Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin

Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin (22 March, 1890 – 9 April, 1945) was a lawyer, a conservative politician, and the owner of an estate in Pomerania, northeast of Berlin. He was also a resistance fighter in Nazi Germany, a member of the July 20 Plot.

Political beliefs and activities

Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin was the son of the Royal Prussian Rittmeisters Hermann von Kleist (1849–1913) and his wife Elisabeth (Lili) (1863–1945).

Born in Dubberow, near Belgard, Pomerania, Germany (now Dobrowo, near Białogard, Poland), Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin supported the German National People's Party ("Deutschnationale Volkspartei"). As a conservative, he supported the idea of monarchy and Christian ideals. He was a staunch, active opponent of Nazism even before Hitler came to power in 1933. He ended up being arrested as a result in May and June of that year, although he was never held very long. He refused to fly the Nazi flag over his "Schloss".

Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin went to the United Kingdom in 1938 as Admiral Wilhelm Canaris's and Colonel-General Ludwig Beck's secret emissary. He was to make the British government aware of the resistance to Hitler's rule inside Germany. He used his contacts with Winston Churchill and Robert Vansittart to try to shift British policy away from one of appeasement to one based more on the use of force. He believed that only if the British were seen to be willing to use force to support Czechoslovakia would the opposition in Germany have the support that it needed among Germany's High Command to move against the Führer. Churchill agreed that a change of leadership in Germany would be a good idea, and even sent Hitler a strongly worded letter, but since Churchill was not yet Prime Minister, it had no effect on Hitler. Kleist-Schmenzin's efforts to get the British to change their policy failed, as did a number of other later missions sent by the conspirators.

Kleist-Schmenzin nonetheless still supported the idea of overthrowing Hitler, and to that end, he met Carl Friedrich Goerdeler in 1942 and 1943, a fellow conservative and resistance fighter, who also favoured a coup d'état. Kleist-Schmenzin eventually found his way into the plot's inner circle and advocated a number of violent acts to get rid of Hitler. He urged his son, Lieutenant Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin, to go through with a suicide-assassination plot in January 1944 which would have seen him blow up himself and the Führer with two hand grenades hidden under a new uniform that he was to "demonstrate" to Hitler. However, Hitler did not show up. Kleist-Schmenzin also supported Claus von Stauffenberg's plan to kill Hitler with a briefcase bomb that the Count would take to the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia. Stauffenberg appointed Kleist-Schmenzin political representative in the Stettin military district in preparation for the coup d'état.

Arrest, trial, and death

Stauffenberg's briefcase bomb failed to kill Hitler on 20 July, 1944, and Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin was arrested the next day. He was brought before the "Volksgerichtshof" on 23 February, 1945, where he was sentenced to death for his part in the plot. He was hanged at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin on 9 April, 1945.

External links

* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Schmenzin.html Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin at the Jewish Virtual Library]
* [http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Kleist-Schmenzin.htm Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin at "Joric"]
* [http://www.gdw-berlin.de/bio/ausgabe-e.php?id=45 Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin at "Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand"]