The Song Before It Is Sung

by Justin Cartwright

  Back at the house a birthday table had been prepared and you were in your nightclothes in the hall by the big Swedish stove. There was no electricity but the table looked beautiful, with the red candles in the silver candlesticks, which I saved from Treskow. It was my birthday on the 20th and while I was on my way to find your father, Aunt Adi had prepared the table on which she laid little gifts: she added the gifts your father had brought with him, new editions of books I had wanted from Kiepert and some delicacies he had managed to get his hands on. I opened my presents: we sang, we perhaps shed a tear or two, but we were very jolly, and then you children were taken back to bed and he came in to kiss you before we were finally alone together, for the last time, in our room in the tower. He told me that he believed a new future for us and our country was coming.

  In the morning you children were waiting at breakfast. Immediately after breakfast your father and I climbed into the brake and we waved goodbye to you, assembled with Aunt Adi and Babette on the front steps. We held hands all the way to the station: we were young then. As we approached the station, your father asked me if I loved him. 'Of course, my darling, I love you and I support you in everything you have to do.'

  'It is only fifty-fifty, you know.'

  He used the English phrase, 'fifty-fifty': at times he was happier speaking English than German. I think it reminded him of his Oxford days and his Oxford friends, who were very dear to him. He made no secret of the fact that he had been in love there and I felt no jealousy. He believed that if you had once loved someone, you should always maintain that love in some way.

  He jumped out of the brake, seized me in his arms, thin and frail though he was, and swung me down. He said goodbye to Wicht, kissed one of the horses - 'I love their smell and the feel of their muzzles,' he said — and we ran hand in hand to the platform. We embraced and he jumped into the train. As it pulled away, a dark cloud fell on my soul that has never completely lifted.

  The 20th of July was my thirty-second birthday. What a terrible, terrible irony. By nightfall we knew that the Führer had survived. In the morning we heard on the radio that a small clique of renegade officers, led by the traitor Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, had been executed. But we did not know what had happened to your father. We could obviously not ask anyone. Your aunt made a wonderful show of keeping things as normal as possible, but she and I went up to my bedroom to listen to the radio for news.

  Conrad cannot sleep. He sees Axel von Gottberg desperate to hold his wife and his children for the last time. He sees the tall, romantic figure striding through the fading light for home; he sees the intensity of that evening, the startled children in their nightdresses, the poignant journey behind the horses back to the station and on to ruined Berlin, where the twilight of the gods has descended. He sees Axel von Gottberg exactly as he is in the trial footage, tall, hollow-eyed, agonisingly thin, but resolved.

  And now, deeply moved by the memoir, Conrad wonders, as Liselotte did, how he could have done it. Was it courage or was it a kind of delusion, afolie de grandeur, that he, Axel, Graf von Gottberg, was destined to save Germany alongside his grand friend, Claus Schenk, Graf von Stauffenberg? But also Conrad sees the puzzled children, innocent, confused, their lives for ever blighted, the children of a traitor — or a hero. He has met one of the daughters; the son Robert died of diphtheria a few months after the Gestapo took them away to an orphanage in Bavaria in accordance with Hitler's policy of Sippenhaft, kindred seizure. The two girls stayed there, mute, until Christmas.

  In those last days von Gottberg was gripped by a belief that, once von Stauffenberg had killed Hitler, he would be vital in establishing Germany back in the civilised world: he might even be able to secure a government for Germany by decent Germans, a government that would avoid humiliation and ruin and Soviet annexation.

  There is only a paper-thin divide between idealism and delusion.

  18

  19 JULY 1944

  VON GOTTBERG ARRIVES back in Berlin at Friedrich-strasse Station. He takes the U-Bahn to the office. The U-Bahn is still running although Berlin is being reduced to rubble by the bombing raids. If anyone doubts the madness of Hitler, they have only to look about. The great military genius is in his Wolf's Lair in East Prussia, his personal escape from the chaos he has caused to be rained down on the people of Berlin. Von Gottberg feels a kind of dull pain that constricts his chest. Perhaps he should see a doctor.

