by Danny Orbach
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45. “Only now his importance becomes clear”: Kaiser,Mut zum Bekenntnis, 463, 465–66.
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46. The room for maneuvering was diminishing quickly: See chapter 17.
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14. Code Name U-7: Rescue and Abyss
1. His extraordinary ability to play: Abschrift Huppenkothen, IfZ ZS 0249-1, p. 32.
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2. Inside the Abwehr, he was known: Heinz Höhne, Canaris, trans. J. Maxwell Brownjohn (London: Secker & Warburg, 1979), 168–69.
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3. “one of the people to whom Franco owed his power”: Kruglov to Beria, 6.5.1946, GARF Fond R-9401, Opis 2, Del 136, pp. 256–97; Helmut Krausnick’s interview with Franz Maria Liedig (date unknown), 19–20, Deutsch Papers, series 4, box 15, Liedig.
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4. “I require you to stand foursquare”: Höhne, Canaris, 213; Nuremberg Blue, 3:26.
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5. The notorious anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer: Der Stürmer (Nuremberg), no. 37, September 1937.
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6. “The scenes of devastation in Poland”: Höhne, Canaris, 361–62.
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7. “Canaris was a pure intellect”: Nuremberg Blue, 2:443; Helmut Krausnick’s interview with Franz Maria Liedig (date unknown), 21, Deutsch Papers, series 4, box 15, Liedig.
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8. “While visiting Poznan”: Höhne, Canaris, 362–63.
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9. Very few people, then and now, have known: Rachel Altein, ed., Out of the Inferno: The Efforts That Led to the Rescue of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch from War-Torn Europe in 1939–1940 (New York: Kehot Publication Society, 2002), 14–15, 31–37; Winfried Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben: Eine Rettungsaktion für vom Holocaust Bedrohte aus dem Amt Ausland/Abwehr im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Frankfurt am Main: Hain, 1993), 129–38; Saul S. Deutsch, “Me-Varsha Le-New York Dereh Berlin, Riga Ve-Stockholm: Giluyim Hadashim al Parashat Ha-Hatsala shel Kevod Kedushat Admor Harayats,” Kefar Chabad, 9 Adar, February 1993. For a book-length study of the affair, see Bryan Rigg, Rescued from the Reich: How One of Hitler’s Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004).
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10. Canaris’s agent carried his Great War medal: Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, 137–38.
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11. Some say that he did so: Ibid., 83–84, 88, 120; Gabrielle Lindemann to Dr. Winfried Meyer, 29.11.1985 (Privatbesitz Dr. Winfried Meyers), p. 1.
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12. Canaris spoke out against German crimes: Helmut Krausnick and HansHeinrich Wilhelm, Die Truppe des Weltanschauungskrieges: Die Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitpolizei und des SD, 1938–1942 (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1981), 64; Aktenvermerk über die Besprechung im Führerzug am 12.9.1939 in Illnau 14.9.1939, NARA, Rg.238/3047-PS (US-80); Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, 102–13; Nuremberg Blue, 2:447–48, 454–62, 471–73.
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13. Formally, he was under Canaris: Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, 102–7, 338–37; Christopher Browning, Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939–March 1942 (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem Press, 2004), 289; Gert Buchheit, Die Anonyme Macht: Aufgaben, Methoden, Erfahrungen von Geheimdienste (Frankfurt am Main: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion, 1969), 85; Abschrift Huppenkothen, IfZ ZS 0249-1, p. 38. On the Secret Field Police, see also NARA 1188885 6.18.
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14. “Thank you for the cigars you’ve sent me”: Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, 212, 214.
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15. Schulze-Bernett himself confessed: Ibid., 216.
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16. “Recently, during deportation transports”: Adolf Eichmann an die Geheime Staatspolizei Düsseldorf, 2.12.1941, NWHA, Düsseldorf, RW 58/74234, p. 12.
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17. The letter was likely a ploy: Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, 237, 239.
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18. the key figure in U-7was . . . Dr. Hans von Dohnanyi: Dohnanyi was recently recognized by Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Authority, as a “righteous among the nations,” an honor reserved for non-Jews who saved Jews for humanitarian reasons during the war.
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19. “Nazi treatment of the Jews and the church”: Hans A. Jacobsen, ed., “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung”: Die Opposition gegen Hitler und der Staatsstreich vom 20. Juli 1944 in der SD-Berichterstattung: Geheime Dokumente aus dem ehemaligen Reichssicherheitshauptamt(Stuttgart: Seewald, 1984), 1:519.
