was posted to Tunisia as senior staff officer to the 10th Panzer Division for the last days of the North African campaign. Rommel's once-vaunted Afrika Korps was now penned in against the sea, trapped by the Americans advancing from the west and the British from the east. The fighting was intense, and in April Stauffenberg was seriously wounded when an American aircraft strafed his Horch staff car. One officer in the back seat was killed and Stauffenberg, whose body was pitted with shrapnel, lost his left eye, his right hand, and two fingers on his left hand. Evacuated to Munich, he astonished doctors with the speed of his recovery. Within weeks he had learned to dress himself using his teeth and his three remaining fingers. His performance was so dexterous that he joked he didn't know what he had ever used his other seven fingers for.

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  1. 35 Comments to “Claus von Stauffenberg - The Man Who Tried to Kill Hitler”

  2. What happened to the other four Stauffenberg children (what careers did they have and where do they live?)

    By Rita Neutze on Dec 27, 2008 at 9:02 pm

  3. As a former member of the Berlin Brigade (1979-1981) I was once permitted to spend the night in the building that once housed the U.S., French, British and Soviet Commanders (the Allied Komandantura). The building was left largely vacant following the pull-out of the Soviet Commander in 1948, and the U.S. military police who maintained a presence in the building were convinced it was haunted with the spirits of the Valkyrie Conspiritors.
    Although I admit some some very strange sounds that I heard through the night I have never been able to verify the history of the building as being involved with the Valkyrie Conspiracy. Perhaps you can help?
    Thank you for you time.
    Raymond Gibson

    By Raymond Gibson on Dec 29, 2008 at 4:48 pm

  4. this was an excellent article; it made for insightful reading. thank you for posting it.

    By Dilbert on Jan 5, 2009 at 10:42 pm

  5. I just saw the new movie Valkyrie and I was very much moved. It made me understand how much hitler was pure evil. I know now that the Col. was a good and breave man and a good father. I understand I didn't know him as a person, but what he did tells all.

    Clarence A. Seals

    By clarence seals on Jan 7, 2009 at 4:43 pm

  6. Call me a cynic if you will but I find it 'funny' how these german officers only started having issues with the nazi's once the war turned against Germany.

    By Peter on Jan 8, 2009 at 8:45 am

  7. I just got out of the theatre aftre watching VALKYRE. One questiion, WHY DOES TOM CRUISE'S VON STAUFFENBERG HAVE RED STRIPES ON HIS TROSERS? I was under the belief that only generals had red stripes.

    By Gerard Malavenda on Jan 8, 2009 at 8:41 pm

  8. I caught that also but if memory serves that was standard issue for officers attached to the general staff

    By v. roark on Jan 8, 2009 at 10:52 pm

  9. Not to beat a dead techie horse to death but I loved how real the filming was done.Remember Lee Marvin in the "Big Red One" when he spotted an ambush because the "dead" Germans had the white piping of an infantry unit? Wars,battles,and war movies turn on details. A year ago I could have nudged "TomKat" over a cliff but we'll be breaking down this movie for a long time. And were those like the only 2 flyable ME109Gs in the world?

    By v. roark on Jan 8, 2009 at 11:57 pm

  10. Re the Me109's… there are quite a few around. The spanish & czechs built them under licence postwar with a variety of engines. About a dozen were available for the movie "battle of Britain" alongside loads of Spanish made CASA copies of He 111 bombers. There are also limited number of replica Stukas and Spitfires being built with small 150hp engines. They look perfect but obviously handle differently.

    By Peter on Jan 9, 2009 at 8:25 am

  11. Gerard…

    A German General officer wore bright-red stripes on his trousers; a school-trained General Staff Officer (i.g.) wore carmen colored stripes. V. Staffenberg started the War Academy course in 1936.
    Also note Cruise's lapel insignia, it is the silver gilt of an OKH stafff officer. One interesting thing was Cruise's uniform-it looks almost dove grey, like the Luftwaffe, in comparison to the gray-greeen of the standard Army uniform. The director probably had
    him wear this color in order so the audience could recognize him. I really enjoyed the movie and think all concerned did a good job.

    By Al on Jan 14, 2009 at 7:37 am

  12. German officers, like officers in most militaries, are trained to obey orders from their superiors including their govt. So it's not surprising no German officers attempted to assassinate Hitler until late in the war when it became apparent Hitler had lead Germany to destruction. US officers obeyed orders to exterminate American Indians & to violently supress the independence movement in the Philippines. Some American soldiers opposed the Vietnam War on moral grounds but no active duty soldiers attempted to overthrow the US Govt. It's not exactly easy to convince soldiers to commit treason even when they believe their govt is immoral & their leaders' actions are inhumane.

    By Derek on Jan 14, 2009 at 3:02 pm

  13. i do not find the world war very funny at all!

    By journey on Jan 15, 2009 at 12:28 pm

  14. Al had a good point and there was some mix of colors in the German army. The dove grey was the parade or mess dress, a more formal attire. More like our current "class A" . The grey/green was the common issue during the war.There was also the faded olive and tan colored fabrics of Afrika and Italian based divisions.