  But as he emerges from the U-Bahn near the office, he is filled with the elation of knowing that the day is coming. He has work to do, preparing for the installation of the new government. The bad news is that Rommel has been injured when his car is strafed; he will not be at hand to lend his great authority to the putsch. But the Auswartiges Amt is strongly anti-Nazi still, apart from von Gottberg's boss Dr Six, an SS appointee, and even he sees which way the wind is blowing.

  He lunches with some friends including his brother-in-law, Dietlof Goetz; they don't talk about the putsch. But all afternoon he is busy co-ordinating the Foreign Office's reaction to the coup. Of course, they are in the hands of the military at the Bendlerblock, who will put the Valkyrie plan into operation as soon as news comes through of the assassination. It is the military's task to make sure that key locations in Berlin, Paris and Prague are secured. He also writes a letter to his wife, which she is to memorise and destroy: In the next few weeks, you may not hear from me. Do not be afraid.

  That night he has a brief meeting with von Stauffenberg, who is calm, smoking one of his Brazilian cigars. On the way home von Stauffenberg stops at Martin Niemöller's church in Dahlem to bear witness. Nobody knows what von Stauffenberg and von Gottberg discussed, but it is probable that it was the nature of the announcement to be broadcast from the captured radio stations and transmitters. Late that evening von Stauffenberg returns to No 8 Tristanstrasse, and he and Berthold read their brother, Alexander's, latest poems.

  19

  20 JULY 1944

  KARL SCHWEIZER, THE former magician and von Stauf-fenberg's chauffeur, pulls up outside No 8 Tristanstrasse. The house stands on the Wannsee, one of the lakes that lie on the flat northern plain around Berlin. No 8 is built in the vernacular style popular in the prosperous and leafy suburbs: it has elements of the chalet, with a steeply pitched roof and a wooden balcony on the first floor. Part of the front of the house is faced in wood and most of the windows on three floors have shutters.

  It has been a very hot summer and the garden, although untended, is flowering heavily, drooping lilacs scenting the air. Beyond the house is the lake, Wannsee, invisible from the street, but providing a wonderfully natural view from the back of the house through birch trees to the gently undulating water. Proximity to a lake is highly prized. In summer the beaches on the lakes are crowded with bathers, soldiers on leave with their girlfriends and wives, and children in family groups or with mothers only, all those in fact who want to get away from the ruin that is Berlin. The U-Bahn trains to Wannsee and Nikolassee from Alexanderplatz and Unter den Linden are packed at weekends. Unter den Linden no longer has any Linden - limes - because they have been replaced by triumphal Roman columns on the orders of Reichsmarschall Goering.

  At exactly 7 a.m. von Stauffenberg appears at the door in the uniform of 10 Panzer Division with the light-grey summer jacket, the collar patches and shoulder flashes with two crowns that identify his rank and regiment. The piping around the sleeves of the jacket indicates that he is on the Army's general staff. He wears cavalry boots. With him is his brother Berthold, in his dark naval uniform. Berthold hands Schweizer his brother's briefcase, which contains two lumps of explosive, each weighing nine hundred and seventy-five grams, with two British primer charges and two thirty-minute fuses, also British. A shirt covers the explosive, a timing device and a pair of pliers which have been adapted for use with his brother's left hand. He wears a black patch over his left eye, also lost in North Africa. A colleague, Major-General Henning von Tresckow from Army Group Centre, has procured the exp
losives.

  Claus von Stauffenberg and his brother settle in the back of the car for the drive to Rangsdorf Airfield. There is light fog, which looks as though it will soon clear. Von Stauffenberg clasps his brother's hand for a moment and then recites. His brother joins him in a whisper:

  When this generation has cleansed its shame

  And thrown the serfs yoke from its neck

  And feels in its entrails the pure hunger for honour,

  Then, from battlefields covered with endless graves,

  A bloody signal will flash through the clouds,

  Then roaring armies will rush through the fields;

  And the horror of horrors will rage, the third storm,

  The return of the dead.

  Claus says quietly, 'For honour and secret Germany.'

  Berthold repeats, 'For secret Germany.'

  The car pulls in to the airfield, saluted by guards. The fog is thicker. Lieutenant Werner von Haeften, von Stauffenberg's adjutant, is waiting.