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20. as a resistance fighter and a “better German”: Marikje Smid, Hans von Dohnanyi, Christine Bonhoeffer: Eine Ehe im Widerstand gegen Hitler (Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2002), 141; Abschrift der Aufzeichnungen von Frau Christine v. Dohnanyi geb. Bonhoeffer (postwar, undated), 1, Deutsch Papers, series 3, box 3, round 1 Material.
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21. Dohnanyi also helped to record the crimes: Aufzeichnungen Christine von Dohnanyis, 1–6, Deutsch Papers, series 3, box 3, round 1 Material.
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22. an unusual guest came to Abwehr headquarters: Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, 63; Bericht Fritz Arnolds A, DRYV, p. 3. This document, part of the Dohnanyi file at the Department of the Righteous, Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Authority, Jerusalem, was given to me with the courtesy of its former director Dr. Mordechai Paldiel.
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23. Around that time, probably, he made up his mind: Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, 63, 69.
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24. “The Reich Main Security Office has found out”: Ibid., 68–69.
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25. he proposed to smuggle Arnold, Fliess, and their families: Ibid., 69.
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26. Dohnanyi even asked Arnold to help: Bericht Fritz Arnolds A, DRYV, p. 4.
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27. “Admiral Canaris, with whom I spoke only twice”: Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, 98.
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28. their intentions “to employ Jewish agents in Switzerland”: Ibid., 243, 257–59.
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29. “Did you hear, Langer?”: Ibid., 256–57.
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30. he gave the refugees one million goldmarks: Ibid., 303; Niederschrift Manfred Roeder, 3 and 4 December 1951, IfZ, ZS-0124, p. 30, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zs/zs-0124.pdf.
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31. Years later, she admitted that Arnold: Dorothee Fliess, “Geschichte Einer Rettung,” in 20 Juli 1944: Annäherung an den geschichlichen Augenblick, ed. Rüdiger von Boss and Günther Neske (Pfullingen: Neske, 1984), 74.
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32. Nazi authorities discovered the illegal monetary transfer: Sonderegger to Mattmer, 17.10.1952, IfZ, ZS-0303-1, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zs/zs-0303_1.pdf, p. 32.
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33. The Gestapo caught Josef Müller: The best and most reliable description is Roeder’s; see Niederschrift Manfred Roeder, December 3 and 4, 1951, IfZ, ZS-0124, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zs/zs-0124.pdf, pp. 24–30; see also Abschrift Huppenkothen, IfZ ZS 0249-1, pp. 22–25. For detailed description and historical analysis, see Meyer, Unternehmen Sieben, 336–83.
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34. The real nature of Operation U-7had been exposed: Niederschrift Manfred Roeder, IfZ, p. 30.
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35. a Gestapo agent infiltrated a tea party: “Abschrift des Oberreichsanwalts beim Volksgerichtshof 2 J 243/44g Rs. 1 L 214/44, Anklageschrift gegen Elisabeth von Thadden und anderen, 22.6.1944,” in Bengt von zur Mühlen, Die Angeklagten des 20 Juli vor dem Volksgerichtshof (Berlin: Chronos, 2001), 318–27; Abschrift Huppenkothen, IfZ ZS 0249-1, pp. 27–30; Lagi Countess Ballestrem-Solf, “Tea Party,” in We Survived: Fourteen Stories of the Hidden and Hunted of Nazi Germany, ed. Eric H. Boehm (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio Information Services, 1985), 135; Fugger-Gloett to Zeller (undated), Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/1, p. 71.
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36. The Abwehr . . . was dissolved: Abschrift Huppenkothen, IfZ ZS 024
9-1, pp. 41–42.
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15. Count Stauffenberg: The Charismatic Turn
1. Wasn’t that proved by the destructive power: Peter Hoffmann, Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905–1944 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 6.
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2. Even as a child, he said that he wanted: Ibid., 3, and see also 25.
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3. “I often feel I must draw plans”: Ibid., 26.
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4. “His glowing eyes clearly expressed”: Eberhard Zeller, Oberst Claus Graf Stauffenberg: Ein Lebensbild (Paderborn: Schöningh, 1994), 14–15.
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5. “My Germany cannot perish”: Ibid., 8.
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6. “the saddest day in my entire life”: Ibid., 5; Christian Graf von Krockow, Eine Frage der Ehre: Stauffenberg und das Hitler-Attentat vom 20. Juli 1944 (Berlin: Rowohlt, 2004), 28.
