“It is time that we do something. But the man who has the courage to do something must do it knowing that he will go down in German history as a traitor. However, if he doesn't, he will be a traitor to his own conscience."
These and other words attributed to Count Claus von Stauffenberg, colonel of the Wehrmacht General Staff in 1944, reached German schools 75 years after his execution, that same 1944, when Nazi Germany faced its military and moral collapse and a group of officers hatched an ambitious plan to finish off Adolf Hitler.
Stauffenberg was responsible for leaving in the Wolf's Lair, in what was then East Prussia (today Poland) where in July 1944 the General Staff was meeting, chaired by Hitler, the briefcase with two bombs that were to end the life of the führer. It was the beginning of the so-called Valkyrie operation, which contemplated the configuration of a new provisional regime protected by the Army of Reserves.
Everything had been planned for months, and on the second attempt, Stauffenberg managed to leave the briefcase under the table where Hitler was reviewing the plans with the progression of the Eastern front and activate one of the two explosive devices. No one could suspect a young officer from the Bavarian nobility who had lost his left eye, his right hand and two fingers on his left in the last campaign of the Africa Korps alongside General Erwin Rommel, who was also part of the conspiracy.
And the bomb, indeed, exploded, killing four of those attending that meeting and injuring the rest, although Hitler received only minor burns, shallow incisive wounds caused by dozens of splinters from the oak table on which he was sitting. bent over, bruises on the right elbow and both perforated eardrums. Nothing that prevented him from going to look for Benito Mussolini a few hours later at the nearby Görlitz station (today Gieloz). Hence, the Duce appears in many of the iconic images of the action as one of the spectators of the scene that left the attack.
Stauffenberg managed to flee to Berlin despite the fact that the compound was immediately shielded. The two Spanish expedition members who blocked his way allowed him to leave following the orders of the guard chief. But in the capital, a good part of the plot having been unraveled quickly, he was arrested and shot a day later.
His story, for years, was that of a traitor, mainly in the Federal Republic, despite the fact that in the 1960s Bonn recognized him by dedicating a postage stamp to him. Several historians highlighted decades later his prominent role in the failed uprising beyond his role in leaving the explosive device and promoting a line of thought contrary to totalitarianism within the Army.
Ernst Kaltenbrunner, one of the main architects of the "final solution" to exterminate the Jews from the concentration camps, wrote a complete report on the conspiracy in which is the Appeal to the German people written by which he did not hesitate to call the Stauffenberg Group. A document that we reproduce extracted.
“Following their conscience, they proved to be true patriots. They urge us to be vigilant and confront racism and nationalism in all its facets," said Angela Merkel in her tribute to him in 2019, when the figure of Claus von Stauffenberg finally occupied a prominent place in contemporary German history. and universal.
"Hitler's tyranny has been unmasked. Scandalous things have happened before our eyes in recent years. Not through the fault of the German people, but through intrigues of the worst kind, Hitler rose to the top of the government through trickery and lies , through extravagant tricks, which seemed to bring advantages to all, but in reality plunged us into poverty and debt, confused the spirits and souls of our people, even created a disastrous hoax outside Germany.
To stay in power he established a reign of terror. Our people were once allowed to pride themselves on their honesty and legality. But Hitler disregarded the divine commandments, destroyed the law, excluded decency and destroyed the happiness of millions of people.
He considered the honor and dignity, the freedom and the lives of others, as something worthless. Countless Germans, but also citizens of other nations languish in concentration camps for years, subjected to the greatest torment and often terrible torture.
In this war, intoxication with power, arrogance and the madness for conquest found their highest expression. He shamefully abuses the bravery and devotion of our soldiers. Huge sacrifices from all the people are wasted senselessly. Against the advice of experts, Hitler sacrificed entire armies to quench his thirst for glory, his conceit of power, his blasphemous delusion that he was the appointed and gifted instrument of providence.
Things can't go on like this! We would not be worthy of our parents and we would be despised by our children if we did not have the courage to do everything, absolutely everything, to get away from terrible danger and regain our respect for ourselves.
Our goal is the true community of people, based on respect, help and social justice.
We prefer the fear of God instead of self-deification, justice and freedom in history instead of violence and terror, truth and cleanliness instead of lies and self-interest. We want to restore our honor and therefore our position in the community of peoples.
We want to do everything possible to heal the wounds that this war has inflicted on all peoples and restore trust between them. The culprits who desecrated the good reputation of our people and brought so much disgrace on us and other peoples will be punished."
