Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler, by Its Last Member (18 page)

1.
This residence was sold to the municipal government in 1923.

1.
Although the republican constitution secularized education, primary education remained under the de facto supervision of the clergy.

1.
I did not personally experience this episode, because at that time I was several hundred kilometers away. But my brother told me about it. Moreover, the following sequence has been described in the Sixth Division’s journal of operations.

1.
The Eighty-sixth Division’s movements were, after the sickle-shaped sweep toward the English Channel, part of the German
General Staff’s other great strategic maneuver intended to cut up and disorganize the French defense.

1.
Karl von Wendt, an officer under Georg’s command, comments on the attitude of the French people he had been able to observe in the town where Georg was in charge: “What is most surprising is that in both their behavior toward us and in their way of life, there was no sign that the French had lost the war to us. In the long run, they will finally realize this. It is equally strange to see so few people mourning, even though we can assume that every family has sustained a loss. However, we hear many people say that they are in captivity in Germany. But since these prisoners provide very favorable reports regarding the manner in which they are treated in Germany, the population is very friendly and helpful to us. People never cease to go into ecstasies over the fact that we are very decent boys, and they do not hesitate to express very clearly their admiration for our army. In particular, they are astonished by the quality of our discipline, and they put the blame for their defeat wholly on the poor leadership of the French armies.” (Florence Fehrenbach,
Un coeur allemand: Karl von Wendt (1911–1942), un catholique d’une guerre à l’autre
[Toulouse: Privat, 2006], p. 138.

2.
This is once again corroborated by Karl von Wendt, Georg’s faithful battalion chonicler, in a letter written to his wife on July 20, 1941, in the heat of action: “The Russian people reject this war more and more as we advance, and themselves call the Russian Army ‘Bolsheviks,’ with whom they have no relationship. In many places we see people bringing their crosses and icons out of hiding places; many of the prisoners display religious medals to prove their good faith when we ask whether they are Bolsheviks. Hardly a day goes by without people among the civilian population, usually older people, telling us that communists are still hiding
in the forests. Obviously, we can’t go running after every one of them, but I think the civilian population is 70 percent on our side. In particular, when they have lived a few days alongside German soldiers and have been able to see that we aren’t killers and brigands like the Reds, who behave in a truly crazy way within their own country. In the long run, the Russians would be able to maintain that kind of regime, and the game will soon be up for the Reds who are holding power. May the Lord be merciful if they fall into the hands of this people whom they have persecuted for twenty years now. The few cities and towns that there are here are now being systematically burned by the Reds, but that does not harm us or put us in danger, only it will take the country a long time to rebuild itself.” (Ibid., p. 236.)

1.
These were 75 mm mortars, adapted so that they could be pulled by horses at a trot. They had a limited range.

1.
Since 1938, Oster had been risking his life in an effort to bring together undecided generals in order to lead them to undertake a putsch and prevent a war that would be disastrous for Germany. The Abwehr had understood this as early as the mid-1930s, because the country did not have the resources to sustain a long war (a replay of its situation in 1914). Several times, Oster had purely and simply committed treason, handing over to the Western powers information regarding war plans and communicating to the Dutch military attaché on May 8, 1940, the date the offensive was to begin.

2.
Letter to Anna-Therese Freifrau von Wendt, October 5, 1942.

3.
Letter to Anna-Therese Freifrau von Wendt, October 12, 1942.

1.
In 1924 Bach-Zelewski had been expelled from the Reichswehr because of his pro-Nazi sympathies. After half a decade of struggling to survive in one job after another, he received a large inheritance. He joined the Nazi Party in 1930 and the SS in 1931, and he became a deputy to the Reichstag in 1932.

2.
In 1942 Bach-Zelewski fell into a deep depression that left him on the verge of madness. He both conceived and organized the battle against partisans, and he was also an advocate of recourse to “the most brutal means.” On this subject, see J. L. Leleu,
La Waffen SS
(Paris: Perrin, 2007), pp. 788–95. We can imagine that Kluge at least suspected what kind of man he was dealing with.

3.
Bach-Zelewski died in 1972, after ten years in prison.

4.
Stargard (in Polish, Starogard) had been given to Poland in May 1920 along with the Polish Corridor, and was reincorporated into Prussia in November 1939 after the destruction of Poland.

1.
The Wolfsschanze, near Rastenburg in East Prussia, is the best known and the best organized of the different general headquarters. The one in Vinnytsya, Wehrwolf, was used from July to October 1942.

1.
Böhne was an estate belonging to Field Marshal Kluge’s wife.

1.
Bernd von Kleist was then an administrative officer on the staff.

1.
The story told by the noncommissioned officer Heetmann expresses the admiration and even affection that his men felt for their leader, which is also proven by the use of Georg’s nickname: “Yes, our Schorsch [Georg] is coming to visit his good old squadron. We all like him and venerate him, and we would follow him into hell. We can hardly control our impatience. While waiting, we’ve all gathered, some at his post, others in front of his bunker. No one is cold, despite the Siberian cold, because our Schorsch is going to arrive. And then, suddenly, like a hunter on the lookout for game, there he is in front of us, accompanied by our King of iron and steel. He smiles at us, shakes our hands, and talks to us the way a father talks to his children. He knows how much we are suffering, he knows that things are going badly for us. He talks about the future. Everything is silent, we hang on his every word. He is going to get us out of here and put together a cavalry group. At the mere thought of that, all the cavalrymen’s hearts swell in their breasts. Then he shakes everyone’s hand again, wishes us good luck, and bids us farewell.” (Quoted by Hans-Joachim Witte and Peter Offermann,
Die Boeselagerschen Reiter: Das Kavallerie-Regiment Mitte und die aus ihm hervorgegangene 3. Kavallerie-Brigade/Division
[Schild Verlag, 1998], p. 23.)

