Kurt Freiherr von Plettenberg (1891-1945) was the descendant of
Westphalian aristocratic family, and a soldier in both world wars. The
expectations, which he along with many of his later fellow conspirators
of the 20 July 1944 plot to kill Hitler initially had of the Third
Reich, are soon disappointed, when he recognises the true nature of the
regime. When he accepts the office as general agent of the former
Prussian royal house of the Hohenzollerns in 1942, he already belongs to
the inner circle of the resistance planning Operation Valkyrie.
After the assassination attempt, however, he is not immediately
discovered as one of the conspirators. Out of consideration for the
house of Hohenzollern, which Hitler considers to be his most dangerous
internal enemy, he acted more carefully than many others. Yet only a few
weeks before the end of the war Plettenberg is finally denounced and
arrested, too.
This biography shows for the first time how Kurt von Plettenberg, who
belonged to the inner circle of conspirators around Stauffenberg, found
a way to prevail during those difficult times and how significantly he
influenced the resistance.