  He speaks to the driver, Schweizer: 'Go to Spandau and get yourself a new suit.'

  'Why do I need one, sir?'

  'You will be needing many new things.'

  Von Haeften and the brothers stand outside the low airport building until they hear the drone of the engines of the courier plane. It appears suddenly from the murk and lands with a bump, before taxiing to the buildings. It is 8 a.m. when von Stauffenberg and von Haeften climb up the short flight of steps and wave goodbye to Berthold before settling down for the flight to Rasten-burg in East Prussia. Berthold is driven back to his office in the Naval High Command. The fog has cleared and below them Brandenburg and Mecklenburg, a patchwork of forests and lakes and fields, unrolls. Even from this height you can see fields of wheat and barley shot through with the red of poppies and the blue of cornflowers.

  The plane lands at 10.15 a.m. A staff car is waiting. Von Haeften carries the briefcase containing the bomb and von Stauffenberg carries his briefing notes which concern the use of troops on leave in Berlin as an emergency defence force. The car pauses briefly at the gates that lead to the eastern command centre, Wolfschanze — Wolf's Lair — a compound ringed by two perimeter fences. Within the compound is the Führer compound, which contains Hitler's quarters, a casino, and houses and bunkers for leading ministers. Gorlitz station is beside this compound; the line separates the Führer compound from the rest of the Wolfschanze. To the north of the Führer compound are swamps, which provide a natural defence before the outer perimeter is reached.

  Von Stauffenberg is invited to have breakfast with the Headquarters Commandant's staff. He is greatly admired; the Commandant himself has invited him to lunch after the briefing. The breakfast is lavish, with the best Westphalian ham and a variety of cheeses and freshly baked bread. A special delicacy is the local Blutwurst. After breakfast, at about 11 a.m., von Stauffenberg is driven to a meeting with the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Buhle. They discuss the divisions - the blocking divisions - that will be drawn up from somewhere to prevent a rout when the front-line troops in the East withdraw, which they must. Von Haeften rejoins von Stauffenberg outside Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel's office for preparatory briefing before von Stauffenberg is summoned to the Führer's presence. Von Haeften is still holding the briefcase containing the explosives. He is not required in this briefing and stands in the corridor.

  At noon Hitler's valet, Linge, phones Keitel to tell him that the morning briefing is delayed until 12.30, because Mussolini, who is due to arrive at Gorlitz station in his special train, is late. At 12.25 Field Marshal Keitel is informed that his General Staffs chief of operations has arrived by train and the Führer briefing can begin. Von Stauffenberg wants to be sure that the Führer is going to be present. He is told that the Führer will indeed be there. He asks permission to change his shirt. Von Stauffenberg and von Haeften are shown to a sitting room, where, with von Haeften's help, von Stauffenberg changes his shirt. Keitel, Buhle and Keitel's adjutant stand outside the hut in the sunshine waiting for them. Von Stauffenberg puts his back against the door and starts to prime the bomb with the special pliers, using his three remaining fingers. Only he may do it: he is the assassin.

  He has to remove the fuses from the primer charges and squeeze the copper casing with the pliers to break the glass phials inside. The acid must seep out on the cotton around the retaining wires. Too much pressure might break the wire; it has to corrode gently for the delay, a maximum of thirty minutes, to be effective. Then he has to look through an inspection hole to make sure that the firing pin is still compressed, remove a safety bolt, and finally put the fuses back into the primer charges. Eventually one bomb is primed. But as von Stauffenberg starts on the second, the door is pushed against his back by a staff sergeant who has been sent by Keitel. He calls through the door to say that there is a phone call for him and that the Field Marshal requests that he come immediately to the briefing. Then the Field Marshal's adjutant himself shouts down the corridor: Stauffenberg, come along. The Field Marshal is agitated. Von Stauffenberg decides that there is no time to prime the second bomb. He gestures to von Haeften, who closes the briefcase and hands it to him and they hurry out past the staff sergeant. Keitel's adjutant reaches for the case, but von Stauffenberg pulls it away impatiently. His unwillingness to accept help, despite his injury, impresses itself on the adjutant.