1.
After the war, Hans Herwarth von Bitterfeld became the German ambassador in London and a secretary of state to President Heinrich Lübke.

2.
It is impossible to say with certainty whether it was these explosives that he used in the following days. It seems, in fact, that Stauffenberg had explosives that came from at least four different sources, only two of which were discovered by the Gestapo. The
precautions taken at every step of the way prevented the investigators from reconstituting the whole sequence.

1.
Hidding was finally interred about August 16, 1944, a month after his death, along the road to Jedrejzow, at the same place as the grandfather of Florence Fehrenbach.

1.
Major Kuhn survived his captivity in Russia, but returned to Germany in very poor condition.

2.
Born Erika von Falkenhayn, she was the daughter of the German commanding general at the battle of Verdun in 1916; he was later defeated by the British in Palestine in 1917. Since his leave in 1943, she had been aware of what her husband was doing.

3.
Luke 1:74: “that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies/might serve him without fear.”

1.
On the outskirts of Zossen, since 1908 the town of Wünsdorf had been the home of an army training center, which became the army’s official School of Athletics in 1924.

1.
On Karl von Wendt (1911–1942), his life, and his correspondence, see Florence Fehrenbach,
Un coeur allemand
(Toulouse: Privat, 2006).

Hoffmann, Peter.
German Resistance to Hitler
. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988.

Thun-Hohenstein, Romedio Galeazzo.
Der Verschwörer: General Oster
und die Militäropposition
. Berlin: Severin und Siedler, 1982.

von Tresckow, Henning.
Ich bin, der ich war
. Berlin: Lukas Verlag, 2001.

Doepgen, Heinz W.
Georg von Boeselager: Kavallerie-Offizier in der Militäropposition gegen Hitler
. Herford, Germany: Mittler, 1986.

Grossmann, Horst.
Die Geschichte der Rheinisch-Westfälischen 6. Infanterie-Division 1939–1945
. Bad Nauheim: Hans-Henning Podzun Verlag, 1958.

Haape, Dr. Heinrich.
Endstation Moskau 1941–1942
. Stuttgart Motorbuch Verlag, 1998. (A very detailed and lively account of the beginning of the Russian campaign, written by the physician of the Third Battalion of the Eighteenth Infantry Regiment of the Sixth Division. With maps and illustrations.)

Witte, Hans-Joachim, and Peter Offermann.
Die Boeselagerschen
Reiter: Das Kavallerie-Regiment Mitte und die aus ihm hervorgegangene 3, Kavallerie-Brigade/Division
, Munich: Schild Verlag, 1998.

Fehrenbach, Florence.
Un coeur allemand: Karl von Wendt (1911–1942)
,
un catholique d’une guerre à l’autre
. Toulouse: Privat, 2006.

Kageneck, August von.
Examen de conscience
. Paris: Perrin, 1996.

____.
Lieutenant de Panzer
. Paris: Perrin, 1994.

    
1.1
Philipp and his siblings in front of the family house. © Collection Boeselager.

    
1.2
Philipp, nine years old, with his father’s hunting trophy, September 1926. © Collection Boeselager.

    
2.1
Berlin, September 1938: parade of the Paderborn Fifteenth Cavalry Regiment honoring Mussolini. © Collection Boeselager.

    
7.1
January 1942, Hitler’s headquarters at Rastenburg, East Prussia: decoration of (from left to right) Hans Jordan, Karl Eibl, Günter Hoffmann-Schönbron, Georgvon Boeselager, and Karl-Heinz Noak. © Ullstein Bild.

    
8.1
Headquarters of Army Group Center, summer 1942: Philipp, sitting; Captain Bülow, standing. © Collection Boeselager.

    
9.1
Kluge’s office at Smolensk. © Collection Boeselager.

    
9.2
Departure of the Army Group Center general staff for a tour of the battlefield (September 1942). © Collection Boeselager.

    
9.3
July 1942: Kluge on the battlefield; Philipp is at right. © Collection Boeselager.

  
14.1
The officers’ dining room where the March 1943 attempt to shoot Hitler was to take place. © Collection Boeselager.

  
16.1
Operations briefing, Russia, July 1943. © Collection Boeselager.

  
18.1
With Lieutenant Schulte, at Patrykozy (fifteen kilometers north of Second Army headquarters at Petrikov), 1944. © Collection Boeselager.

  
20.1
The two brothers with their comrades from the Third Cavalry Brigade. © Collection Boeselager.

  
20.2
Tresckow, Georg, and Oertzen. © Collection Boeselager.

  
20.3
August 2, 1944: Georg presents the Iron Cross First Class to his brother. © Collection Boeselager.

  
21.1
Philipp in May 1945. © Collection Boeselager.

epl.1
July 9, 2004. © AFP (Agence France-Presse).

epl.2
July 20, 2004: Philipp, with his wife, Rosy, at the Ploetzensee Memorial in Berlin. © AFP (Agence France-Presse).