Hello to all
; Addendum to this old thread...
Stauffenberg - pre-war period
In 1944, what a tragic path led Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, who grew up with his brothers in Lautlingen Castle in what is now Albstadt, to that shabby sandpit in the inner courtyard of the War Ministry in Berlin, where he was shot blindfolded. Later, Stauffenberg's brother Berthold, along with many other Third Reich opposition members, lost their lives in a hideous execution shed at Berlin's Plötzensee prison.
After the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944, the world viewed the German resistance as ambivalent at first. Only when the veil of camouflage was lifted and the legend created by the National Socialists of the "clique of ambitious conspirators" collapsed, did the image of the German resistance change. The action was not a revolt of officers, nor a reactionary coup, but a true "rebellion of conscience", an uprising of socialists and Christians, workers and intellectuals, citizens and nobles, clerics and soldiers, a cross-section of the entire people.
From 1943-1944, Oberst Graf von Stauffenberg was the tireless driving force behind the military conspiracy to overthrow Hitler's dictatorship. In his Berlin villa at Wannsee, Tristanstraße 8, he often met with the so-called "Committee of Counts"; Resistance fighters from aristocratic circles such as himself and his brother Berthold, as well as Albrecht Ritter Merz von Quirnheim, Caesar von Hofacker, and Werner von Haeften.
Loyalty, Royalty, and Humanism: Raised to be Public Officials.
Claus von Stauffenberg, born on November 15, 1907 in Stuttgart, came from a traditional aristocratic family. In May 1904, Count Alfred Stauffenberg, the most recent president of the Württemberg Ducal Chamber of Revenue, married Countess Caroline von Üxküll-Gyllenband. She was the daughter of the Oberleutnant of the Austrian K.u.K, Count Alfred von Üxküll-Gyllenband and his wife Valerie, born Countess von Hohental.
Through Countess von Hohental's mother, a family tree led directly to Gneisenau, Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Blücher. The von Stauffenberg line was born when the Counts of Zollern, like other princes, established the position of servant (Schenk) and steward (Truchsess) during the decline of the German kingdom in the 13th century to enhance their reputation.
The Stauffenbergs spontaneously retired from the service of the Counts of Zollern in the 15th century after a fratricidal war between the Counts strained their loyalty too much. Now they offered their services to the people of Württemberg. When the famous Duke Ulrich came to power, the Schenks von Stauffenbergs found themselves in a dilemma again. In the eyes of many contemporaries, Ulrich was a murderer and lawbreaker with whom the Stauffenbergs wanted nothing to do.
One branch of the family received a baronial title (Freiherrenstand) in 1698 by Emperor Leopold I, another in 1791 was made an imperial count (Reichsgrafenstand) by Emperor Leopold II. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Stauffenberg line of barons became canons of Bamberg, Würzburg, and Augsburg, as well as members of the government of the prince-bishop of Bamberg and a prince-bishop of Bamberg, Franz Ludwig Schenk Freiherr von Stauffenberg was made hereditary Count of the Kingdom of Bavaria by Ludwig II in 1874.
As a member of the Bavarian state parliament in 1867 and 1870, his nephew Franz August campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty as "a purely human question". In the courtyard of the War Ministry and in the Plötzensee penitentiary in Berlin, it was not spoken of again 77 years later. The question of humanity was just a farce in the Third Reich. Contemporary historical events, power, revolution and war have always shaped the Stauffenberg family into the focal points of German history.
Stauffenberg's sons Claus, Alexander and Berthold spent their youth between Stuttgart, Lautlingen, Jettingen and Amerdingen. They regularly traveled to the North Sea and Berchtesgaden with their parents. Familiar places from his youth: large gardens, halls, the official residence in the Old Palace in Stuttgart, and Wilhelma Park in Cannstatt.
Sources:
http://www.mahnung-gegen-rechts.de/page ... m(Offline)
http://www.vho.org/D/Staatsbriefe/Strauss9_7_8_2.html
http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Hoff.htm (Offline)
Cheers. Raúl M
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