Down for the Count

Not a review of Valkyrie, and not really a preview, but a few points worth considering...

When historical movies are working at their best, they can remind us all of things that happened in the past that many of us may have either forgotten about or never learned about. When they’re at their worst, they can distort their stories beyond any resemblance to actual history.

With the movie Valkyrie now out, it behooves us to try to determine which is which, and which applies to this movie. Frankly, I don’t know...I haven’t seen it yet, nor have I read any reviews. I’ll try to see it this week, and I’ll post my own review to this blog, but until I do here’s a bit about the actual man that Tom Cruise is playing.

Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (1907-1944)
(Some of this I’ve cribbed from the sites listed at the end of this article; some of it I’ve pulled from sources I have at hand and some I’ve pulled from memories of what I’ve seen on The History Channel. As far as I can determine, it’s all accurate; but I don’t intend to go into great detail and if you’re interested then please go to the web sites I’ve listed.)

Here’s part of what Wikipedia has to say:

"Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer and Roman Catholic aristocrat who was one of the leading officers of the failed 20 July plot of 1944 to kill German dictator Adolf Hitler and remove the Nazi party from power in World War II Germany. He was one of the central figures of the German Resistance movement."

That’s enough to base a movie on...but I can’t help but wonder just how deep into history the filmmakers actually went. (The full Wikipedia entry is actually very thorough; check it out, or any of the other biographical websites cited at the end of the article.) Claus von Stauffenberg was a wounded veteran of several early WWII campaigns and occupations, and wasn’t entirely heroic; his stated attitude toward Poles and Slaves, let alone Jews (at least early on) certainly weren’t anything to recommend him to a modern audience. For example, here’s a chilling bit of a letter he wrote to his wife from occupied Poland:

"The population here are unbelievable rabble; a great many Jews and a lot of mixed race. A people that is only comfortable under the lash. The thousands of prisoners will serve our agriculture well."
How closely the film adheres to this side of von Stauffenberg’s character remains to be seen.

Also, I’m curious how the film does his wartime injuries; there was more to them than just an eye patch. He lost his eye, his right hand and two fingers from his left hand in a British fighter attack in Africa in 1943. How he was able to work the fuse on the explosive with which he tried to kill Hitler is a matter for speculation; it can’t have been easy for him.

It’s also worth noting that his hopes for the end of the war were a bit unrealistic. He envisioned a Germany that retained most of the lands that Germany had annexed and/or occupied, and would have required that there be no reprisals against serving German officers, as well as Germany retaining the right to prosecute its war criminals itself (no deportations, in other words). I very much doubt that the Allies would have granted him terms anywhere near this generous, but who can really say what the war-weary allies would have done if a Germany sans Hitler waived a conditional white flag at them? (Personally, I think they’d have told them to stick it; after all, from D-Day onward the Allies would have been bargaining from an obvious position of strength, if they cared to bargain at all.) (I hope they’d have told him to stick it.)

But history largely ignores von Stauffenberg’s shortcomings when it looks at his attempt to take the life of Adolf Hitler. That his plot failed to kill Hitler is a matter of historical record, and the plot to grab the government was a non-starter. Count von Stauffenberg has been lionized as a hero by many, but others have cast doubts on his character and motives. I’m curious to see how the movie is going to paint him.

My own point of view: Heroes are seldom entirely heroic, and villains are seldom entirely villainous. Whatever Claus von Stauffenberg's shortcomings may have been, he heroically tried to end a great evil and paid for it with his life; that the act might demand this price of him did not deter him. To me, that defines a hero.

Another matter of historical record is von Stauffenberg’s death; without even so much as a one-sided show trial he was executed by firing squad before 1 a.m. on July 21, 1944, just a few hours after the failed plot had played out. His last words are somewhat in question; some sources say that he said "Long live a free Germany" while others say that he said "Long live our holy Germany." Whether this is just a question of different translations I have no idea, but I wonder what Tom Cruise will say?

But defiling von Stauffenberg didn’t end with his death; he was buried with full military honors, but the next day the SS dug up his remains, striped him of all awards and medals and cremated his body.

Count Claus von Stauffenberg (Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg) is a fascinating character in the history of the Second World War; a man who, whatever his faults may have been, tried to put an end to the reign of one of the most evil men ever to hold vast military power. But I’m not sure that his failure was entirely a bad thing; if von Stauffenberg had gained power, would he then have continued the war in the hope of securing a better peace for his people? While I’m sure Germany would have lost the war in any case, with competent officers in command of Germany’s armed forces it might have turned out very differently, even in defeat. This will remain one of history’s greatest "what if" questions.

The Blues Viking


Further Reading
Wikipedia on Claus von Stauffenberg

Claus von Stauffenberg at the Jewish Virtual Library

von Stauffenberg at Answers.com

Heroes & Killers of the 20th Century

The opinions here expressed are mine and if you don’t like them you can get your own damn blog.