Reply With QuoteRest in Peace. It's a damn shame the plot failed.
Brave men, all of them.
Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist dies
Willing to give his own life to rid the world of pure evil. The last surivivor of the July 20th plot, operation Valkyrie has passed away.
R.I.P. old man, you've earned it
Hitler assassination plotter Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist dies
Von Kleist, who was involved in 20 July 1944 plot and agreed to kill Nazi dictator with a suicide vest, has died aged 90
Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist, the last surviving participant in the main plot to kill Adolf Hitler, has died aged 90.
Von Kleist, who once volunteered to wear a suicide vest to assassinate the Nazi dictator, died at his home in Munich on Friday, said his wife, Gundula.
Von Kleist was born on 10 July 1922, on his family estate Schmenzin in Pomerania, in an area of north-eastern Germany that is now part of Poland.
The Von Kleist family was a long line of Prussian landowners, who had served the state for centuries in high-ranking military and administrative positions.
Von Kleist's father, Ewald von Kleist, was an opponent of Hitler even before he came to power, and was arrested many times after the Nazi dictator took control in 1933. The elder Von Kleist famously travelled to England in 1938, the year before the second world war broke out, to try and determine whether other western nations would support a coup attempt against Hitler, but failed to get the British government to change its policy of appeasement.
Despite his family's opposition to the Nazis, the younger Von Kleist joined the German army in 1940, and was wounded in 1943 in fighting on the eastern front.
During his convalescence, he was approached in January 1944 by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, another officer from an aristocratic family, and presented with a plan to kill Hitler. Von Kleist had been chosen as the officer to model a new uniform for Hitler, and Von Stauffenberg proposed that he wear a suicide vest underneath, and detonate it when he stood next to the dictator.
Years later, Von Kleist remembered explaining the suicide plot to his father, who paused only briefly before telling his 22-year-old son: "Yes, you have to do this."
"Fathers love their sons and mine certainly did, and I had been quite sure he would say no," Von Kleist recalled. "But, as always, I had underestimated him."
The suicide attack plan never came to fruition.
Months later, however, Von Kleist was approached again by Von Stauffenberg to take part in what would become known as the 20 July plot – for the day in 1944 that the assassination was attempted – which was depicted in a 2008 film Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise as Von Stauffenberg.
Von Kleist was supposed to play a key role as the person who was to carry a briefcase packed with explosives to a meeting with Hitler. In a change of plans, however, Von Stauffenberg decided to plant the bomb himself.
Von Stauffenberg placed the bomb in a conference room where Hitler was meeting with his aides and military advisers at his east Prussian headquarters. Hitler escaped the full force of the blast when someone moved the briefcase next to a table leg, deflecting much of the explosive force.
Von Kleist remained in Berlin, charged with overseeing the arrest of officers and officials loyal to Hitler in the city.
But when news spread that Hitler had survived, the plot crumbled and Von Stauffenberg, Von Kleist's father and scores of others were arrested and executed in an orgy of revenge killings. Some were hanged by the neck with piano wire. Von Stauffenberg was shot by firing squad.
Von Kleist himself was arrested and questioned at length by the Gestapo, and sent to a concentration camp, but then inexplicably let go and returned to combat duty
Rest in Peace. It's a damn shame the plot failed.
Brave men, all of them.
Hitler himself once said, that if they really wanted him dead, any officer in the room could have simply pulled out his pistol and shot him in the head.Originally Posted by Ballistic
Some truth in those words...
Where, Wolfsschanze? Wasn't it obligatory for anyone bare the Führerbegleitkommando to hand in their weapons and/or magazines?
No, that rule was only introduced after the event (at least according to Erich Hartmann, who refused to hand in his pistol when he was called to receive the highest decoration).
Oh, that's interesting.
I understand most attempts on Hitler's life involved bombs, which leads me to the assumption that the would-be assassins wanted either to stay unknown and/or continue to live after carrying out the assassination. That suicide vest seems to be an exception, if I'm not mistaken.
Hitler's death would've solved nothing, they needed a plan on what to do next and before Valkyrie gave them a ready-made blueprint for exactly that, there was none.
If somebody had just shot Hitler, chaos would've broken out and most likely the SS would've taken over.
In fact the SS was hedging its bets and Himmler was aware of the plot and would've emerged on the side of freedom and democracy if it had been successful
RIP Ewald von Kleist.
Rest in Peace Ewald von Kleist
RIP
Amazing that his father was shot and he eventually returned to duty after his arrest.
Bingo. There is more to this story than we will ever know. I'm not ready to crown this guy anything.
yes and Hitler is generally known as a source you can trust.They tried it with a bomb, cause it wasn't just Hitler they tried to kill, they intended to take out a few other NSDAP/important military figures with him
Rest in Peace.
Even though Operation Valkerie failed, it showed the world that there were good, decent Germans, willing to stand up to Hitler.
By the way, does anyone know if he was a close relative of Field Marshall von Kleist?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lu...ald_von_Kleist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Kleist
the German site lists at least 2 dozens of generals coming out of that family...
The Von Kleists were one of those Prussian Noble families, so they were probably in some way or the other family, but I don't think there were any close family ties between them
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