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Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler, by Its Last Member

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I found this a remarkably interesting book, even though I agree with a previous reviewer that relatively little specifically limited to Valkyrie is discussed. What makes the book so worthwhile for those interested in the period are several considerations. First, since the book is somewhat of an autobiography by von Boeselager we gain an invaluable perspective into how some old line German noble families felt about Hitler and the Nazi leadership, but also why despite these adverse feelings the Boeselager family nonetheless sacrificed two dead sons and nearly lost a third during the course of the second world war. The book is unique in that the author (who was the sole survivor of the various plots against Hitler and died in 2008 after being honored in France for his role in the conspiracy) is uniquely qualified to explain what motivated these German patriots, with generations of military ancestors in their backgrounds, to contemplate, plan, and attempt on several occasions to eliminate their commander-in chief. The plotters fully realized that if they were successful, they would more likely be seen as traitors than heroes in Germany. While they are busy plotting, many if these officers are daily fighting an incredibly bloody war on the eastern front; I lost track of how many times the author and his famous brother, Georg, were wounded while leading calvary forces.

A most intriguing question always has been why did these senior military officials undertake to remove Hitler? The author is emphatic that the explanations we often hear from historians were not the true motivating factors. That is, the plotters did not believe they could negotiate a separate peace with the western allies, preserve the German areas seized during the war, hold on to German territories, or even end the war. Rather, it was to save lives--some 16,000 a day as one conspiratorial General estimated it.

We also learn from the ultimate insider how the various plots were planned, avoided detection, were executed, and why they failed. At least three serious attempts were planned prior to Valkyrie and it is interesting to see how they came undone. For example, one plan to assassinate Hitler at a luncheon with senior officers during a visit to the front was quashed when the plotters realized that Himmler was not present, and that the result might have been a horrible SS bloodbath and seizure of the government if Hitler were removed. Others failed due to defective explosives. While the author was on the eastern front while von Staufenberg discharged his explosives, it is fascinating to see how the author and his brother were able undetected to move their calvary detachment nearly to an airport where arrangements had been made to fly the troops to Berlin to capture a part of the city, then return them to their proper location again undetected. The final point of interest is how the author escaped detection and punishment...it was largely the result of all the other plotters committing suicide, being executed by the SS, or killed by the Russians (including his brother) and their determination not to betray their fellow plotters no matter what torture was inflicted on them. The book includes many photos from the author's own collection and a brief bibliography. A rare insider account of something that could have changed the course of history.

The title suggests that this books is about the Valkyrie plot, when it is about a number of plots against Hitler, and Valkyrie is only briefly mentioned, whithout any details. In fact, this book was published in Germany as "We want Hitler dead" - a much more compatible name. It's clear that the publishers renamed it after the movie, which is rather deceiving.

In spite of that, it's a nice biography, and is worth reading as a general WWII resource. However, if you're looking for specific Valkyrie info, pick another one.

Others have been critical that this book is not specifically about the famous plot to kill Hitler. They are right, the Tom Cruise film does a pretty good job at that. However this is a gem of a book, fairly short but an emotional, powerful and engaging sense of the circumstances under which German officers came to see Hitler as evil. It highlights the difference between the German military and the SS and the Nazis and the circumstances under which Nazi standards seeped into a country trying to regain it's honour an dignity.

The cover mentions Valkyrie but also clearly states it is "the memoirs of the conspiracy's last survivor", Philipp Von Boeselager. From a slightly aristocratic family Philipp and his brothers were free thinking outdoors types for whom the German army in the late 1930s provided an opportunity to rebuild their country and to drag it back from the sorry state WW1 had left it in. Proud and athletic Philipp and his brother Georg join the cavalry, (and I was amazed how much the Germans used horseback cavalry during the war and especially on the Russian Front) and eventually war breaks out....

