Secret Germany

by Michael Baigent (Author), Michael Baigent (Author), Richard Leigh (Author)

• Used

  Mass Market Paperback
  2006

  $5.62

  At thirty-seven, Colonel Count Claus von Stauffenberg, Chief of Staff of the Reich Reserve Army, was a charismatic figure destined for supreme command. The group of conspirators with whom he conceived the plot to kill Hitler in July 1944 was called 'Secret Germany'. That was also the name of the esoteric circle in which Stauffenberg as a young man had been a disciple of the mystic anti-Nazi magus and poet Stefan George. What was it that motivated this extraordinary aristocratic soldier, with the looks of a Hollywood idol, who was said to be the only man to stare the Fuhrer down until he averted his eyes? For Stauffenberg, the bomb plot was not a political move but a moral and spiritual necessity. After forty-two serious attempts on Hitler's life in the previous twenty years, why did he too fail? Had he succeeded, some say he would have become the de Gaulle of Germany, saviour of the nation soul. Even in failure, there can be no doubt of Stauffenberg's heroism. He stands as atonement for the Third Reich and a resolution of the conflicting myths of German culture. In this remarkable investigation, his whole life explains a troubled past to the present generation of Europeans as few have done in recent history.

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $4.70

• Used

  Hardcover
  1994

  $3.25

  At 38, Colonel Count Klaus von Stauffenberg, Chief of Staff of the Reich Home Army, was a charismatic figure who was maimed when his staff car was shot up by allied aircraft in North Africa. With only one eye, two fingers and a thumb, he discharged himself from hospital after three months and leant to write with a crippled left hand, to drive, ride a horse, shot and lead a normal active life, through doctors had said he would never walk again. The circle with whom he conceived the plot to kill Hilter in July 1944 was called 'Secret Germany', as indeed was the esoteric circle in which Stauffenberg as a young man had been a disciple of the mystic anti-Nazi poet Stefan Georga Stauffenberg was said to be the only man who had stared down the Fuhrer until he averted his eyes. What motivated this extraordinary man with the good looks of a Hollywood idol who saw the bomb plot of July 1944 as not a political move but a moral, religious and spiritual necessity? What moulded the life of this professional soldier who became father confessor to many far older and of senior rank to himself? This book tells the untold story behind the attempt to assasinate Adolf Hitler.