    By v. roark on Jan 21, 2009 at 11:03 pm

  15. The army began planning for a coup against Hitler in 1938 with the Sudeten crisis followed by the general takeover of Czechoslovakia. The army needed for Hitler to have a foreign policy failure before they could hope to execute a successful coup that would not result in a full scale civil war, i.e. they knew they could not succeed while Hitler was successful, by 1938 the army had gone from a small professional army with loyalty to the army to an army with a large component of the general population with loyalty to the NSDAP and Hitler. The army was relying on the French and British to provide the failure that they needed to overthrow Hitler and at least generate a degree of doubt about Hitler's judgment among the people. The attempt under Valkyrie was the last attempt, and after it the resistance was so badly crippled that there was no practical hope of another attempt before the end of the war.

    By Christopher Steuart on Jan 31, 2009 at 10:40 pm

  16. why did Claus Von Stuaffenberg all of a sudden turn against Adolf Hitler? please e-mail me as soon as possisble Thanks.

    By Paul Vaccaro on Feb 17, 2009 at 9:31 pm

  17. PV:
    there was nothing sudden about Stauffenberg's condemnation of Hitler. True, he felt bound by duty to his country, to the oath he had taken as a German officer, to support the war effort in the late 1930s. but from at least 1939 on he despised Hitler's moral and military "leadership," and considered the removal of the madman essential to Germany's survival. Nigel Jones's "Countdown to Valkyrie"(2009) and Peter Hoffmann's "Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944" (1995) both provide excellent descriptions of Stauffenberg's evolution from loyal soldier to hero would-be assassin.
    Bill Horne
    Editor, World War II magazine

    By B. Horne on Feb 28, 2009 at 5:57 pm

  18. what al was saying about soilders not trying to assinate hitler is not true. There were more than a dozen attempts that all failed. Like at the begining of the move valkyrie with the bomb on the plane. Another one done about a year before a soilder (his name slips my mind) try to suicide bomb hitler but failed because hitler was in a hurry. Another attempted happened were a bomb was placed were hitler would adress some soilders but his adress was extremely short and the bomb went off after he left.

    By drew on Mar 13, 2009 at 2:59 pm

  19. I am writing a novel that starts with the last attempt on Hitler life. It was successful and hitler was killed and the war if anyone can help with ideas or insight into what would the Nazi high command have dont o cover it up I would greatly appreciate response from any and all history readers. the article gave me great inspiration

    By Jon T on Mar 22, 2009 at 8:34 am

  20. I say "good for Claus Von Stauffenberg'". Hitler needed someone to hate him. Thank Goodness He Comited Suicide!!!! He was a horrid man… So mean to Jewish People. I mean He went throgh so much troble to build death camps for Jewish people for no reason. Sydneyann age 10

    By Sydney ann on Mar 28, 2009 at 7:28 pm

  21. Tom Cruise is horrid and what I saw of Valkyrie did not impress me at all. I'm with Berthold on this one: he said that "Cruise should keep his fingers off my father"! Could not understand why shrimpy TC, who is about five-seven, was cast to play a man who was six foot three! And was noted for his height – Hitler had to look up to him (Hitler and TC are the same height). Claus Stauffenberg towered over most of his German colleagues, except for Fromm (who ordered the execution). Stauffenberg deserved better than to be cast in a cheesy American movie on a topic that Bryan Singer doesn't have a clue about. If you want an American actor, should have cast Jim Caviezel – a good actor, an innate understanding of Claus's psyche as he too is a devout Catholic, same height and build as the tall, striking young Count, same colouring too (piercing blue eyes). When I read Hoffman's bio of the Stauffenberg family I said, "if a movie on the plot is made, someone should cast "The Passion of the Christ"guy: Jim Caviezel! A man with experience in playing a martyr!

    By kyrie on Apr 10, 2009 at 12:03 am

  22. I recently watched " Valkyrie ", I have always been interested in history. I find it interesting that there are so many events in our past, and yet here we are, sixty years later after the war, and there is still events that happened, that most people are unaware of that happened during this awful period in our history. It makes me wonder sometimes, why certain events in our past were never brought to light when I attended school. Sure, we all learned about the world wars and the crimes committed, but why was there never any mention of assination plots against Hitler, by his own officers. I'm glad now that I know a little more about this period in time and that not all of the german people had ill feelings towards others.

    By Les K on May 21, 2009 at 1:34 pm

  23. There were 6,000,000 Jews killed and 11,000,000 other war prisoners killed by Hitler's regime. Remember, there was general prejudice against Jews, Gypsies, all Slavic people including Polish. If they didn't gas them, the worked them to death. von Stauffenberg had a conscience and a relgious conviction that killing these people was immoral and below what he hoped for a strong and free Germany.