At this point this is a memoir mainly dealing with Philipp and his very talented brother and their military experience up to and including the horrors of the Russian front where the supplies ran out and the temperature dropped lower then they thought was possible. This is a tale of dedicated and talented officers with a total focus on their jobs, but gradually the reality of what was happening to Germany under the Nazis starts to seep through to them and their world changes. For Philipp it was an officer casually boasting about the slaughter of some Gypsies. Eventually like minded officers get together and try to assassinate Hitler to bring the war to an early close.

The Von Boeselager brothers were brave and honourable soldiers and there were many instances where they risked themselves to either save their men or the ethnic groups being sought by the Nazis. Their cavalry troops became a cornerstone of the famous assassination event portrayed in the film and it is astonishing that they were never identified. Georg was killed towards the end of the war, but Philipp survived until his death in 2008. Philipp held the Iron Cross for his bravery during the war and once his anti-Nazi exploits came to light the French awarded him the Legion d'honneur and he achieved deserved fame in Germany.

Yes, this is a little light on some of the specifics of Valkyrie but it provides a unique perspective of the time while showcasing the honour and dignity of some very brave men.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in this period of history and the German perspective. The Von Boeselagers served their country with enormous credit and I am glad I spent some time understanding their journey and sacrifice.

Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager died in May 2008. He was the longest surviving member of the most famous assassination plot against Hitler. Before he died he sat down for long conversations with Florence and Jérôme Fehrenbach, and together they have produced the memoir _Valkyrie: The Story of the Plot to Kill Hitler, by Its Last Member_ (Knopf). The Fehrenbachs say that von Boeselager agreed only reluctantly to talk about the matters herein. "Every reference to them," they write, "elicits memories that are almost always painful. Even after the war, his participation in the plots against Hitler was a difficult secret to bear. At first he did not even share this with his wife." There was a sensational Tom Cruise movie earlier this year by the same name, but von Boeselager's memoir has few pyrotechnics or chase scenes. His turned out to be a supporting role (in the actual plot, not in the movie), but in this he delivers an important lesson. There were not just a few Germans in the conspiracy, not just a few assassins, but a broadly organized group that were patriotically motivated.

Much of this memoir has to do with von Boeselager's brother Georg; they were from a family of nine children, but Georg and Philipp were particularly close, going to school together and both eventually joining the army. Von Boeselager explains that he had little concern about the Nazi regime initially because officers were trained in apolitical ways, and lived in barracks cut off from the cities and from newspapers. He did hear within the barracks about Kristallnacht in November 1938, a limited report of only a few shops ransacked. He and his fellow officers in training recognized that this was a violation of German laws; their commandant gave empty assurances that the courts would put an end to such atrocities. Much of _Valkyrie_ has to do with how von Boeselager's eyes were eventually opened to what Hitler was doing. In June 1942, von Boeselager saw a dispatch from an SS leader which ended "Special treatment for five Gypsies". The author eventually clarified that the five Gypsies had all been summarily shot, as were all the Jews that were being picked up. It was a doctrine of extermination, and the army was remaining silent about it. Von Boeselager was fortunate to be assigned to Major General Henning von Tresckow, who organized the resistance. The plan Valkyrie which he had drafted was much more than an assassination attempt. These officers understood that eliminating Hitler was an important goal, but it would do little if, say, Himmler were not eliminated as well because there would simply be civil war. (In fact, at least one attempt to assassinate them simultaneously, with von Boeselager carrying a pistol to do the deed, was called off suddenly when Himmler was not going to be in the region.) The plan included security efforts for after the assassination, and Von Boeselager and his brother were involved in independent cavalry movements toward Berlin to be there to enforce order after Hitler was killed by Claus von Stauffenberg's famous failed bomb on 20 July 1944. They were both able to wheel back to the battle lines with the confusion of war preventing them from being suspected of any duplicity. As an aide to Tresckow, von Boeselager was able to help communications between the far-flung conspirators under pretext of simply delivering mail. He had had training in explosives work, and it may have been that explosives he himself had procured were in von Stauffenberg's bomb, although precautions the conspirators took at the time have made this impossible to confirm.

