Unit 1012 Cover Photo

Unit 1012 Cover Photo

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

THE PRAYER AND QUOTES OF CLAUS VON STAUFFENBERG (NOVEMBER 15, 1907 TO JULY 21, 1944) – 110TH BIRTHDAY IN PARADISE



“We took this challenge before our Lord and our conscience, and it must be done, because this man, Hitler, he is the ultimate evil.”
- Claus Von Stauffenberg



 

“We took this challenge before our Lord and our conscience, and it must be done, because this man, Hitler, he is the ultimate evil.” - Claus Von Stauffenberg

            One of the German Resistance against Nazism Hero, Claus Von Stauffenberg was executed on this date, July 21, 1944. We, the comrades of Unit 1012: The VFFDP, respects and honor him as a War Hero and we will remember him every year on July 21 and also November 15. This year, we celebrate his 110th birthday.

            Let us remember him. We hope his story can be an inspiration for us to stand up against evil. Do see his quotes:



"Is there no officer over there in the Führer's headquarters capable of shooting that beast!" he says to a fellow officer in August 1942.

"The point is ... to kill him, and I am prepared to do that," von Stauffenberg says to another fellow officer later the same year.


Benito Mussolini visits Hitler's headquarter Wolfsschanze near Rastenburg (Ketrzyn) in East Prussia in the day of 20 july attenat. The view of destroyed corridor of barrack (There is Dr Paul Schmidt - Mussolini's interpreter in the background).



“We took this challenge before our Lord and our conscience, and it must be done, because this man, Hitler, he is the ultimate evil.”

 

A German stamp of Stauffenberg and Helmuth James Graf von Moltke in commemoration of their 100th birthdays.

“It is now time that something was done. But the man who has the courage to do something must do it in the knowledge that he will go down in German history as a traitor. If he does not do it, however, he will be a traitor to his own conscience.”



Death certificate of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, shot on July 20, 1944; certificate from the city of Bamberg, written in 1951


“Can the Church grant absolution to a murderer who has taken the life of a tyrant?”

- Claus Von Stauffenberg, after praying at a Catholic Chapel.


"Fate has offered us this opportunity, and I would not refuse it for anything in the world," von Stauffenberg says, continuing, "I have examined myself before God and my conscience. It must be done because this man (Hitler) is evil personified."
 
Claus von Stauffenberg
Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, commonly referred to as Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (German: [ˈklaʊs ˈʃɛŋk ˈɡʁaːf fɔn ˈʃtaʊfənbɛɐ̯k]), Claus von Stauffenberg, or Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944), was a German army officer and aristocrat who was one of the leading members of the failed 20 July plot of 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler and remove the Nazi Party from power. Along with Henning von Tresckow and Hans Oster, he was one of the central figures of the German Resistance movement within the Wehrmacht. For his involvement in the movement he was executed by firing squad shortly after the failed attempt known as Operation Valkyrie.

The Journal and Writings of Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf Von Stauffenberg

July 19, 1944

Mein Gott, tomorrow, as you have made it, I will embark on a perilous mission to show the world the true Deutschland, not Hitler’s Germany, or Nazi Germany, but the true Fatherland. I know I put myself and my family, as well as anyone else I am acquainted with, in grave danger by revolting against Hitler’s regime. Dear God, please, keep my family safe and healthy. You are the Shepherd; You keep us under Your watchful eye. Guide us through all the darkness that surrounds us and we shall not fear, for You are with us always. If we do not succeed, death I shall not fear, for I shall have served my country, our Sacred Germany. Forever may it be a banner under you, oh God. Empower us to strike true as we face certain death if we are caught. Help us to let the world see that not all Germans are like Hitler; that not all Germans are Nazis.

Amen.

  

At Rastenburg on 15 July 1944. Stauffenberg at left, Hitler center, Keitel on right. The person shaking hands with Hitler is General Karl Bodenschatz, who was seriously wounded five days later, by Stauffenberg's bomb.

These days, it is the fear that Hitler will be the death of us all that keeps us alive. The fear, that if we don’t act soon, the Allied forces will strike and that Hitler’s War will be lost. And, in the end, Germany crushed. If we fail, if the bomb does not carry out what it is so intended to do, all will be lost. To pray for death is wrong, but if Hitler is not killed, more than one will die. The Jews will be exterminated by the Nazis if nothing is done, Germany will be in disgrace. Tomorrow, I shall deposit the bomb at the Wolfsschanze’s subterranean Fuhrerbunker where there we will be meeting with Hitler. May God speed us on our way to victory with Operation Valkyrie, notwithstanding, those who are unsure whether or not their choice to help us. For who knows what they shall do? We must forgive them, for they are endangering their lives and families, as much as I am.

Again, I pray, Mein Gott, for our victory. For Hitler’s and the Nazi party’s destruction, yet I cannot hope much. I fear that, if I do, all will be lost. For now, I shall follow steadfastly the path which I have chosen, as it be the will of my Lord God, to its conclusion, or its unsuccessful end. Whatever the outcome, I know that I have tried my hardest, and that I have done all in my power. So help me, if this doesn’t work, and if the pencil detonator bombs do not kill Hitler, I would murder him myself. I do not think it wise, but I am sorely tempted. But for my family, I would.

Let this not be the end, but a beginning. A beginning of a spark. A spark that would light a candle. The dark, the evil, and the wrong of this world may win, but there in lies its weakness. The people may cower, afraid, in the dark, at the heart of the evil’s power, but one candle is enough to hold it at bay, to strike it down. The spark that my fellows and I will ignite, will light a candle. That candle, like a single light burning in a church, alone will be enough to show Germany’s true self, the ways of the people; not the ways of the Nazi party, that so cloud the world’s view of us. We are the candle. We are hope, the hope that war will end, that peace may come, that we will become the ally, against Germany, for Germany.

Hitler’s Germany must perish, that I cannot deny. To do wrong to induce right is not a wanton task, yet we take it up as our burden, for we owe our lives to our country and our God. We are not Nationalists, not Nazis; We are Germans, not killers. God help us prevail, we will need all the help you can give us. I can only hope that all those who believe in our cause will pray as we execute this horrendous act of righteousness. I believe in my Lord, and his command say, ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’, but in order to preserve all that God’s holy Germany stands for, I must break his commandment, and later repent, and rejoice, if our goal is fulfilled.

In God’s name, I pray. Do not let this murderer proceed through life one more day! I love Germany, my true Germany. The one that I fight so hard to keep alive. I must not fall. The fate of true Germany lies in my hand; in the fire power of the explosives that I will plant, set off, and lastly, to the best of my ability, to not get caught. I must try and I will keep trying till I succeed or death takes me. God save Germany, God saves us all. My Nina, my children, I did this for you, as much as for the rest of our true German brothers and sisters. Do not forget those who are trying to make our world a better place, our lives happier, our homes and streets safer, and our hearts, peaceful with a new sense of the world and or righteousness. If I do not return from this mission, I have but one last thing to say. Es lebe das heilige Deutschland! Long Germany!

In God’s Holy Name,

Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg   

No comments:

Post a Comment