Wolf-Heinrich Helldorf was born in Germany in 1896.
He fought in the German Army during the First World War and in 1919
became a member of the Freikorps.
Helldorf joined the Nazi
Party in 1925 and later became a member of Prussian state assembly.
In 1931 he became a Sturm Abteilung (SA) leader in Brandenburg.
In 1935,
Helldorf was appointed the Berlin prefect of police. During the riots
of Kristallnacht,
Helldorf rages at his police officers for obeying orders to stand down
and vows that if he had been in Berlin he would have issued orders to
shoot the rioters.
During the Second World War, he had growing doubts
about Adolf Hitler and became involved in the conspiracy to overthrow
the fuehrer. Helldorf was in Berlin on July
20, 1944, to assist Stauffenberg's
coup attempt. The same day, he was arrested by the Gestapo.
After being convicted of treason, he was hanged in Plotzensee prison
on August 15, 1944.
