Rudolph-Christoph von Gersdorff (1905–1980)

Rudolf-Christoph Freiherr (Baron) von Gersdorff was born to an aristocratic Prussian military family in a German-speaking town in Silesia that later became part of Poland. He joined the German Army in the 1920s and served on the general staff and in military intelligence. Von Gersdorff was not a Nazi; during World War II, he became part of a group of officers who believed Germany would be better off without Adolf Hitler. In 1943, he tried to assassinate Hitler with a suicide bomb, but the attempt failed. During his service on the Eastern front a few months later, he discovered the mass graves of Polish officers massacred by the Soviets in the Katyn Wood near Smolensk. He was part of the 20 July 1944 plot against Hitler, along with Claus von Stauffenberg, but was not implicated or arrested although it also failed. However, he was excluded from the post-war army in West Germany by other former Wehrmacht officers. He devoted the rest of his life to charity and became the founding president of the Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe, a humanitarian organization. He published his memoirs under the title Soldat im Untergang (Soldier During the Downfall).