Neither of the von Boeselager brothers was caught in the aftermath of the bomb plot, but Georg was killed in action on the Eastern Front. All the members of the conspiracy that von Boeselager knew died during the war, either by Hitler's thugs or by suicide to keep the Nazis from having the satisfaction of doing the job. He was given honors by post-war Germany and France, and in 2004 he was made an officer of the Légion d'honneur; he accepted in honor of the others who had died: "I was only the last representative of those whom fate had treated less generously." People will ask forevermore what might have happened if the attempts on Hitler had succeeded, but that the attempts failed is less important than that they were made. General Tresckow had told von Boeselager that attempts had to be made, and if they failed, they would still succeed "to show the whole world, and history, that the German resistance movement dared to gamble everything, even at the risk of its own life." Here is a fascinating first-hand account of the gamble and the gamblers.

Incredible story and incredible man. I had the honor of meeting him years ago; he emanated a dignified strength and humility... I had no idea how much he went through in the war at the time. Though the title is a bit misleading (he would have cringed to know it was re-named Valkyre in the English translation and his daughter Maya laughes about it to this day) this personal history is truly inspiring... The last of the old school hero's.

When I finished the book on a flight back to the US I sat stunned for at least an hour in deep thought and admiration. Then flipped to page 1 and began again... This does not happen often. Highly recommended!

DvS

Valkyrie is and excellent memoir of a lower level figure in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. It is concise, easy to read and gives the reader a real insight into the mindset of the conspirators. The writer entwines the retelling of his military duties and career with the internal conflict he deals with as he is confronted with the truth about what Germany was doing behind the front lines. It is not a complete history of the plot; rather, it is the story from the perspective of Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager.

It's odd how movies, which are as a rule usually not even close to being historically accurate, tend to trigger people's interest in history. The publication of Baron Philip von Boeslager's memior, Valkyrie, was undoubtedly spurred in the United States by the Tom Cruise film of the same name. But Cruise is just an actor; Boeslaeger was (until his recent death) the last actual surviving member of the failed 1944 attempt by a clique of disaffected German officers and diplomats to assassinate Hitler. Until the near-end of his life he said relatively little about his role in the plot, and so this book was greatly anticipated as a sort of "last will and testament" of the conspirators.

On that score it is a bit of a disapointment for three reasons. First, Boeselager is writing across a gulf of many, many years, and has clearly forgotten quite a bit of what happened to him as a 23 year-old man. Secondly, although his position as a staff officer assigned to the headquarters of Army Group Center brought him in close proximity with key players of the conspiracy -- such as Henning von Trescow - he himself played only a minor role, and was deliberately kept in the dark about many details. Lastly, the Baron, in attempting to do honor to his fallen brother Georg, spends a great deal of the book talking about that fine and brave officer's battlefield exploits -- entertaining and moving stuff, but not always germaine to the plot. This book is called VALKYRIE, after all -- not "the Eastern Front memiors of the Boeselager clan."

That is not to say it's a bad book. Far from it. Boeselager has a lot of interesting anecdotes to relate, including his relationships with Field Marshal von Kluge and General Trescow, as well as telling incidents with SS General von dem Back-Zelewski and even the arch-Nazi, Martin Bormann. He does a good job of explaining how and why he became a conspirator, the agonizing moral struggle that this involved (particularly the morality of violating his holy oath to Hitler) and directly tackles the ticklish subject of the morality of assassination. The Baron doesn't dance around the issue; he rightly uses the word "murder" to describe his aims, and is willing to not gloss over the uglier aspects of launching a coup d'etat. (It is seldom remembered that the blast that failed to kill Hitler did kill four other men, including one man who was an active antiNazi conspirator himself, but unaware of this plot). This sort of self-examination is something a lot of the conspirators and many modern-day Germans scrupulously avoid.

