CLAUS VON STAUFFENBERG
Name: Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf
Born: 15 November 1907 Jettingen
Died: 21 July 1944 Berlin
Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (15 November 1907 - 21 July
1944) was a German army officer who reached the rank of colonel and one of the
leading officers of the failed July 20 Plot of 1944 to kill German dictator
Adolf Hitler and seize power in Germany.
Stauffenberg was the third of three sons (the others being the twins Berthold
and Alexander) of Alfred Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the last Oberhofmarschall
of the Kingdom of Wurttemberg, and Caroline Schenk Grafin von Stauffenberg (nee
Grafin von kull-Gyllenband). Claus was born in the Stauffenberg castle of
Jettingen between Ulm and Augsburg, in the eastern part of Swabia, at that time
in the Kingdom of Bavaria, part of the German Reich. The von Stauffenberg family
is one of the oldest and most distinguished aristocratic Roman Catholic families
of southern Germany. Among his maternal ancestors were several famous
Prussians, including Field Marshal August von Gneisenau.
Like his brothers, Claus was carefully educated and inclined toward literature,
but eventually took up a military career. In 1926, he joined the family's
traditional regiment, the Bamberger Reiter- und Kavallerieregiment 17 (17th
Cavalry Regiment) in Bamberg. (See also Bamberg Horseman.) It was around this
time that the three brothers were introduced by Albrecht von Blumenthal to poet
Stefan George's influential circle Georgekreis, from which many notable members
of the German resistance would later emerge. George dedicated Das neue Reich ("The
new Reich") in 1928, including the Geheimes Deutschland ("secret Germany")
written in 1922, to Berthold. The work outlines a new form of society ruled
by hierarchical spiritual aristocracy. George rejected any attempts to use it
for mundane political purposes, especially Nazism.
Claus was commissioned as a Leutnant (second lieutenant) in 1930. In his
military career, Stauffenberg studied modern weapons at the Kriegsakademie in
Berlin-Moabit, but remained focused on the use of the horse which continued to
carry out a large part of transportation duties throughout the Second World War in
modern warfare. His regiment became part of the German 1st Light Division under
General Erich Hoepner, who had taken part in the plans for the September 1938
German Resistance coup, cut short by Hitler's unexpected success in the Munich
Agreement. The unit was part of the troops that moved into the Sudetenland, the
part of Czechoslovakia that had a German-speaking majority, as agreed upon in
Munich.
Following the outbreak of war in 1939, Stauffenberg and his regiment took part
in the attack on Poland. In letters from Poland he expressed support for the use
of Poles as slave workers in German agriculture, and systematic German
colonisation of Poland.
Name: Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf
Born: 15 November 1907 Jettingen
Died: 21 July 1944 Berlin
Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (15 November 1907 - 21 July
1944) was a German army officer who reached the rank of colonel and one of the
leading officers of the failed July 20 Plot of 1944 to kill German dictator
Adolf Hitler and seize power in Germany.
Stauffenberg was the third of three sons (the others being the twins Berthold
and Alexander) of Alfred Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the last Oberhofmarschall
of the Kingdom of Wurttemberg, and Caroline Schenk Grafin von Stauffenberg (nee
Grafin von kull-Gyllenband). Claus was born in the Stauffenberg castle of
Jettingen between Ulm and Augsburg, in the eastern part of Swabia, at that time
in the Kingdom of Bavaria, part of the German Reich. The von Stauffenberg family
is one of the oldest and most distinguished aristocratic Roman Catholic families
of southern Germany. Among his maternal ancestors were several famous
Prussians, including Field Marshal August von Gneisenau.
Like his brothers, Claus was carefully educated and inclined toward literature,
but eventually took up a military career. In 1926, he joined the family's
traditional regiment, the Bamberger Reiter- und Kavallerieregiment 17 (17th
Cavalry Regiment) in Bamberg. (See also Bamberg Horseman.) It was around this
time that the three brothers were introduced by Albrecht von Blumenthal to poet
Stefan George's influential circle Georgekreis, from which many notable members
of the German resistance would later emerge. George dedicated Das neue Reich ("The
new Reich") in 1928, including the Geheimes Deutschland ("secret Germany")
written in 1922, to Berthold. The work outlines a new form of society ruled
by hierarchical spiritual aristocracy. George rejected any attempts to use it
for mundane political purposes, especially Nazism.
Claus was commissioned as a Leutnant (second lieutenant) in 1930. In his
military career, Stauffenberg studied modern weapons at the Kriegsakademie in
Berlin-Moabit, but remained focused on the use of the horse which continued to
carry out a large part of transportation duties throughout the Second World War in
modern warfare. His regiment became part of the German 1st Light Division under
General Erich Hoepner, who had taken part in the plans for the September 1938
German Resistance coup, cut short by Hitler's unexpected success in the Munich
Agreement. The unit was part of the troops that moved into the Sudetenland, the
part of Czechoslovakia that had a German-speaking majority, as agreed upon in
Munich.
Following the outbreak of war in 1939, Stauffenberg and his regiment took part
in the attack on Poland. In letters from Poland he expressed support for the use
of Poles as slave workers in German agriculture, and systematic German
colonisation of Poland.