- At
- thirty-seven,
- Colonel
- Count
- Claus
- von
- Stauffenberg,
- Chief
- of
- Staff
- of
- the
- Reich
- Reserve
- Army,
- was
- a
- charismatic
- figure
- destined
- for
- supreme
- command.
- The
- group
- of
- conspirators
- with
- whom
- he
- conceived
- the
- plot
- to
- kill
- Hitler
- in
- July
- 1944
- was
- called
- 'Secret
- Germany'.
- That
- was
- also
- the
- name
- of
- the
- esoteric
- circle
- in
- which
- Stauffenberg
- as
- a
- young
- man
- had
- been
- a
- disciple
- of
- the
- mystic
- anti-Nazi
- magus
- and
- poet
- Stefan
- George.
- What
- was
- it
- that
- motivated
- this
- extraordinary
- aristocratic
- soldier,
- with
- the
- looks
- of
- a
- Hollywood
- idol,
- who
- was
- said
- to
- be
- the
- only
- man
- to
- stare
- the
- Fuhrer
- down
- until
- he
- averted
- his
- eyes?
- For
- Stauffenberg,
- the
- bomb
- plot
- was
- not
- a
- political
- move
- but
- a
- moral
- and
- spiritual
- necessity.
- After
- forty-two
- serious
- attempts
- on
- Hitler's
- life
- in
- the
- previous
- twenty
- years,
- why
- did
- he
- too
- fail?
- Had
- he
- succeeded,
- some
- say
- he
- would
- have
- become
- the
- de
- Gaulle
- of
- Germany,
- saviour
- of
- the
- nation
- soul.
- Even
- in
- failure,
- there
- can
- be
- no
- doubt
- of
- Stauffenberg's
- heroism.
- He
- stands
- as
- atonement
- for
- the
- Third
- Reich
- and
- a
- resolution
- of
- the
- conflicting
- myths
- of
- German
- culture.
- In
- this
- remarkable
- investigation,
- his
- whole
- life
- explains
- a
- troubled
- past
- to
- the
- present
- generation
- of
- Europeans
- as
- few
- have
- done
- in
- recent history.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