  Von Haeften stuffs the second lump of explosive in a brown-paper parcel and slips it into his own attache case. His task now is to make sure that the car that is to take them back to the airfield is standing by. He slips out of Keitel's office complex and makes his way to the drivers' pool.

  Von Stauffenberg is animated as he walks to the briefing complex where the Führer is already at work planning for the impossible, how to save the Fatherland. Outside the wooden building, von Stauffenberg hands his briefcase to the adjutant and asks for a place as close to the Führer as possible, as he has charts and maps to show him.

  As von Stauffenberg enters the room, Hitler breaks off and looks at him. Keitel announces Colonel Claus Schenk, Graf von Stauffenberg, who will report on the new arrangements for the defence of Berlin. Von Stauffenberg, with his eye patch and uniform with one empty arm, looks directly back at Hitler. It is reported later that von Stauffenberg, six foot three inches and extraordinarily good-looking, is a proud figure, the image of a warrior of classical times and the picture of a general staff officer. Hitler allows von Stauffenberg to shake him by the hand, an honour. Keitel's adjutant asks one of the officers at the map table to move in order to allow von Stauffenberg to stand as close to the Führer as possible. Only Major-General Heusinger, who has been briefing the Führer on the situation in the East, now stands between him and von Stauffenberg. Von Stauffenberg pushes the briefcase as close to the Führer's legs as he can. It rests against the massive legs of the table support. After a few minutes, von Stauffenberg motions to the adjutant and asks him to get Lieutenant General Fellgiebel on the phone. The adjutant gives the order to the operator in a side office, hands the phone to von Stauffenberg, and returns to the briefing. As arranged, von Stauffenberg leaves the briefing room and walks to find von Haeften and Fellgiebel. They wait. At some time between 12.40 and 12.50, they hear an enormous explosion. Debris and a body fly out of the windows of the briefing room. They see another body being carried out, covered in the Führer's velvet cloak.

  Von Stauffenberg and von Haeften walk calmly to their car and direct it to the airstrip where a plane is waiting for them. It is the Heinkel HE 111 of the Quarter Master General, Lieutenant General Wagner. At the first perimeter fence a guard stops the car. Von Stauffenberg, with icy calm, tells him that he is a member of the General Staff acting on urgent orders. They are waved through. At the second checkpoint, the outer perimeter, there is an absolute ban on anyone leaving the Wolfschanze. Von Stauffenberg has a lunch appointment with the Commandant, but nonetheless he tells the guard sergeant to call Captain von Mollendorf, the Commandant's adjutant, for permission to l
et him pass. He lights one of his black Brazilian cigars as he waits for the sergeant to make the call: the sergeant soon waves them through and salutes. As they pass through a stand of trees, von Haeften throws the second lump of explosive out of the car window. Fellgiebel, meanwhile, orders that all outgoing signal traffic must be stopped.

  The Heinkel takes off for Berlin-Rangsdorf. An order is given that fighters should be scrambled and that the Heinkel should be shot down, but it is not passed to the Luftwaffe by the major on duty, who is the son-in-law of one of the conspirators, General Olbricht, who is himself waiting at the Bendlerblock, General Army Office, for von Stauffenberg's return to Berlin to take over the government of Germany and end the war. But already, by the time the Heinkel lands at 4 p.m., there is uncertainty and confusion. Karl Schweizer, the chauffeur, goes to the wrong airport. Von Stauffenberg and von Haeften have to borrow a car from a Luftwaffe officer. At 4.05 p.m. communication with the Wolfschanze is restored. Reports are coming in that there has been an explosion at the Wolfschanze and that some officers have been wounded.

  Before von Stauffenberg's car arrives at the Reserve Army Headquarters in Bendlerstrasse, there is already uncertainty. There has been a fatal delay in implementing the Valkyrie plans, drawn up to take over the key installations of Berlin in an emergency. The Guard Battalion, the armoured troops from the Officers' School at Krampnitz and the infantry regiments at Dobnitz and Potsdam, should, according to the plan, already have entered the administrative sector of Berlin and occupied all the main government buildings, SS and Party headquarters. The Berlin Radio Tower, all newspapers, and the radio transmitter at Tegel were to be seized, SS leaders to be arrested and the SS disarmed. But the order has not been given.