Fritz-Dietlof from Schulenburg

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Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg

Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg (born September 5, 1902 in London , † August 10, 1944 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was a German administrative lawyer and reserve officer who was involved in the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944 .

Life

Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg was the fourth son of Friedrich Graf von der Schulenburg , who was a military attaché at the German Embassy in London at the time of his birth . His mother was Freda-Marie nee. Countess von Arnim . The later co-conspirator Friedrich-Werner Graf von der Schulenburg was a cousin of his father.

Personal development

Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg, his four brothers and his sister, the artist and nun Tisa von der Schulenburg , grew up due to their father's occupation in Berlin , Potsdam , Münster and the family's Tressow Palace in Mecklenburg . The children were initially brought up strictly by a teacher. After graduating from high school at the Katharineum in Lübeck , Schulenburg studied law at the Georg-August University. Fuchs joined the Corps Saxonia Göttingen at Easter 1920 , he was reciprocated on November 6, 1920 and inactivated in January 1922 . He twice distinguished himself as consenior . In 1923 he passed the state examination at the Higher Regional Court of Celle . He performed the five-year preparatory service in Potsdam and in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district . In 1924 he broke off his legal clerkship for three months and traveled to South America as a sailor on a coal steamer. He passed the assessor examination in 1928 and came to Recklinghausen .

Von der Schulenburg saw itself as part of a national elite that was primarily defined by the pillars of the state, the military and the civil service. For him, citizens outside these structures were at best “civilians” or just mobs . However, this elite saw itself as a very patriarchal system in which officials and the military also had the task of acting for the good of the people. Because of this, von der Schulenburg dealt with issues such as agricultural debt and land reform . His ideas of the peasant class and social justice soon earned him the title of “Red Count” among his colleagues. Hans Bernd Gisevius , co-conspirator of July 20, 1944, describes him as a socialist count. However, Schulenburg had also taken a clear position against Bolshevism .

Connection to the NSDAP

In 1930 the first direct contacts were made with the National Socialist German Workers' Party . Schulenburg became a member in February 1932. In the same year he was transferred to East Prussia , where he also actively helped to build up the Nazi rural population. Schulenburg was considered a supporter of the "North German" National Socialism, which was primarily characterized by the brothers Gregor Strasser and Otto Strasser .

“When the formal holders of state power failed and foreign international powers enslaved themselves, the unknown soldier of the World War Adolf Hitler created a new core of resistance of the NSDAP. Everything that still had faith and will, self-sacrifice and willingness to act was concentrated in it. In it the German people rose and organized themselves in order to shape their lives according to their own laws and their own way. Hardened in struggle and terror, the party became the absolute bearer of the National Socialist idea, the incarnation of the faith and will of the German people. "

- Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg (1934)

Appointed government councilor in Königsberg (Prussia) in March 1933 , Schulenburg gained more and more influence both in administration and in the NSDAP. He was considered the prototype of a new “left” leader in the NSDAP with an old Prussian tradition. Also in March he married Charlotte Kotelmann (1909–1991) in Berlin, with whom he had six children. At that time, his new tasks were primarily to bring civil servants into line within his sphere of influence and to fill in personnel by members of the NSDAP. Because of this, Schulenburg came into conflict with his superior Erich Koch more and more often . Finally, in 1934, he was transferred to the Fischhausen district as district administrator . The conflicts with Koch grew stronger over the years, so that in 1937 he was transferred to Berlin as Police Vice President by the Reich Ministry of the Interior . His direct superior was Wolf-Heinrich Graf von Helldorf , who also attracted attention in the party through his affability and indebtedness . Helldorf long resisted the assignment of Schulenburg. Contrary to expectations, the two very different officials got on extremely well. As early as 1939 Schulenburg was appointed district president and representative of the high president of the province of Silesia . Schulenburg was classified as politically unreliable by the leadership of the Nazi state and in 1940 was excluded from the NSDAP.

War and resistance

Despite the reservations of the officials about Hitler's plans and despite the shock after the affair surrounding the dismissal of the army chief, Colonel General Werner Freiherr von Fritsch (1938), from which the previous leadership of the Reichswehr had been removed, Schulenburg reported to be deployed at the front. In any case, after his superior, the Gauleiter and Oberpräsident Josef Wagner , had been recalled , his position as district president in Breslau had become untenable. As a lieutenant in the reserve , in May 1940 he went to the replacement battalion of Infantry Regiment 9 of the 23rd Infantry Division in Potsdam.

Schulenburg observed the illegality accompanying the regime early on with growing concern and indignation. He made contact with like-minded opposition forces from the various camps. As early as June 1940, he and the theologian Eugen Gerstenmaier planned an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in Paris, which had to be canceled.

He went to the German-Soviet War with his regiment and received the Iron Cross in 1941 . With his experiences on the Eastern Front , he became more and more of a critic of the war in 1941/42. During this time he changed his duties frequently, including being recalled to the Reich Office for Agricultural Policy headed by Herbert Backe . He was an orderly officer in the Crimea and finally came back to the replacement battalion in Potsdam.

