Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Berthold von Stauffenberg
Berthold Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg is the name of both the brother and the son of Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg.
The Brother
The brother of Claus and uncle of young Berthold lived from (March 15, 1905 until August 10, 1944). He was a German lawyer and conspirator in the July 20 Plot.
He was the oldest of three brothers, the others being Alexander and Claus, born into one of the oldest and most distinguished aristocratic South German Catholic families. His parents were the last Oberhofmarschall of the Kingdom of Württemberg, Alfred Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, and Caroline née von Üxküll-Gyllenbrand. Among his ancestors were several famous Prussians, including most notably August von Gneisenau. His name points to the imperial Stauffen Berg mountain and castle.
A lawyer, he became instructor in international law at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Foreign and International Law in 1927. He worked at the Hague from 1930-32. Married Maria Classen. In 1939 he joined the navy, working in the High Command as a staff judge.
His brother, Claus, planted a bomb at the Führer's briefing hut at the military high command in Rastenburg, East Prussia on July 20, 1944 and then flew to Berlin, where he met up with Berthold at Rangsdorf airfield and they went to Bendlerstrasse, which the coup leaders intended to use as the centre of their operations in Berlin.
Berthold and his brother were arrested at Bendlerstrasse. Claus was executed by firing squad that night. Berthold was tried in the People's Court by Roland Freisler on 10 August and was one of eight conspirators executed by strangulation, hung slowly in Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, later that day.
The Son
The son of Claus and nephew of Berthold was born July 3, 1934. He graduated from Salem and became an officer in West Germany's new army as soon as it was established in the 1950's. As Supreme Commander of Territorial Command South, he retired in 1994 with the rank of Generalmajor. He lives in Southern Germany.
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