| Heinrich Graf zu Dohna-Schlobitten | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 October 1882 Waldburg/Königsberg, East Prussia, Imperial Germany |
| Died | 14 September 1944 (aged 61) Berlin, Germany |
| Allegiance | Imperial Germany (to 1919) Nazi Germany |
| Service/branch | Heer |
| Years of service | 1901-19 1939-1943 |
| Rank | major general |
| Battles/wars | World War I World War II |
Heinrich Graf zu Dohna-Schlobitten (15 October 1882 – 14 September 1944) was a German major general and German Resistance fighter in the July 20 Plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia.
Dohna-Schlobitten was born in Waldburg near Königsberg, East Prussia. He began his career as a professional soldier and was already an ensign (Fahnenjunker) by 1901. In the First World War, he functioned as a General Staff officer until he had to leave the army in 1919.
Also in 1919, Dohna-Schlobitten became a member of the Baltische Landwehr until, on ethical grounds, he chose to leave the military for good, which he succeeded in doing at first. He opposed Nazism and found himself active in the Confessing Church's Bruderrat ("brother council") in the old-Prussian Ecclesiastical Province of East Prussia.[1]
In 1939, Dohna-Schlobitten was remobilized as a General Staff officer and was appointed as Chief of Staff in Defence District I in Königsberg, later to be promoted to Chief of Staff, Army Group Centre. He acted as a corps leader in France, Norway and Finland.
Dohna-Schlobitten's last post was as major general and Chief of the Acting General Command in Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), before leaving the Wehrmacht at his own request in 1943.[1] Thereafter, he earned his livelihood from farming in Tolksdorf in East Prussia.
Dohna-Schlobitten kept contacts with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and was soon involved in Helmuth James von Moltke's Kreisau Circle through Peter Yorck von Wartenburg. After the coup d'état, Dohna-Schlobitten was foreseen as East Prussia's new provincial administrator.[1] The day after Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg's failed attempt on Hitler's life with a briefcase bomb, Dohna-Schlobitten was arrested, and on 14 September 1944, he was sentenced to death at Roland Freisler's Volksgerichtshof and killed the same day in Plötzensee prison next to Nikolaus von Üxküll-Gyllenband, Hermann Josef Wehrle and Michael Graf von Matuschka.[2]
Dohna was married to Maria Agnes née von Borcke, with whom he had a daughter and three sons.[1]
Regarding personal names: Graf was a title, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany, however, since 1919 Graf is no title any more but part of the surname, thus following the given name(s) and not to be translated.