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7. they were never among the supporters: Christian Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg: Eine Biographie (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1971), 42–43. See also the testimony of Manfred von Brauchitsch, cited in Wolfgang Venohr, Stauffenberg, Symbol der deutschen Einheit: Eine politische Biographie (Frankfurt am Main: Ullstein, 1986), 61.
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8. “bathed in a mystic, luminous haze”: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 30.
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9. He won a great honor: Dorothee von Meding, Mit dem Mut des Herzens—Die Frauen des 20 Juli (Berlin: Siedler, 1992), 293; Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 51–52.
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10. “in the name of Secret Germany”: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 31–32.
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11. “How can I orient my life”: Zeller, Oberst Claus Graf Stauffenberg, 12–13.
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12. “We believe in the future of the Germans”: The oath is reproduced in full in Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 293–94.
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13. “painful birth of a new Germany”: Zeller, Oberst Claus Graf Stauffenberg, 14.
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14. he wrote a friend from the George circle: Ibid., 20–22.
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15. “I manage well with subordinates”: Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 78.
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16. he preferred Hitler for president: Zeller, Oberst Claus Graf Stauffenberg, 26; Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 69.
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17. he and his younger brother “accepted National Socialist principles”: Hans A. Jacobsen, ed., “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung”: Die Opposition gegen Hitler und der Staatsstreich vom 20. Juli 1944 in der SD-Berichterstattung: Geheime Dokumente aus dem ehemaligen Reichssicherheitshauptamt(Stuttgart: Seewald, 1984), 1:450.
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18. “Do you mind that I’m Jewish?”: Zeller, Oberst Claus Graf Stauffenberg, 34; see also Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 81, 105.
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19. At first, Nina kept her distance: Venhor, Stauffenberg, 57; Konstanze von Schulthess, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg: Ein Porträt (Munich: Pendo, 2008), 50–51.
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20. “to marry is to be on duty”: Krockow, Eine Frage der Ehre, 50; Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 55; Schulthess, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, 60.
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21. Berthold . . . said that the “best part” of his life: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 88–89; Schulthess, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, 50–51, 63, 74–75; Guido Knopp, Stauffenberg: Die wahre Geschichte (Munich: Pendo, 2008), 72, 78.
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22. “iron will, discretion, extraordinary spiritual qualities”: Venohr, Stauffenberg, 75–76.
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23. “He hated German nationalist arrogance”: Zeller, Oberst Claus Graf Stauffenberg, 42.
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24. He told one of his friends: Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 143.
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25. “If the Western world did not disintegrate”: Zeller, Oberst Claus Graf Stauffenberg, 45.
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26. “That lunatic will make war”: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 111. Such unproven stories tend to project Stauffenberg’s later career as a resistance fighter onto his earlier days. For the legend, see Constantine FitzGibbon, The Shirt of Nessus (London: Cassell, 1956), 40, though this author admits that it is not a fact but guesswork. More insistent was Hoepner’s son, who claimed that Stauffenberg was “undoubtedly” initiated by his father. Though Stauffenberg indeed served under Hoepner’s command, he almost certainly knew nothing about the coup plans. See Hoepner to Hoffmann, 3.4.1964, IfZ ZS-2121, p. 2.
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27. “high aim of self-preservation”: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 117.
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28. Stauffenberg lectured her enthusiastically: C. Schulenburg, in Hava Kohav Beller, The Restless Conscience: Resistance to Hitler Within Germany, 1933–1945 (1992; Los Angeles: New Video Group, 2009), DVD.
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29. “This man’s father was not a petty bourgeois”: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 132.
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30. “The inhabitants are an unbelievable rabble”: Ibid., 115.
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31. Stauffenberg told some friends: Ibid., 117; Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 167; Meding, Mit dem Mut des Herzens, 275.
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32. “great organizational talent”: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 119.
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33. “Stauffenberg, tall, slender, agile”: Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 180.
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34. “The entire existing organization”: Ibid., 183. Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 130.
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35. A victory . . . must be capitalized on: Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 192; FitzGibbon, Shirt of Nessus, 42.
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36. He even blamed Hitler for giving up: Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 198, 204.
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37. “we will purge the brown plague”: Ibid., 215–16; Hans Bentzien, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg: Der Täter und seine Zeit (Berlin: Das Neue Berlin, 2004), 182. Stauffenberg spoke similarly in a conversation with Hasso von Etzdorf. When the latter told him that Hitler had to be shot, Stauffenberg disagreed. Only Himmler, he said, had to executed, along with some of the gauleiters. See Niederschrift der Unterredung zwischen Herrn Ministerialdirigent Dr. v. Etzdorf und Herrn Dr. H. Krausnick im Auftrage des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte München, durchgeführt am 26.9.1953 in Bonn, 6, Deutsch Papers, series 3, box 2, Material on Groscurth.