    By Jeana on May 23, 2009 at 6:38 pm

  24. One of the reasons I became curious about the family Stauffenburg was because I have always felt sorry for the Germans who so feared Hitler and was afraid to be brave except for the desperate attempts to have him killed…you only hear of the awful executions and the terrible things done….I am glad they made the movie and it raises the fact that not all the German people supported the man called Hitler.I would love to see more on the history of this family and what they have done with their lives since their Dad and Mom was so noble and of fine character.Thank you,M.H.

    By Murwyn Hancock on Jun 11, 2009 at 9:42 pm

  25. yes, but why did he do it is the queston?

    By robert on Jun 23, 2009 at 1:46 am

  26. excellent reading nigel

    By sheila jewell on Jun 27, 2009 at 7:10 pm

  27. While working at Bolling AFB (fleet Ing Command) there was a older guy working there named Edward Fox. He use to tell me storys about how he got out of Germany with his mom because his Dad was part of a group who tryed to kill Hitler. I wish I had more information on who this man was and how true his storys were. I heard he passed away a few years ago.

    By paul flynn on Jul 5, 2009 at 9:37 am

  28. There were many germans who stood up against Hitler and the nazis. I know this because my family who lived in germany and were german told me about how the nazis would take whatever they wanted from whoever they wanted, germans included.

    They took me to see alot of land and buildings that belonged to my family and was taken from them during ww2. The nazis almost completley impoverished my family. When my german family members protested they were imprisioned. My german grandmother spoke out publicly against Hitler and the nazis, she had to flee to switzerland where she had an aunt so she would not be killed. She returned after the war.
    Men and boys were forced into the army whether they wanted to go or not.
    Most americans have no idea of the real story of how and why Hitler came to power, the germans that were killed and imprisioned so that he could come to power and what was going on in germany for this to happen.

    By Richard Allen on Sep 30, 2009 at 1:22 am

  29. very moving person I wish i've known before, i wish people will tell this story in schools and books as much or more than the story of Hitler. Long live free Germany.

    By Ahmed Fazeel on Dec 3, 2009 at 4:13 am

  30. I think Hitler died in the explosion. they just didnt tell us. Kill Above top

    By ty on Dec 17, 2009 at 1:47 pm

  31. i am glad that claus von tried to kill hitler. i wish he would have succeded on his mission. he had chances to do it but he never took advantage of it. i salute him on trying succesion on killing hitler. i am glad that he did damage him the best way that he could.

    By kelly on Jan 14, 2010 at 12:59 pm

  32. Why does Holywood keep making movies and stretching or clouding the truth.
    The reason. the Truth is to horrible for the dumbed down citizens to swallow now.
    Yes, von Stauffenberg was an honorable man who could no longer stomach what Hitler was doing. His principles and honor overpowered his duty. Too bad it doesn't happen enough.
    Hollywood puts out some of the most disgusting movies, scary and violent. However, when it comes to telling the real way those men were executed with the hook, they decide to spin it. Losing every Uncle and Aunt and cousin I ever had in Austrian death camps gives me the right to say so. Where are the Jewish in Hollywood? Phooy to Hollywood

    By Carolyn on Jan 14, 2010 at 1:10 pm

  33. In the Werner Herzog documentary, LITTLE DEITER NEEDS TO FLY, the German American Deiter Dengler, as a young boy in Germany, said his grandfather was the only one who did not vote for the Nazi party, as far as Dengler knew, when Nazis stormed across German, including Dangler's little town. The town's people, Dieter recollected, were obviously not very happy with his eccentric and seemingly unpatriotic grandfather. He was indeed treated badly, Dieter said. Anyway, Dieter was very impressed by Americans Mustang planes as they shot his little town to pieces; so he escaped Germany after the war and came to America, where he slaved for a few years but managed to work his way up to fly for the US Navy and was shot down over Laos, the "Secret" part of the Vietnam War. That had connection to me since I am from Laos and was born around the time Dieter was shot down likely near my village, with my dad out among thousands working with the CIA to make it hard for the North Vietnamese troops going down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, across eastern Laos, to help their comrades down in South Vietnam, killing more Americans. Anyway, Dieter Dengler said, through days and weeks of torture by the communists, he remembered his grandfather's moral courage to stand up, stand strong, and challenge evil doers — whether they were Nazis or Communists — and never back down, always hoping to outlast the enemies. Point is, in every culture and in every people, there are always exceptional people with moral courage surpassing the average folks… Stauffenberg was one of those… like "little Dieter's" own grandfather in the early years of the Nazis in Germany, when most Germany were thinking they were destined to be great and honorable; but a few knew it won't last, due to the Nazi's heinous nature, against both Germans and non-Germans who questioned Nazism…

    By Her Lao on Feb 8, 2010 at 3:36 am

  1. 3 Trackback(s)

  2. Dec 23, 2008: nemski » Blog Archive » Valkyrie and Its Children
  3. Jan 20, 2009: Valkyrie: The Real Col. von Stauffenberg « ~THE "G" BLOGS - Gunny G Online~
  4. Jul 21, 2009: zuzeu.com — Nolakoa litzateke mundua 1944ko atentatuan Hitler akabatu izan balute?

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