Baron Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager ( 6 of September of 1917 - 1 of maypole of 2008 ) was one of the last survivors of the plot of July 20 the Wehrmacht to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944.
Von Boeselager was born in the castle Burg Heimerzheim near Bonn , the fifth of nine children of the Freiherr (Baron) Albert von Boeselager (1883-1956) and Freiin (Maria) Theresia von Salis-Soglio (1890-1968).
As a young lieutenant of 25 years participated in Operation Valkyrie , after in 1942 he changed his opinion about the regime when he learned that five Gypsies had been executed in cold blood.
He joined Günther von Kluge in the March 1943 bombing where he had to shoot Himmler and Hitler.
His brother Georg von Boeselager also participated in the July 20 plot. He was not arrested and died on the eastern front a month later.
After the war he was seen as a hero in Germany and France receiving the highest honors and decorations.
At the entrance of his residence of the castle Kreuzberg in Altenahr wrote ” Et si omnes non ego - although even all, I do not.”
Two weeks before his death he gave a television interview to Zora Wolter for The Valkyrie Legacy .
Literature
- Antonius John: Philipp von Boeselager - Widerstand und Gemeinwohl . Bouvier-Verlag, Bonn 2007, ISBN 978-3-416-03203-2 [1]
- Ulrich Cartarius: Opposition gegen Hitler. Deutscher Widerstand 1933-1945 . Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-88680-110-1
- Ernst Kaltenbrunner-Berichte an Bormann und Hitler über das Attentat vom 20. Juli 1944 , Hans-Adolf Jacobsen Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung . Stuttgart 1961
- Von Boeselager, Philipp. Valkyrie: the Plot to Kill Hitler . London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson. 2008.
- Der 20. Juli 1944. Ein Zeitzeuge berichtet ( Hörbuch ), Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager. Interview: Prof. Hans Sarkowicz. Doppel-CD. Audiobuch Verlag, Freiburg i. Br. 2004, ISBN 3-89964-046-2
- Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager 80 Jahre , in: Holz-Zentralblatt , 123. Jahrgang, Folge 107/1997, S. 1524, ISSN 0018-3792
- Ilkka Ahtiainen, Hitlerin murmured . Helsingin Sanomat monthly supplement, August 2007.
- Fabian von Schlabrendorff, German Officers Against Hitler , Deutsche Offiziere gegen Hitler , Zurich, 1948.