Generalmajor Berthold Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (born 3 July 1934) is a German retired Bundeswehr general. Early in his career, he commanded Germany's largest military base. At the time of his retirement in 1994 he was Germany's longest serving soldier, having served in the Heer (Army) for thirty-eight years. He is the son of World War II colonel and resistance leader Claus von Stauffenberg.
Contents
Early life
Stauffenberg is the oldest of five children of Oberst Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and a nephew of Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, two German noblemen who were active in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
After the failed assassination and the subsequent executions, Stauffenberg's pregnant mother Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg was interned in a concentration camp and separated from her four children, who were taken to a foster home in Bad Sachsa. Until the end of the war, they were forced to use a different family name, as Schenk von Stauffenberg was not accepted as their name. Berthold Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was the oldest of the children and had just turned ten at the time of the failed assassination plot.
Through his mother, he is a fourth cousin of King Charles III of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms.