Kurt Baron 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 recognizes 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.