20 July 1944 Conspirator

[crfraser]

Love the July 20 link. I will see what I can dig up for you on him. I have a decent resistance library.

Colin

[djpool]

To Sepp45 and Tora tora tora thank you for your kind remarks.

To Colin

Thank you for your offer of assistance. Your thread on the Gentlemans Militaria formula is extremely well done. Probably one of the nicest collections of autographs and collectibles out there. To me it's recommended reading on anyone interested in the people associated with the resistance movement. Your signature of Stauffenburg is awesome. The thread is here for those interested in the plot.

http://gmic.co.uk/topic/34308-autogr...0-plot/?page=9

I hope you are able to dig up some additional information for me. Regards Jim

Love the July 20 link. I will see what I can dig up for you on him. I have a decent resistance library.

Colin

[naxos]

Congratulations for acquiring this outstanding document

[Dansson]

Very nice group!

[djpool]

I have been trying to locate as much information about the life of Urban Thiersch especially his wartime exploits. The National Archives are backlogged but may yield some records. I reached out to Professor Peter Hoffmann who is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading authorities on the Stauffenberg plot. To my surprise he took the time to respond to my request for help and provided me copies referenced in his book on Stauffenberg. I translated (as best I can) one of the documents which is shown below along with the translation.

Peter C.W. Hoffmann, was born 13 August 1930, in Dresden is a professor of history at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. His principal area of research deals with the German Resistance against National Socialism and in particular, the resistance efforts of Claus von Stauffenberg. His works include:

Widerstand, Staatsstreich, Attentat - Der Kampf der Opposition gegen Hitler;
German Resistance to Hitler; Stauffenberg und der 20. Juli 1944;
Hitler's Personal Security;
Stauffenbergs Freund. Die tragische Geschichte des Widerstandskämpfers Joachim Kuhn;
Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg. Die Biographie;
Carl Goerdeler and the Jewish Question,
1933–1942; Behind Valkyrie. German Resistance to Hitler. Documents.

So it’s not surprising the writers of Valkyrie (Tom Cruise version) relied heavily on his massive 1969 history of the assassination attempt and his later, equally massive biography of Stauffenberg for background material for the movie.

Here is my attempt at translating the attached document.

After suffering a bullet wound in September 1942 I spent over a year in hospitals recovering. In the autumn of 1943 Professor Rudolph Fahrner visited me for a few days in Überlingen (City on the North shore of Lake Constance). I met him through my late father Professor Paul Thiersch. (The rest is almost impossible to read but appears to discuss how his relationship with Rudolph Fahrner grew over time).

At the end of June 1944 (I was the Commander of an Artillery Replacement Battery in Regensburg), my adjutant Dr. Klimm now a teacher in (unreadable), informed that a message arrived informing me to immediately report to Chief of Staff in Bendlerstrasse. I reported to Stauffenberg on the 2nd or 3rd of July (most books give the date as 1 July). Stauffenberg told me that it he requested me based on the recommendation of Rudolph Fahrner. He explained to me his plans for a (regime) change and asked me if I was ready to participate. On my request, he informed me of my part and told me to come back the next morning to meet with Rudolph Fahrner.

Rudolph Fahrner and I met the next day in the OKH and scheduled another meeting the following morning in Wannsee (SW Berlin). We met Berthold Graf Stauffenberg at the train station and we all went to the Stauffenberg apartment in the Tristanstrasse (No. 8 Tristanstrasse in Wansee-Berlin, residence of Berthold von Stauffenberg and temporary-September 1943-July 1944, residence of Claus von Stauffenberg ) for further discussions. Rudolph Fahrner slept.At noon we took Berthold Graf Stauffenberg to the train station and returned to the apartment, where Rudolph Fahrner told me about his talks with the brothers Stauffenberg. Particularly urgent was the question whether Claus Stauffenberg should carry out the assassination.
In the evening I took the overnight express train with Rudolph Fahrner in the direction of Munich, Berchtesgaden. I got out in Regensburg while he continued on his way. I was particularly concerned that the cars for the Führer headquarters were part of the train along with the accompanying security agencies. Rudolph Fahrner was concerned that his briefcase in which he had the details of the plot would be discovered.
I have determined that the events surrounding my subsequent return to Berlin, my part within the plot, as well as the circumstances which prevented my discovery, as being inconsequential in regards to this accounting.After the 20th of July, I took the first opportunity to get into personal contact with Rudolph Fahrner (August 44), and visited him in Überlingen, where we destroyed our correspondence. Numerous letters from the Stauffenberg brothers to Rudolph Fahrner were burned. I took some letters of a personal nature with me and gave them to my friend Dr. Max Weather in München-Selln for safe keeping.Certified statement of Urban Thiersch April 27, 1953

[Tom B]

Very nice ! Tom

[BrianK]

Fantastic item - wish I owned it. Maybe it is just my imagination, but I can almost read concern for his country on the photo ID.

[mufasa]

Great soldbuch and great research and presentation.
Thanks Oriano

[Saint-Exupéry]

great Soldbuch Jim!
nice research

[compressore]

Hello Jim.

Very nice Soldbuch.

I saw your thread title mentioning "Conspirator"

I am not a native English speaker but by definition this word has a very negative meaning which in my personal view does not do justice to those brave men who wanted to have a change.

Ad I said this is my personal view and no need to start a discussion about right or wrong.

Regards
Christian

Online dictionary:
Conspiration
to agree together, especially secretly, to do something wrong, evil, or illegal:

to act or work together toward the same result or goal.

[Yubari]

thank you for sharing