Hans-Ulrich von Oertzen

Who was Hans-Ulrich von Oertzen?

Hans Ulrich von Oertzen was a German officer who served in Army Group Centre of the Wehrmacht during World War II. He took part in the military-based July 20 Plot conspiracy against Adolf Hitler and many letters to his wife have been published that provide an insight into his thoughts during that period.

Born in Berlin to an aristocratic family, he followed his father into the army and trained as a general staff officer. During World War II he was promoted to Major and by 1943 he was serving in Army Group Centre under Generalmajor Henning von Tresckow who was one of the leading members of the resistance. He then helped Claus von Stauffenberg to develop Operation Valkyrie. On 26 March 1944, he married Ingrid von Oertzen Langenn and a selection of 240 letters he wrote to her from 1942 to 1944 were recently published in book form in Germany.

On 20 July 1944 he was the liaison officer to the commander of the defense group III and passed on the first Valkyrie orders. After the failure of the coup attempt, he was arrested and interrogated by General Joachim von Kortzfleisch and Generalleutnant Karl Freiherr von Thüngen, who was himself a member of the resistance.