Claus von Stauffenberg and four fellow conspirators are executed for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Claus von Stauffenberg was a German army officer and a key figure in the resistance against Adolf Hitler during World War II. Born on November 15, 1907, in Jettingen, Bavaria, Stauffenberg is best known for his central role in the July 20, 1944, assassination attempt on Hitler, commonly referred to as the “20 July Plot.”

Stauffenberg came from an aristocratic family and pursued a military career, rising to the rank of Colonel. Initially, he supported Hitler and the Nazi regime, but he became increasingly disillusioned with the atrocities committed by the Nazis, particularly after witnessing the treatment of Jews and the conduct of the war on the Eastern Front.

By 1942, Stauffenberg joined a group of conspirators within the German military who aimed to overthrow Hitler and establish a government that could negotiate a peace settlement with the Allies. He played a leading role in planning and executing the assassination attempt, which involved placing a bomb in a conference room at Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair headquarters in East Prussia.

On July 20, 1944, Stauffenberg planted the bomb and left the room, believing Hitler would be killed in the explosion. However, Hitler survived the blast with relatively minor injuries. The failure of the assassination attempt led to a swift and brutal crackdown by the Nazi regime. Stauffenberg and many of his fellow conspirators were arrested, and he was executed by firing squad on July 21, 1944.

Claus von Stauffenberg is remembered as a symbol of the German resistance against Hitler and as a man who took significant personal risks in an attempt to end the tyranny of the Nazi regime.