On the whole, however, I was a bit let down by VALKYRIE. There's a certain shalloness to it, a slightly disjointed feeling that gives it the feel of an old man whose time-dimmed recollections have been propped up by some careful if narrowly-performed research. It's a decent book, and worth reading, but with a little more work, such as cross-referencing others' memiors and interviewing of other people, it could have been a great one.

Valkyrie is basically the story of Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, the last member who was part of the plot Valkyrie, the attempt to kill Hitler. Boeselager provides details of being a cavalry officer part of the German army during WWII, and he not only discusses the troubles faced on battle, which includes being shot five times and losing friends and family in battle, but goes on providing behind the scenes of Valkyrie. Boeselager remembers the risks and danger of the war, but also about the risk that came with conspiring against Hitler and the danger of being found to be part of such a conspiracy. This book provides the details not of just Valkyrie, but of the hard and gruel fighting soldiers faced battling for the Germans in order to show loyalty to their country. Although at times, it took a while to get past some of the German words and it was hard to follow the ranks of the soldiers, this book is perfect for someone who takes an interest in History and who enjoys learning more about an event that had a huge impact.

A fascinating account of the early life and military career of Philipp von Boeselager, the last living survivor of the Valkyrie plot to assassinate Hitler. Boeselager shares his story somewhat reluctantly with the grand-daughter of one of his fellow conspirators, feeling that he has an obligation to tell the tale of the brave men who sacrificed so much in the hopes of ending the war and destroying the Third Reich. Boeselager spends a good amount of time discussing his education, family, and Catholic faith -- all things that significantly shaped his view of the world (and contributed to his rejection of National Socialism). Central to his story is his older brother, Georg, who also served in the cavalry on the eastern front and played an active role in the resistance spearheaded by Henning von Tresckow.

Boeselager's book first appeared in Germany in July 2008 under the title "We Wanted to Kill Hitler," which is arguably a more accurate title. The book traces the evolution of the resistance to Hitler that centered around Tresckow, Hans Oster, and Ludwig Beck. Thus, Boeselager provides a revealing discussion of several different plots to assassinate Hitler, all of which failed or were called off at the last minute. One wonders if the English language translation wasn't re-titled "Valkyrie" in order to cash in on the promotional blitz surrounding Tom Cruise's film.

While the title might be misleading, the book is an engaging read (if a bit slow in places). In regard to Project Valkyrie, Boeselager obtained the explosives used by Stauffenberg in July 1944. Yet at the time the attempt is taking place, he is AWOL from his command in East Prussia moving loyal men into place in order to seize Berlin (and thus far removed from the heart of the action). Nevertheless, he provides thoughtful analysis of the logistics and maneuvering required to pull off the attempt, providing the reader a revealing glimpse into the way all of the disparate pieces had to come together to give the plot any chance at success.

Those seeking a detailed discussion of Stauffenberg's actions in July 1944 might wish to look elsewhere (I would recommend Peter Hoffman's outstanding study of the Stauffenberg family), but for readers interested in the motivations, morals, and experiences of a German military man committed to destroying the Third Reich, Boeselager's book is an engrossing read.

This is an autobiography of an upstanding German officer who risked his life procuring explosives in a plot to assasinate Hitler. Half of the book is not about Operation Valkyrie at all; the title was changed to sell in America. The author condemns the Nazis but praises Wehrmacht. He and his comrades were unaware of mass executions, were shocked by the mere thought of murdering Jews, and almost lost it on occasion when learned of an SS execution of five Gypsies.

It is remarkable how many of them answered the call of duty but failed to notice the 800-pound Nazi gorilla in the room (or so they said afterwards). Human beings can be incredibly selective in their perception of reality. I read Boeselager with admiration and skepticism. His unsanitized opinions challenge you to a better understanding of man and history.