Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (22 March 1902 – 23/24 April 1945) was a member of the German anti-Nazi resistance. He was executed in the aftermath of the failure of the

20 July plot On 20 July 1944, Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia, now Kętrzyn, in present-day Poland. The ...

to assassinate

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

. The von Guttenberg family originates back to 1149 in

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper ...

(northern part of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

) in the southern part of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

and graduated in 1929. In that year he married Therese, Princess Schwarzenberg. They had two daughters and one son. White Papers; Journals on History, Tradition and State

White Papers; Journals on History, Tradition and State

Karl Ludwig von Guttenberg was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalis ...

who started publishing the ''White Papers; Journals on History, Tradition and State'' (formerly called ''Monarchy'') in 1934. Amongst its authors were Reinhold Schneider,

Jochen Klepper Jochen Klepper (22 March 1903 – 11 December 1942) was a German writer, poet and journalist. Life Klepper was born in Beuthen, Silesia (now in Poland). Suffering from severe asthma, he was schooled at home by his father, a Lutheran minister, unt ...

, Ulrich von Hassell and

Werner Bergengruen Werner Bergengruen (September 16, 1892 – September 4, 1964) was a Baltic German novelist and poet. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Life and career Bergengruen was born in Riga, Governorate of Livonia, which at that time ...

. The ''White Papers'' (in German: ) soon became an important organ and also a meeting place, through their publishers many various contacts, for the conservative opposition against the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

regime under

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg first introduced

Carl Goerdeler Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (; 31 July 1884 – 2 February 1945) was a monarchist conservative German politician, executive, economist, civil servant and opponent of the Nazi regime. He opposed some anti-Jewish policies while he held office and was ...

and

Ulrich von Hassell Christian August Ulrich von Hassell (12 November 1881 – 8 September 1944) was a German diplomat during World War II. A member of the German Resistance against German dictator Adolf Hitler, Hassell unsuccessfully proposed to the Briti ...

to each other in 1939. In 1941, von Guttenberg was ordered to work in

counterintelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ...

at the Foreign Affairs Office in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

through the help of

Ludwig Beck Ludwig August Theodor Beck (; 29 June 1880 – 20 July 1944) was a German general and Chief of the German General Staff during the early years of the Nazi regime in Germany before World War II. Although Beck never became a member of the Na ...

. There, von Guttenberg worked under

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet ...

Wilhelm Canaris Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a German admiral and the chief of the ''Abwehr'' (the German military-intelligence service) from 1935 to 1944. Canaris was initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler, and the Nazi re ...

and belonged to the social circle of Hans von Dohnanyi, Justus Delbrück, and

Hans Oster Hans Paul Oster (9 August 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a general in the ''Wehrmacht'' and a leading figure of the anti-Nazi German resistance from 1938 to 1943. As deputy head of the counter-espionage bureau in the ''Abwehr'' (German military inte ...

. After the failure of the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944, von Guttenberg was arrested by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

and interrogated under torture, apparently without result and he revealed no names of members of the resistance. In the night between the 23 and 24 of April in 1945, Karl Ludwig von und zu Guttenberg was murdered by order of Gestapo chief

Heinrich Müller Heinrich Müller may refer to: * Heinrich Müller (cyclist) (born 1926), Swiss cyclist * Heinrich Müller (footballer, born 1888) (1888–1957), Swiss football player and manager * Heinrich Müller (footballer, born 1909) (1909–2000), Austrian ...

.Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand
(German Resistance Memorial Center Biography) The late politician and anti-Nazi resistance activist

Karl Theodor Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg Karl Theodor Maria Georg Achaz Eberhardt Josef Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (23 May 1921 – 4 October 1972) was a German politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU). He was parliamentary secretary of state in the Chancellor's O ...

was his nephew and the latter's son

Enoch zu Guttenberg Georg Enoch Robert Prosper Philipp Franz Karl Theodor Maria Heinrich Johannes Luitpold Hartmann Gundeloh Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (29 July 1946 – 15 June 2018) was a German conductor. He also owned the large winery estate Weingut Reichs ...

was a conductor and father of politician and businessman

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Buhl-Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (born 5 December 1971), known professionally as Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, is a German businessman and politician of the Christian Soc ...

References

* Maria von dem Bottlenberg-Landsberg, "Karl Ludwig Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg; 1902–1945; ein Lebensbild". Lukas Verlag, Berlin 2003, .

References

Further reading