Axel Freiherr von dem Bussche-Streithorst

Axel von dem Bussche-Streithorst
Axel von dem Bussche-Streithorst
Born	24 April 1919 Braunschweig, Weimar Germany
Died	26 January 1993 (aged 73) Bonn, Germany
Allegiance	Nazi Germany German Resistance
Service/branch	Wehrmacht
Years of service	1937–1945
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Iron Cross Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross German Cross
Relations	Anders Lassen (cousin)
Other work	Diplomat, scholar

Axel Ernst-August Clamor Franz Albrecht Erich Leo Freiherr (Baron) von dem Bussche-Streithorst^{[Note 1]} (24 April 1919 – 26 January 1993), usually referred to as Axel von dem Bussche in English, was a German nobleman, professional Army officer, and member of the German Resistance. He planned to assassinate Adolf Hitler in coordination with Count Stauffenberg in November 1943 at the Wolfsschanze.

Army career

Born in Braunschweig, to his German father and to his Danish mother Jenny Lassen, he joined the German Army in 1937 at the age of 18 as a professional officer and was posted as a junior officer of the elite Infantry Regiment 9 Potsdam (IR 9) to the eastern front in Poland. In 1942 Captain von dem Bussche witnessed by chance an SS-organised massacre of more than 3,000 Jewish civilians carried out by the SD at the old Dubno airport. This experience traumatized him all his life and was enough to turn him decidedly against Hitler. He joined an ad hoc resistance group within Army Group Centre later (Sept.1943) to be led by Count Stauffenberg. After this experience he declared that there were only three ways left to preserve his honor as an officer: to die in battle, to desert, or to rebel against the government that had ordered this and all other massacres. He chose the last alternative justifying his intention to kill Hitler by his legal right to defend others against unlawful, ongoing, criminal attacks.

Resistance

In November 1943, von dem Bussche, personally encouraged by Count Claus Stauffenberg, undertook to carry out a suicide bombing to kill Hitler. Hitler was due to inspect new Army winter uniforms at his Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze, near Rastenburg in Eastern Prussia (today in Poland). Von dem Bussche, over two meters tall, blond and blue eyed, exemplified the looks of Hitler's "Nordic" racial ideal, and was an ideal model for the uniforms. Von dem Bussche equipped a landmine with a fast reacting hand grenade detonator, which he intended to hide in the deeper pockets of his uniform trousers. He planned to detonate this bomb while embracing Hitler, thus killing both Hitler and himself.

The viewing was scheduled for 16 November 1943, but the night before, the railway truck containing the new uniforms was destroyed in an Allied air raid on Berlin. On 18 November 1943, von dem Bussche returned to his unit on the Eastern Front. He had spent three terrible nights at the Führerhauptquartier.

Captain von dem Bussche volunteered to try again in February 1944, when new uniforms would be at hand.

In January 1944, however, von dem Bussche was seriously wounded and lost one of his legs.

Another young officer, Captain Ewald von Kleist, volunteered to carry out von dem Bussche's mission at a viewing on 11 February 1944. However Hitler repeatedly postponed and finally cancelled the event.

Von dem Bussche spent many months in the Waffen-SS hospital in Lychen and so was not involved at all in the July 20 Plot to kill Hitler. Von dem Bussche's role in the earlier assassination plots was not suspected, and he was not betrayed by any of the officers who knew of his involvement. Consequently, he was one of the extremely few Army plotters to survive the war.

After the war

After the war, Baron Axel von dem Bussche studied law at Göttingen University and later became a diplomat, serving from 1954 to 1958 in the German Embassy in Washington. Then he was headmaster of the Kurt Hahn boarding school "Schule Schloss Salem" located near Lake Constance in Southern-Germany.

He was also a member of the presidency of the Evangelical Church in Germany, an adviser to the World Bank, and a delegate to the Stockholm UN environment conference of 1972.

In 1950, he married Lady Mildred Camilla Nichola Acheson, eldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Gosford and Mildred Carter (of Virginia), who before had been married to Baron Hans Christoph Schenk von Stauffenberg. Von dem Bussche had two daughters with Lady Camilla, (Mrs.) Nicola Dietzsch-Doertenbach and Baroness Jane von dem Bussche.

Axel von dem Bussche was a godfather to Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands. He was a friend and distant relative of Prince Claus of the Netherlands.

Axel von dem Bussche was first cousin of the Danish Victoria Cross recipient Anders Lassen, who fought with the British against the Germans. Anders Lassen was killed in action in 1945 in Italy.

Awards and decorations

• Iron Cross of 1939, 1st and 2nd class
• German Cross in Gold on 15 December 1941 as Oberleutnant in the 11./Infanterie-Regiment 9^[1]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 7 March 1944 as Hauptmann and commander of the I./Grenadier-Regiment 9^[2][3]
• Wound Badge in Gold
• Knight of Honour of the Order of Saint John (Swiss Commandery)^[4]

See also

• Assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler

Notes

1. Regarding personal names: Freiherr is a former title (translated as Baron), which is now legally a part of the last name. The feminine forms are Freifrau and Freiin.

References

Citations

1. Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 70.
2. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 151.
3. Scherzer 2007, p. 256.
4. Clark, Robert M, Jr. (2003). The Evangelical Knights of Saint John: A History of the Bailiwick of Brandenburg. Dallas, Texas. p. 46.

Bibliography

• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
• Fest, Joachim (1996). Plotting Hitler's Death – The Story of the German Resistance, Henry Holt and Company, New York. ISBN 0-8050-4213-X.
• Fest, Joachim; "Hitler – Eine Biographie", Propilaeen, Berlin, 2.Aufl. 2004. ISBN 3-549-07172-8.
• Roger Moorhouse; "Killing Hitler", Jonathan Cape, London, ISBN 0-224-07121-1.
• Marion Graefin Doenhoff in "Axel von dem Bussche", Gevinon von Medem; v. Hase und Koehler Verlag, Mainz/Muenchen,1994. ISBN 3-7758-1311-X
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.
• Josef Tal: Ein Mensch-zu-Mensch-Erlebnis im Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin (1994) in Axel von dem Bussche, Hase&Koehler Verlag, pp 125–131 ISBN 3-7758-1311-X
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.