Claus von Stauffenberg

Claus von Stauffenberg (ˈklaʊ̯s ˈfɔn ˈʃtaʊ̯fn̩bɛʁk; 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. Alongside Major General Henning von Tresckow and General Hans Oster, Stauffenberg was a central figure in the conspiracy against Hitler within the Wehrmacht. Shortly following the foiled Operation Valkyrie plot, he was executed by firing squad. As a military officer from a noble background, 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. Stauffenberg Stauffenberg was born in Stauffenberg Castle, Jettingen on 15 November 1907 and baptised as Claus Philipp Maria Justinian. His parents came from noble backgrounds, with his father, Alfred Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the last Oberhofmarschall of the Kingdom of Württemberg and mother, Caroline Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, née Gräfin von Üxküll-Gyllenband, the daughter of Alfred Richard August Graf von Üxküll-Gyllenband and Valerie Gräfin von Hohenthal. From birth, Stauffenberg inherited the hereditary titles of Graf (Count) and Schenk (Cupbearer), leaving him referred to by his first name and Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg until the 1919 Weimar Constitutional Law abolished privileges of nobility. His maternal ancestors included Field Marshal August von Gneisenau. In his youth, Stauffenberg grew up in Bavaria, where he and his brothers were members of the Neupfadfinder, a German Scout association and part of the German Youth movement. Though he and his brothers were carefully educated, and Stauffenberg was inclined towards literature, he eventually took up a military career, fitting with his family's traditional expectations. In 1926, he joined the family's traditional regiment, the Reiterregiment 17 (17th Cavalry Regiment) in Bamberg.