Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach

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Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach (August 22, 1888 in Hamburg, Germany - April 28, 1976 in Bremen) was a German general. He was born in the noble Prussian Seydlitz family.

During WWI he participated on both fronts as an officer. During the Weimar Republic he remained a professional officer in the Reichswehr.

He held the rank of general der artillerie during the Battle of Stalingrad where he was captured by Soviet forces. As a POW he became the leader of the anti-Nazi organization Union of German Officers (German: "Bund deutscher Offiziere") and a prominent member of the National Committee of Free Germany (German: "Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland").

He was detested by many of his fellow generals for his anti-Nazi activities and received a death sentence in absentia. He was a severely depressed man because of his collaboration to end the war. His fantastical ideas of flying in 30,000 German POWs to save Germany from the Soviet Government granted no inquisition and his family underwent Sippenhaft (detention for the crimes of a family member). As Seydlitz refused to take part in the socialist rebuilding of the Soviet occupied zone he was sentenced to death there, too, but it was changed to lifelong imprisonment. In 1955 he was released to West Germany, where in 1956 the Third Reich death sentence was nullified.