Count Franz-Ludwig Schenk von Stauffenberg | |
Office: | Member of the European Parliament |
Term Start: | 24 July 1984 |
Term End: | 24 July 1989 |
Birth Date: | 4 May 1938 |
Birth Place: | Bamberg, Germany |
Nationality: | German |
Party: | CSU EPP (EP) |
Spouse: | Elisabeth Freiin von und zu Guttenberg |
Children: | 4 |
Parents: | Claus von Stauffenberg Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg |
Occupation: | Lawyer |
Count Franz-Ludwig Schenk von Stauffenberg (German: Franz-Ludwig Gustav Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg; born 4 May 1938) is a German lawyer and politician from the CSU. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1976 to 1987 and of the European Parliament from 1984 to 1992.[1] He is the son of World War II colonel and resistance leader Claus von Stauffenberg.
Franz-Ludwig Gustav Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg is the third son of Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg. He married Elisabeth Freiin von und zu Guttenberg, born in Pähl on 5 July 1944, on 25 May 1965 in Guttenberg.
The Stauffenbergs have four children:[2]
After his father's assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler failed on 20 July 1944, Stauffenberg was sent to a foster home in Bad Sachsa and given the new surname of Meister, as the Nazis viewed the name of Stauffenberg unacceptable, due to the prominence of that name in the assassination attempt. Franz-Ludwig's mother, two older brothers, and younger sister Valerie, as well as other relatives, were arrested under Nazi Sippenhaft (blood guilt) laws. He was educated at the Schule Schloss Salem and then qualified as a lawyer after passing his staatsexamen.
In 1994, in connection with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 20 July plot, he demanded that communists, who had fought in the Red Army in the National Committee for a Free Germany should not be honored together with his father. According to Stauffenberg, Communists desired to replace the Nazi Party with another single-party dictatorship. This demand gained many prominent supporters, including then-Federal Defence Minister Volker Rühe.