Cool little piece of family history...

[Team Adam's]

One thing I'm very proud of is my German heritage. The von Kleist name is one that can be traced back WAY back and is very well documented as a distinguished military and powerful family in German. 

 

There were a lot of respected military people over the generations, and for better or worse, we have ancestors on both sides of the WWI and WWII battlefield. Some were downright evil dudes, highly decorated Nazi Field Marshals who worked closely with Hitler. It not that its something I take pride in, but its something I take pride in KNOWING about. Anymore its rare to be able to trace your family history back very far... I can however trace mine back all the way to the 1500's and beyond. 

 

Because of the pride in our lineage and the history associated with the name some of my "cousins" back in Germany still keep official records and documentation. (There is a Kleist castle in Germany BTW) As part of that historical documentation they send out updates to everyone of us on recent finding regarding the family. Births, deaths, marriages, etc. Most of the time these are sent in German, some of which I can make out with the help of google translator, or just my very loose understanding of some of the language. 

 

This past March a somewhat historic passing happened that illustrates that the family was on both sides of the line when it came to Hitler/WWII. Its just cool knowing where you come from and figured if anyones a history buff they'd get a kick out of this:

 

 

 

 

Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist, Anti-Hitler Plotter, Dies at 90

By WILLIAM YARDLEY

Published: March 12, 2013

 

Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist, believed to be the last surviving member of an elaborate plot to kill Adolf Hitler

during World War II, died on Friday at his home in Munich. He was 90.

 

His death was reported by news outlets in Germany.

 

Lieutenant von Kleists role was to support a coup.

 

Like many Germans involved in efforts to kill Hitler, Mr. von Kleist was a soldier — a lieutenant in the German

Army — but his family had long been active in the German resistance. In January 1944, he was 22 and

recuperating in Berlin from wounds he suffered in combat when he was approached by Col. Claus von

Stauffenberg to join an assassination plot.

 

At the time, Lieutenant von Kleist led a unit that was scheduled to meet with Hitler to show him new Army

uniforms. Colonel von Stauffenberg asked Lieutenant von Kleist to take along hidden explosives, which he

would then detonate at the meeting.

 

"I found it a very difficult decision, I must say," Mr. von Kleist recalled in an interview for a 1992 documentary, "The Restless Conscience."

 

He asked for a day to decide, and he traveled home from Berlin to talk with his father, Ewald von Kleist-

Schmenzin. His father had been arrested many times for resistance activity.

 

"The next morning, my father said, 'Why are you here again?' " Mr. von Kleist recalled. "I said, 'Well, I have

difficult decisions I have to make.' He said, 'What is it?' And I told him. And he said at once, 'Yes, of course you have to do it,' and I said, 'Yes, but I have to blow up with the colonel.'

 

"He got up from his chair, went to the window, looked out of the window for a moment, and then he turned and

said: 'Yes, you have to do that. A man who doesn't take such a chance will never be happy again in his life.' "

Lieutenant von Kleist agreed to go through with the plan, but Hitler canceled at the last moment — he frequently changed his schedule late in the war — and Colonel von Stauffenberg and others began devising a new plan.

 

In July 1944, as other conspirators in the plot were being discovered and arrested, Colonel von Stauffenberg,

whose Army role gave him access to top leaders, decided to leave a bomb under a table during a meeting of

Hitler and his aides at Wolf s Lair, his field headquarters in East Prussia. Lieutenant von Kleist was among

several conspirators whose job was to wait in Berlin to be ready to stage a coup once Hitler's death was

confirmed.

 

Mr. von Kleist recalled the waiting that day as "a fantastic atmosphere when history is bending on the edge of a

knife."

 

When the bombing took place, on July 20, four people were killed, but Hitler was only slightly injured. The

conspiracy was quickly discovered, and Colonel von Stauffenberg was among those who were arrested and shot

to death late that night. Nazis eventually killed more than 5,000 people associated with or supportive of those

involved in the plot. Mr. von Kleist's father was arrested July 21 and killed by the Nazis in Plotzensee Prison in

April 1945.

 

Mr. von Kleist was taken for questioning at the German Gestapo's headquarters on the day of the bombing.

"I thought of the lines from the Divine Comedy: 'Abandon hope, all ye who enter here,' " he said in a 2004

interview with The National Post of Canada.

 

Yet while he served time in prison with other conspirators, charges against him were eventually dropped, for

reasons that were not immediately clear. He was assigned to combat duty on the front lines. Mr. von Kleist told The National Post that he had benefited from the fact that conspirators who were being

tortured did not disclose his involvement.

 

"Of course it helped me," he said. "Some talked, and as a result some people were unnecessarily sent to the

gallows."