He saw his actual task in the organization of the resistance movement and the killing of Hitler. It was he who won Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg over to the conspiracy and was henceforth very close to him. He was a member of a circle of higher officials who were primarily recruited from Prussian nobles. In this group, internal criticism of National Socialism was not spared. One of the most important friends became Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg . After the assassination attempt in Wolfsschanze , this group was also referred to as the “Count Circle”, “Count Clique” or “Count Group”. The emerging crises in supply, military leadership and ultimately the way the population in the conquered areas were dealt with by the trained administrative officer made Schulenburg doubt National Socialism. His basic attitude towards National Socialism changed radically during this time. As early as 1942 he regularly took part in the meetings of the Kreisau Circle . Another important driving force behind the resistance was the Allies' demand for unconditional surrender and the ensuing endeavor to avoid total military defeat and to achieve a so-called draw peace. In a Europe plan that Schulenburg co-authored in 1943, it says:

“What is special about the European problem is that a multitude of peoples should live together in a relatively small area in a combination of unity and independence. Their unity must be so firm that war will never again be waged between them in the future and that Europe's external interests can be jointly protected. ... The solution of the European states can only be brought about on a federal basis, in that the European states unite freely to form a community of sovereign states. "

- Count Schulenburg

As a nobleman, civil servant and officer, Schulenburg had contacts in all directions, which he used over the years to recruit co-conspirators. Because of his diverse relationships - especially with the bourgeois resistance circles around Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and the social democratic group ( Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold ) around Julius Leber - he is considered an important mediator. As early as 1943 he was suspected of working against the regime and was imprisoned for one night. However, due to his special status and relationships, he was released. The initiative for an alliance between the closer Stauffenberg district and the communists planned in 1944 was attributed to him. In the shadow cabinet Beck / Goerdeler he was designated as State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of the Interior. Julius Leber or Eugen Bolz were to become ministers .

Coup attempt and judgment

Schulenburg belonged to the inner circle of resistance and was thus actively involved in the planning of Operation Valkyrie . On July 20, 1944, Schulenburg was in the "headquarters" of the coup, in the high command of the Wehrmacht . In the Bendler Block , he was arrested after the failure of the project on the same day. On August 10, 1944 he stood with Erich Fellgiebel , Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg , Alfred Kranzfelder and Georg Hansen before the People's Court under the chairmanship of Roland Freisler . In his closing remarks after the death sentence, he stated:

“We took on this deed to save Germany from a nameless misery. I am aware that I will be hanged as a result, but I do not regret my act and I hope that someone else will carry it out at a happier moment. "

- Count Schulenburg

He was hanged in Plötzensee on the day of the judgment .

Honors

According to Tisa von der Schulenburg's designs, a memorial chapel was set up for him in the village church of Gressow in 1988 . His name can be found on the memorial of his student union in the Ehrenfriedhof (Lübeck) . Graf Schulenburg is one of the executed corps students who were honored at the Plötzensee memorial 70 and 75 years after the attack . The following spoke: Wolfgang von der Groeben (2014) and Rüdiger Döhler (2019).

memories

literature

  • Ulrich Heinemann : A conservative rebel. Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg and July 20th. Siedler, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-88680-373-2 .
  • Johannes Hürter :  Schulenburg, Fritz-Dietlof from the. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 677 ( digitized version ).
  • Albert Krebs : Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg. Between state reason and high treason. Leibnis, Hamburg 1964.
  • Hans-Joachim Ramm: ... always responsible to someone higher. Basic Christian convictions in the internal military resistance against Hitler. Hänssler, Neuhausen et al. 1996, ISBN 3-7751-2635-X .
  • Johannes Zechner: Ways to Resistance. July 20, 1944 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In: Mecklenburgia Sacra. Yearbook for Mecklenburg Church History. Vol. 7, 2004, ISSN  1436-7041 , pp. 119-133.
  • Ines Reich: Potsdam and July 20, 1944. On the trail of the resistance against National Socialism. Accompanying document to the exhibition of the Military History Research Office and the Potsdam Museum. Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau 1994, ISBN 3-7930-0697-2 , p. 88 ff.
  • Christian-Erdmann Schott : Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg and the Corps Saxonia zu Göttingen , in: Sebastian Sigler (ed.): Corps students in the resistance against Hitler. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-428-14319-1 , pp. 437-449.

Web links

Commons : Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 45/677.
  2. ↑ a b Wolfgang von der Groeben: Directory of the members of the Corps Saxonia Göttingen 1844 to 2006 . Düsseldorf 2006.
  3. ↑ Hans Bernd Gisevius: Until the bitter end . Volume 2. Fretz & Wasmuth, Zurich 1946, p. 381.
  4. ↑ a b quoted from Robert von Steinau-Steinrück: Memory of Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg. Ärzteblatt Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 8/2020, Volume 30, pp. 292–293.
  5. ^ Dietrich Werner Graf von der Schulenburg, Hans Wätjen: History of the sex from the Schulenburg 1237 to 1983. Lower Saxony printing and publishing house Günter Hempel Wolfsburg, ISBN 3 87327 000 5 , Wolfsburg 1984, p. 360.
  6. ↑ The province of Silesia, which was reborn in 1938, was divided into the provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia in 1941.
  7. ^ Peter Hoffmann : History of the German Resistance, 1933–1945. McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal & Kingston, London, Ithaca 1996, ISBN 0-7735-1531-3 , p. 259 .
  8. ^ Hans Bernd Gisevius: Until the bitter end , vol. 2. Fretz & Wasmuth, Zurich 1946, p. 279.
  9. ↑ Gerd R. Ueberschär : For another Germany. The German resistance against the Nazi state 1933–1945. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-596-13934-1 , p. 215 f.
  10. ↑ 1944–2019 - in memory of July 20, 1944 . Corpszeitung der Saxonia Göttingen, No. 178, November 2019, pp. 45–50.
personal data
SURNAME Schulenburg, Fritz-Dietlof from the
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schulenburg, Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German administrative officer and resistance fighter
DATE OF BIRTH September 5, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH August 10, 1944
Place of death Berlin-Plötzensee