Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944 [Hardcover]

Peter Hoffmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 1995

This book examines the extraordinary personality of Claus Count Stauffenberg, a key figure in the 1944 coup attempt against Hitler. Stauffenberg's personality is thrown into relief by a study of his two brothers and other family members and friends. The three Stauffenberg brothers, Berthold, Alexander, and Claus, were inseparable both emotionally and intellectually. Their view of human existence was rooted in their south-German aristocratic background, in classical antiquity, and in Christian culture. This 'family biography' describes how the brothers' professions and their political and military environments led them to take fundamental positions on their government's and Hitler's tyranny. Inevitably the book focuses on Claus Count Stauffenberg's military career and his fight to overthrow Hitler, culminating in the attempted assassination and coup of 20 July 1944. No other work has yet probed Stauffenberg's life and mind so deeply, or has offered such a comprehensive account of resistance to Hitler at the highest administrative level.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Originally published in 1955, this is the story of three brothers, Berthold, Alexander, and Claus von Stauffenberg, whose lives evolve from idyllic childhood in a wealthy noble family to martyrdom in the resistance against Hitler.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

'... a meticulously researched biography ... thought-provoking ...'. The Boston Globe

'... the chief strength of Hoffmann's meticulously researched study is that it permits us to see the Stauffenbergs as men of their era.' Christopher Clark, Times Higher Education Supplement

'What if the anti-Nazi conspirators had succeeded in blowing up Hitler in July 1944? While it would have shortened the war, it would have made little difference to the peace, argues Peter Hoffmann in this brilliant biography.' The Financial Times

'... a work of enormous erudition ... The book also gives a gripping and authoritative account of the planning and execution of the conspiracy itself.' Jonathan Wright, Oxford University

'A model of dispassionate historical investigation and exposition ... This book is a major contribution to a specific historical discussion and a model of immense erudition, exhaustive research, and intense moral concern.' Robert W. Whalen, American Historical Review

'... an immensely readable book, which locates Stauffenberg's life, career and personal political dilemmas in the broader intellectual and political history of the time.' Tim Kirk, English Historical Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 442 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; First English Edition edition (October 27, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521453070
• ISBN-13: 978-0521453073
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,610,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Es lebe unser heiliges Deutschland!, November 15, 2005

By 

Coastwatcher (The Beach) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944 (Paperback)

"Long live our holy Germany" were the last words of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg on the night of July 20, 1944. Peter Hoffmann's magnificient book is a salute to the Stauffenberg brothers and most importantly Claus von Stauffenberg. Stauffenberg was the real thing, a man of deep Christian principles and extradionary courage who knew that the future of Germany was more important than his life and the life of his fellow conspirators. He made the ultimate sacrifice so that others could live in freedom. Stauffenberg is not only a hero of Germany, but of anyone on earth who loves freedom and respects the laws of God and humanity. Stauffenberg was Germany's guardian angel, who attempted to save his nation and slay the man he deemed "the antichrist." Doctor Hoffmann paints a wonderful picture of Stauffenberg's early life and military career. He then moves into minute detail of the plot to kill Hitler and the man whom fate had chosen to lead it. Simply a great scholastic achievement.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ultimate Stauffenberg biography., July 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944 (Hardcover)

Peter Hoffmann's biography of Stauffenberg is the best anyone is likely to write on the subject. The book comprehensively assesses all primary sources hitherto used by Stauffenberg's previous biographers, plus many additional sources which the author himself found. Hoffmann's previous books, among them 'THE HISTORY OF THE GERMAN RESISTANCE, 1933-1945', and 'HITLER'S PERSONAL SECURITY' serve as a foundation to this work which, all told, spans 30 years of scholarly research. As the depth and breadth of this study eclipses any other attempt to date, its conclusions are unassailably judicious. Thus, Hoffmann's 'STAUFFENBERG' has made perhaps the most definitive contribution to the historical field of resistance to the Third Reich.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "It must be done. Now.", July 17, 2008

By 

J from NY (New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905-1944 (Paperback)

Aside from being the single man in history to make several (and one very famous) attempts on the life of Adolf Hitler, Claus Von Stauffenberg was a unique guy.

Born in 1907 to Prussian aristocracy, Stauffenberg was playing the cello, reciting Shakespeare, and taking an interest in Catholic theology
by the age of exactly 12. Had he made a career out of any of these three, his fate would have been less cruel. Claus Von Stauffenberg, though, was a born soldier.

Ultimately becoming a General Staff officer in the German Abwehr, Stauffenberg and his brothers Berthold and Alexander still made considerable time for poet Stefan George, and were part of his "Secret Germany", a quasi-mystical poetic cult of sorts which worshipped George as "Master, and the three brothers were were prophesied by the poet manque as the future leaders of the Fatherland. Goethe, Holderlin, Rilke and Nietzsche were heralded as the predecessors of the movement. The problem with the entire affair was that George was not very talented and his literary salon was composed mostly of teenage boys.

Despite George, the slow but sure rise of the Third Reich (which, like most Germans, Stauffenberg initially welcomed and his inevitable participation in nearly all of Germany's military campaigns, Claus Von Stauffenberg always retained an odd detachment from his surroundings and a sense of self which was very strong.

The sheer wealth and richness of not only Stauffenberg's life, but the life of his wealthy and somewhat sheltered family--his career as a decorated soldier in the Wehrmacht, his prestige as a model, and as head of the General Staff office--makes his brutal death in front of the Bendleerstrasse in Germany a surreal and bizarre turn of events.

Stauffenberg was aware of Germany's imminent defeat, yet as early as 1942 he was making some quit imprudent remarks about the Fuhrer: "In August 1942 Stauffenberg told Major Joachim Kuhn, a close friend, that the treatment of the Jews and other civilians was monstrous, *that Hitler had lied about the cause of the war*, and that he had to be removed. He then shouted: "They are shooting Jews in the masses. These crimes must not be allowed to continue!"

Then in in another outbrust which later got him arrested, news of more atrocities sparked Stauffenberg to scream in front of SS and general staff alike:"Does not one German soldier have the courage to shoot that pig?"

Attempt after attempt failed; Stauffenberg was regularly seen carrying a "remarkably plump briefcase" (as Albert Speer put it) to three different meetings in Hitler's "Wolf's Lair" in Prussia. Once Hitler did not show up: the second time Stauffenberg's incompetent superiors instructed him to not to set the fuse, and the third time the bomb exploded and by sheer chance did not kill Hitler.

Even in the face of the Gestapo's considerable wrath, Stauffenberg did his best to get the coup de'etat to to succeed. In a most fortunate turn of events for Stauffenberg, probably, a General Staff officer involved in the plot turned on the other plotters and had a handful of them, Claus included, shot on the night of July 20, 1944.

Why? Why was such a priviliged and wealthy figure in the German army who would certainly never have been charged with war crimes choose to sacrifice his life, the life of his family and friends, in an attempt so tenuous and fraught with uncertainty?

The answer, I think, lies in Stauffenberg's unbelievable bravery, sense of common decency, and Christian background. Without these things he may indeed have been a terrifying force for the Third Reich. He could no longer stomach what was going on around him. Peter Hoffmann here gives the definitive biography of this heroic man who embodies perhaps the most inspiring example of "what might have been" in history. A must read.