Stauffenberg: A Family History, 1905–1944. 2nd ed.

J.L. Granatstein, Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus,
York University, served as Director of the Canadian War Museum from 1998
to 2000. He is the author of Who Killed Canadian History? and co-author
of The Canadian 100: The 100 Most Infl

The German resistance to Hitler has been extensively studied, and
deservedly so. To resist a murderous regime took great courage,
especially when Hitler seemed triumphant. The leading scholar in this
area is Peter Hoffmann of McGill University, and his study of Claus von
Stauffenberg, originally published in English in 1995 and here in its
second edition, is the fullest account we are ever likely to have of the
man who planted the bomb that almost killed Hitler in July 1944.

Unfortunately written in leaden prose, the biography makes use of every
scrap of existent material. It focuses on Stauffenberg’s family and
upbringing, on the way this German nationalist initially supported
Hitler but came to see clearly the monstrous nature of the regime. A
professional soldier and staff officer, Stauffenberg served with
distinction in Poland, France, and North Africa and was grievously
wounded. But his courage grew, and he ranks as the leading light among
the disparate plotters against Hitler. There were democrats, communists,
strong Christians, and aristocrats included, but for Stauffenberg, as
religious and as philosophically sophisticated as he was, it was the
indelible harm to Germany’s reputation caused by Hitler that seemed to
disturb him most.