Claus von Stauffenberg was born in Jettingen, on 15th November, 1907. His father was Privy Chamberlain to the King of Bavaria, and his mother was granddaughter of the Prussian general August Wilhelm Anton Graf von Gneisenau (1760-1831).
As a young man he was a member of the Hitler Youth. A bright student, at nineteen he became an officer cadet. Alan Bullock, the author of Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1962) has argued: "He (Claus von Stauffenberg) was a brilliant creature, with a passion not only for horses and outdoor sports but for literature (he was a favourite of Stefan George, the poet) and for music, at which he excelled. To his friends' surprise, he made the army his career."
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