Heinrich Graf zu Dohna-Schlobitten

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Heinrich Karl Waldemar Graf zu Dohna-Schlobitten , sometimes also Graf zu Dohna-Tolksdorf (born October 15, 1882 in Waldburg near Königsberg ; † September 14, 1944 in Berlin-Plötzensee ) was German major general and resistance fighter from July 20, 1944 .

Life

His parents were Eberhard Graf zu Dohna - Schlobitten (1846–1905) and his wife Elisabeth, born Countess von Kanitz (1851–1936).

Dohna-Schlobitten became a professional soldier and, after graduating from high school, joined the Prussian army as a flag junior in 1901 . In World War I he was u. a. General staff officer in the 240th Division on the Western Front . In 1919 he was dismissed as a major , but shortly thereafter hired as chief of staff of the Baltic State Army . With the retirement of the Reich Germans from this unit in July 1919, his military career came to an end for the time being. In 1920 he married Maria-Agnes von Borcke (1895-1983). He devoted himself to his agricultural estate in the East Prussian Tolksdorf and was during kirchenkampf the Brethren of Prussia the Confessing Church operates. He also took part in Lutheran Day in 1935, on which the Lutheran Council wanted to promote the formation of a nationwide confessional Lutheran church .

After the start of the Second World War in 1939, Dohna-Schlobitten was reactivated as a general staff officer and appointed chief of staff at Wehrkreis I in Königsberg, then as chief of staff of army corps in France , Norway and Finland . Most recently he served as major general and chief of the deputy general command in Danzig before he left the armed forces at his own request in 1943 .

Dohna-Schlobitten maintained contacts with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and was soon involved in the Kreisau circle of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke through Count Peter Yorck von Wartenburg . For the period after July 20, 1944, he was designated as political representative for Military District I (East Prussia).

One day after Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg's failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler , Dohna-Schlobitten was arrested. He was sentenced to death by Roland Freisler 's People's Court on September 14, 1944 , and executed on the same day .

In the face of death he wrote to his wife:

“This is my farewell letter. How extremely difficult to say goodbye for life without seeing each other again, without a hug, without a last kiss! - But God made it so, I follow Him. He has guided me all this time. I haven't had a weak minute so far, hopefully I'll stay firm until the end. I have always felt your prayers, and especially yours. Now you too have to stay strong, despite all the pain. I always asked Christ to hold my hand during this difficult time. He did it and kept me strong. "

Dohna-Schlobitten was married to Maria Agnes von Borcke and had a daughter and three sons.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. This place was renamed Pribreschnoje in 1947 , but today it is located at Heyde-Waldburg / Heidewaldburg.
  2. German Officer Association (Ed.): Honor ranking list of the former German Army. ES Mittler & Sohn . Berlin 1926. p. 428.
  3. Heinz Boberach, Carsten Nicolaisen, Ruth Pabst (eds.): Handbook of the German Protestant Churches 1918 to 1949. Organs, offices, associations, people . tape 1 : Supraregional institutions. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2010, p. 135 .
  4. Appendix to the order of the conspirators of July 20, 1944 under the designation "The Commander-in-Chief in the Homeland War Area" to the military district commands I to XIII, XVII, XVIII, XX and XXI - quoted in after Jacobsen (ed.), Opposition to Hitler and the coup d'état of July 20, 1944, Stuttgart 1989.