 

Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist was born on July 10, 1922, in the province of Pomerania, in what was then Prussia.

His family had aristocratic roots, and his father had opposed Hitler even before he took control of Germany. In

1938, with Hitler well in charge, he traveled to England to try to convince the British that their support could

help German military leaders overthrow Hitler.

 

 

 After World War II, Mr. von Kleist became a book publisher. In 1962 he established an annual forum on

security and defense issues in the West that has since expanded in scope to cover other regions. It is now called

the Munich Security Conference; Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. spoke at the event in February.

 

Mr. von Kleist gave few interviews about his role in the plot. For a long time, attitudes in Germany about the

effort were complex. Some people initially regarded it as treason — a development Colonel von Stauffenberg

anticipated in his writings — but as decades passed more people embraced the plot, and for many years

Germany's leaders have been holding memorial services on July 20, sometimes accompanied by Mr. von Kleist.

Mr. von Kleist appeared in several documentaries about the plot, but he was neither involved in nor portrayed in

"Valkyrie," the 2008 film about the plot starring Tom Cruise.

 

His survivors include his wife, Gundula.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2013 by Dylan@Adams

[JBlack151]

Wow, very cool.

[Rich]

Indeed.  Very cool!

[Green Machine]

Dylan that is really cool!!!!!!! It's funny with the Internet and all when my wife(also of German decent - BURMEISTER) joined Facebook got a lot of friend requests from Italy with my last name and through questions asked and answered through my mom and dad and some old photos found out that some of the friend requests my wife received were actually some of my distant cousins.

 

We didn't even know because most of my grandmothers generation are all gone and my dad really didn't keep in touch with a lot of his cousins because he had a busy life and family to take care of. Thanks for sharing!!!!!!!!

[Team Adam's]

So AWESOME dude!

[Redbeard]

That is neat. I agree that it's beneficial to know the good and bad parts of your family history. By chance did you have any relatives associated with Mercedes-Benz, Auto Union, or Porsche? 

[GerryC]

Wow, that is awesome. When I was on my ancestry crusade last year I was only able to trace back to the 1860's (and found out that because of someone's sloppy handwriting at Ellis Island, my last name is actually spelled wrong). Going back to the 1500's is mighty impressive. Did you use anything besides ancestry.com and records from overseas relatives? I still want to go back at least one more generation but I hit a wall.

 

So cool that he was involved with an attempt on Hitler's life. Just reading your own name in an article like that, about something decades or even centuries old, man, what a feeling that must be.

[ihaveacamaro]

Very cool!

 

I don't know my history beyond my grandfather :/

[JHL88]

i wish i knew mine.  i even tried ancestry.com and got no where.  supposedly im related to robert e lee from what my grandmother said  but there are sooo many Lees out there!

[THE Mook]

Pretty awesome stuff brother!

[Team Adam's]

Wow, that is awesome. When I was on my ancestry crusade last year I was only able to trace back to the 1860's (and found out that because of someone's sloppy handwriting at Ellis Island, my last name is actually spelled wrong). Going back to the 1500's is mighty impressive. Did you use anything besides ancestry.com and records from overseas relatives? I still want to go back at least one more generation but I hit a wall.

 

So cool that he was involved with an attempt on Hitler's life. Just reading your own name in an article like that, about something decades or even centuries old, man, what a feeling that must be.

 

Because we have the members of the family in Germany (an elected panel) that maintains the records theres not much for me to research. Its all pretty well document in the family archives. I gotta believe they've got better records than ancestry.com would LOL. 

[Tim]

That is cool!  Now, why do I want to watch some Hogan's Heros reruns?

[Chris@Adams]

Very interesting....one of my Great Grandfathers came from Germany....... And my Grandchildren  ( Handschumacher) definitely have German blood lines......

[redneck08sierra]

Dylan, I too am german (Gross is my last name) and my aunt did our family history on both my mom and dad's side. It is very interesting to see where your family comes from!  We are related to Eva Braun who was Hitler's mistress

[Schwag one]

This is awesome, its cool to be able to say your family tried to help better the world. Have you ever been to Germany to see the castle?!

[GerryC]

Have you ever been to Germany to see the castle?!

That sounds like an absolute must-do 

[MAYBEN]

pretty cool!

[BRZN]

Good info for sure, I'd be proud.

[WHTEVO]

Awesome stuff 

[blcksilv08]

Very cool stuff, family history is always a good thing to learn about, I wish i knew more than i do about mine. The only thing i know of associated with my last name (McCarthy) besides McCarthyism, is that Blarney Castle in Ireland was built by Cormac MacCarthy(previous spelling of McCarthy), it was held under this name from 1446-1694. Now a tourist attraction. Dylan you got the wheels moving now i need to do more research.