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Saturday, November 15, 2025


Happy Birthday: Oberst Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer who is best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair, part of Operation Valkyrie, a plan that would have seen the arrest of the Nazi leadership in the wake of Hitler's death and an earlier end to World War II.

Graf von Stauffenberg took part in the Invasion of Poland, the 1941–42 invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa and the Tunisian campaign during the Second World War. Alongside Major Generals Henning von Tresckow and Hans Oster, he became a key figure in the German resistance to Nazism within the Wehrmacht.

On 20 July 1944, Stauffenberg's assassination attempt failed, the explosive he had placed only dealing Hitler minor injuries. The conspirators were arrested, and many of them executed, including Stauffenberg on the day after the attempt. His wife Nina was also arrested, giving birth to their fifth child Konstanze while imprisoned. Their children also included Berthold, who followed in his father's footsteps as a military man, and politician Franz-Ludwig.

In 1980, the West 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 Stauffenbergstrasse, and the Bendlerblock now houses the Memorial 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 Graf von Stauffenberg.

11 comments:

Stephen said...

Gott im Himmel, the man could begin introducing himself and the Wehrmacht would be halfway to Paris before he was done.

CyberKitten said...

A LOT of that about especially in the upper echelons... [lol]

Marianne said...

One of the great heroes of the last centuries.

Marian H said...

I have a soft spot for the Tom Cruise movie about this called Valkyrie. It has an absurd cast (Americans and British playing Germans) but it is such a good watch, I can overlook it.

CyberKitten said...

A VERY brave man. Shame he wasn't as successful as hoped!

CyberKitten said...

Oh, some of the *accents* were TERRIBLE! [lol] Although the Brits do tend to play good Germans.

Stephen said...

All Quiet on the Western Front has English dubbing, which is confusing but hysterical. I have a joke written about it for this month's movie post. (I found how to turn off the dubbing and watch with English subtitles, though.)

CyberKitten said...

Oh, I HATE dubbed... I always watch movies with subtitles.

Marianne said...

There were many attempts but none of them successful, unfortunately.

Marianne said...

But usually, the accent is terrible.

Marianne said...

Growing up in Germany, we only could watch original German movies or those dubbed. Even today, they hardly ever show foreign movies in the original. Terrible, terrible!