Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg was a primary conspirator in the attempted assassination of German dictator, Adolf Hitler, along with military leaders Hermann Goering and Heinrich Himmler. By 1944, a small group of high-ranking German officials had come to believe that assassination was the only option to prevent Hitler from continuing to pursue the suicidal course he had started. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/assassination-plot-against-hitler-fails

Stauffenberg’s background

Claus von Stauffenberg was born in 1907 at his family’s castle in the south of Germany. He attended the War Academy in Berlin and joined the army in 1926. He served in combat in all of Hitler’s major battles and was seriously wounded during a military operation in North Africa, which cost him his left eye, right hand and the last two fingers of the left hand. During Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Stauffenberg became aware of and took exception to the atrocities committed by the German Army against Soviet prisoners of war, the Jews and other civilians in Russia. After being promoted to Colonel in June of 1944 and appointed Chief of Staff to Home Army Commander General Friedrich Fromm, Stauffenberg gained direct access to Hitler’s briefing sessions.

Claus von Stauffenberg

The coup to kill Hitler

Following Hitler’s and his military leaders’ presumed death, the plan called for three men to take control of the German Army: Friedrich Fromm, Ludwig Beck and Erwin von Witzleben. The men were also to seize key government buildings, radio stations and telephone centers. Stauffenberg was to become State Secretary of the War Ministry. On the fateful day of July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg and his aide, Werner von Haeften, flew to a briefing with Hitler and other officials at the Wolfschanze–Wolf’s Lair–Hitler’s military headquarters on the eastern front. Stauffenberg, who had never met Hitler before, carried a bomb in his briefcase. He placed it on the floor of the briefing room and seemingly left to make a phone call. Shortly thereafter the bomb exploded. Assuming that the assassination had succeeded, Stauffenberg and Haeften returned to Berlin to put the second part of the planned coup into motion. However, co-conspirator General Friedrich Olbricht had failed to seize key government buildings, radio stations and telephone centers in the interim. And worse, the news came that Hitler had survived the blast with only a badly injured arm. The plot unraveled quickly and the following day, Stauffenberg was executed by firing squad.