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38. The destruction, in his mind: Nuremberg Blue (USA-556, 411-D), 35:85–86.
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39. Orders issued by Keitel practically allowed: Ibid., (USA-554, 050-C), 34:254.
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40. He warned, again and again: Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 223–24, 227, 235; Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 150.
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41. the rate of desertions from the Red Army: For statistics and analysis, see Mark Solonin, 22 Iunya: Anatomiya Katastrofi (Moscow: Iuza Eskmo, 2008), 359–70.
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42. he “expressed outrage at the brutal treatment”: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 151.
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43. ignore the “little bomb throwers”: Ibid.
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44. “You seem to believe that I am engaged”: “Bericht von Urban Thiersch über seine Begegnungen mit Oberst Graf Stauffenberg im Juli 1944,” Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/2, pp. 355–56. For additional testimony on Stauffenberg’s attempts to win over high officers in 1942, see Sönke Neitzel, Abgehört: Deutsche Generäle in britischer Kriegsgefangenschaft 1942–1945 (Berlin: Propyläen, 2005), pp. 336, 339.
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45. “The daily staff reports”: Kuhn, “Eigenhändige Aussagen,” 190.
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46. “they are shooting Jews in masses”: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 152; Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 257; Rudolf-Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, “History of the Attempt on Hitler’s Life (20 Jul. 1944),” Historical Division Headqu
arters, United States Army Europe, Foreign Military Studies Branch, USAMHI, p. 20; Hans Herwarth von Bittenfeld, “Meine Verbindung mit Graf Stauffenberg” (newspaper clipping, 18.7.1969), Deutsch Papers, series 3, box 2, rounds 3 and 4 Material.
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47. his remarks about the legitimacy of tyrannicide: Speer an den Chef der Securite Publique, 18.10.1945, Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/2, p. 301; Kurt Finker, Stauffenberg und der 20 Juli 1944 (Berlin: Union Verlag, 1967), 74; Bentzien, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, 212; Joachim Kramarz, Claus Graf Stauffenberg: 15. November 1907—20 Juli 1944; Das Leben eines Offiziers (Frankurt am Main: Bernard & Graefe, 1965), 113.
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48. “We are sowing hatred”: Müller, Oberst i. G. Stauffenberg, 255.
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49. Many officers in the high command: Bericht Thiersch, Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/2, p. 356; Finker, Stauffenberg, 76–77; Kramarz, Claus Graf Stauffenberg, 114.
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50. Tresckow and others watched him: Stahlberg to Scheurig (interview, 15.9.1965), Scheurig Papers, IfZ ZS/A 0031-3, http:://www.ifz-muenchen.de/archiv/zsa/ZS_A_0031_03.pdf, p. 111.
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51. The officer who reprimanded him: Bericht Thiersch, Zeller Papers, IfZ ED 88/2, p. 356; Finker, Stauffenberg, 154.
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52. “How refreshing it is to visit [the front]”: The letter is reproduced in full in Kramarz, Claus Graf Stauffenberg, 226 (appendix). For Broich’s anti-Nazi attitude and positive evaluation of Stauffenberg, see Neitzel, Abgehört, p. 336.
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53. “Stauffenberg’s uniforms had not yet been bleached”: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 164.
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54. Late that morning, Stauffenberg took leave: Ibid., 178–79.
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55. Thus, a hole opened: Otto John, Twice Through the Lines: The Autobiography of Otto John, trans. Richard Barry (London: Macmillan, 1972), 117, 139; Jacobsen, “Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung,” 1:178, 364–65.
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56. “If the generals have not achieved anything”: Hoffmann, Stauffenberg, 183; Meding, Mit dem Mut des Herzens, 275.
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57. “The struggle against National Socialism”: Kuhn, “Eigenhändige Aussagen,” 191.
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58. “Any chance, be it the slightest”: Based on the testimony of Olga von Saucken, Üxküll’s daughter, reproduced in Kramarz, Claus Graf Stauffenberg, 245. See also Üxküll’s own testimony at the People’s Court: “Verräter vor dem Volksgericht, Teil II, Rolle 4, Ton / 294 m / 10,45 min,” in Bengt von zur Mühlen, ed., Die Angeklagten des 20 Juli vor dem Volksgerichtshof (Berlin: Chronos, 2001), 257.
