Wessel von Freytag-Loringhoven

Wessel Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, commonly known as Wessel von Freytag-Loringhoven (10 November 1899 – died 26 July 1944), was a colonel in the High Command of the German Armed Forces ("Oberkommando der Wehrmacht", or OKW) and a member of the German resistance against German dictator Adolf Hitler ("Widerstand"). Freytag-Loringhoven was a friend of Claus Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, who was the leader of the July 20 Plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944.

Biography

Freytag-Loringhoven came from an aristocratic Baltic German family in Courland descended from Westphalia. He grew up in Adiamünde (Skulte) in Livonia. After his Final Exams ("Abitur"), Freytag-Loringhoven joined the Baltic-German Army ("Landeswehr") in 1918, and with the formation of independent Latvia he became an officer of the 13th Infantry Regiment of Latvia. In 1922, he left Latvia in order to enter the Army of Weimar Germany ("Reichswehr"). Freytag-Loringhoven initially sympathized with the National Socialist program for Germany. But, in 1934, he was disaffected by the Night of the Long Knives massacre. After more negative experiences with war crimes during the German invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), Freytag-Loringhoven joined the resistance against Nazi Germany.

In 1943, with the help of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Freytag-Loringhoven was relocated to the High Command of the German Armed Forces ("Oberkommando der Wehrmacht", or OKW) as a colonel.

July 20 plot

Freytag-Loringhoven provided the detonator charge and explosives for the assassination attempt against Hitler on July 20th, 1944. He was able to obtain unrecognized English explosives from German intelligence ("Abwehr") sources. However, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the Chief of the Reich Security Main Office ("Reichssicherheitshauptamt", or RSHA), discovered the actions of Freytag-Loringhoven. On 26 July 1944, immediately before he was to be arrested by the Gestapo and fully aware of the interrogation techniques utilized by them, Freytag-Loringhoven committed suicide. He killed himself at Mauerwald in East Prussia.

Aftermath

After his death, Freytag-Loringhoven's wife was imprisoned along with relatives of the other members of the plot. Freytag-Loringhoven's four sons were separated from their mother. All were eventually liberated by Allied forces.

A close cousin, Bernd von Freytag-Loringhoven, was not implicated only due to the intervention of General Heinz Guderian. His cousin was an occupant of the Führerbunker in Berlin towards the end of World War II in Europe. Bernd von Freytag-Loringhoven escaped Berlin, was captured by the British, and survived the war.

Notes

ee also

* National Socialist German Workers Party, ("Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei" or NSDAP)
* July 20 plot

Sources

* Astaf von Transehe-Roseneck u.a.: "Genealogisches Handbuch der Baltischen Ritterschaften." Band "Livland", Görlitz 1929, S. 416ff.
* Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven: "Freytag von Loringhoven. Eine kurzgefaßte Familiengeschichte", München 1986
* Ulrich Cartarius: "Opposition gegen Hitler. Deutscher Widerstand 1933-1945" Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-88680-110-1
* Harald Steffahn: "Die Wahrheit über Stalingrad", in: Christian Zentner: "Adolf Hitler", Hamburg 1979
* "Kaltenbrunner-Berichte an Bormann und Hitler über das Attentat vom 20. Juli 1944", in: Hans-Adolf Jacobsen (Hrsg.): "Spiegelbild einer Verschwörung", Stuttgart 1961
* Sven Steenberg: "Wlassow - Verräter oder Patriot?<" Köln 1968
* Peter Hoffmann: "Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat. Der Kampf der Opposition gegen Hitler", München 1969
* "Wessel Baron Freytag von Loringhoven. Zum 25. Jahrestag des 20. Juli 1944", in: "Nachrichtenblatt der Baltischen Ritterschaften<" 11. Jg. (1969), Heft 2 (Juni)
* "20. Juli 1944", hrsg. von der Bundeszentrale für Heimatdienst, Bonn 1960