Hans Ulrich von Oertzen

Hans Ulrich von Oertzen (n. Berlin , 6 of March of 1915 - f Bendlersblock;. 21 of July of 1944 ) was a German military with the rank of major in the Wehrmacht belonging to the German nobility who actively participated in the development of the Plan Valkyrie against Hitler during World War II .

Biography

Hans Ulrich von Oertzen was born in Berlin, was the second of two brothers and was the son of an Imperial Army officer who died in combat in World War I. His mother raised both children at his brother’s estate in Mecklenburg. He did his basic studies in the Salem am Bodensee Schule.

He joined the Reichswehr in 1934 as a cadet and was trained as a staff officer at the Berlin Higher War Academy finishing his training with the rank of Army Major.

During the development of Operation Barbarossa during the invasion of the Soviet Union, he was the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Center with Henning von Tresckow a leading military resistance officer to Hitler. In March 1943, he participated in the failed barometric bomb attack on Hitler’s plane. Von Oertzen was an officer very close to Tresckow and through him he met Claus von Stauffenberg , future plotter against Hitler. 1

That same year, von Oertzen elaborated a plan to assassinate to Hitler based on Plan Walküre originally elaborated for the maintenance of the power and the continuity of the government and mobilization of units in case Hitler was deposed of the power and kept in the secret archives of The barracks of the Reserve Army. 2

The Walküre Plan was modified to take control of German cities, SS enclaves in Germany and France, and overthrow the Nazi leaders of the power leadership.

On March 26 he married Ingrid Langenn with whom he had shared an abundant correspondence.

Failed Putsch against Hitler , von Oertzen at first was not included as main suspect, but a secretary of the Bendlerblock, Military District of Command III in Berlin, (Reserve Army barracks) told the Gestapo that he had seen von Oertzen next to Stauffenberg when it returned from Wolfsschanze the same day 20.

Before the imminent arrest, von Oertzen proceeded to retire to a defense antiaircraft and detonated a hand grenade, this only it flew the hand to him; With the remaining energies activated a second grenade and completed the suicide. The remains were buried in the Berlin-Wilmersdorf cemetery.

Philipp von Boeselager, one of the few survivors of the military plot against Hitler in 1944, stated:

“When one thinks of military resistance, the names of Tresckow, Stauffenberg, and his brave resistance come to mind. But without men like Hans-Ulrich von Oertzen in planning what Hitler’s murder would be, this fact Would have been impossible to accomplish. “-

References

  1. Back to top↑ German biography of von Oertzen
  2. Back to top↑ Memorial of the Resistance to the Nazi-von Oertzen