Axel Freiherr von dem Bussche - Streithorst Axel Freiherr ( Baron ) von dem Bussche - Streithorst ( 24 April 1919 – 26 January 1993 ) , usually referred to as Axel von dem Bussche in English , was a German nobleman , professional Army officer , and member of the German Resistance . He tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler in coordination with Count Stauffenberg in November 1943 at the Wolfsschanze . Army career . Born in Braunschweig , to his German father and to his Danish mother Jenny Lassen , he joined the German Army in 1937 at the age of 18 as a professional officer and was posted as a junior officer of the elite Infantry Regiment 9 Potsdam ( IR 9 ) to the eastern front in Poland . In 1942 Captain von dem Bussche witnessed by chance an SS - organised massacre of more than 3 , 000 Jewish civilians carried out by the SD at the old Dubno airport . This experience traumatized him all his life and was enough to turn him decidedly against Hitler . He joined an " ad hoc " resistance group within Army Group Centre later ( Sept . 1943 ) to be led by Count Stauffenberg . After this experience he declared that there were only three ways left to preserve his honor as an officer : to die in battle , to desert , or to rebel against the government that had ordered this and all other massacres . He chose the last alternative justifying his intention to kill Hitler by his legal right to defend others against unlawful , ongoing , criminal attacks . Resistance . In November 1943 , von dem Bussche , personally encouraged by Count Claus Stauffenberg , undertook to carry out a suicide bombing to kill Hitler . Hitler was due to inspect new Army winter uniforms at his " Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze " , near Rastenburg in Eastern Prussia ( today in Poland ) . Von dem Bussche , over two meters tall , blond and blue eyed , exemplified the looks of Hitler ' s " Nordic " racial ideal , and was an ideal model for the uniforms . Von dem Bussche equipped a landmine with a fast reacting hand grenade detonator , which he intended to hide in the deeper pockets of his uniform trousers . He planned to detonate this bomb while embracing Hitler , thus killing both Hitler and himself . The viewing was scheduled for 16 November 1943 , but the night before , the railway truck containing the new uniforms was destroyed in an Allied air raid on Berlin . On 18 November 1943 , von dem Bussche returned to his unit on the Eastern Front . He had spent three terrible nights at the Führerhauptquartier . Captain von dem Bussche volunteered to try again in February 1944 , when new uniforms would be at hand . In January 1944 , however , von dem Bussche was seriously wounded and lost one of his legs . Another young officer , Captain Ewald von Kleist , volunteered to carry out von dem Bussche ' s mission at a viewing on 11 February 1944 . However Hitler repeatedly postponed and finally cancelled the event . Von dem Bussche spent many months in the Waffen - SS hospital in Lychen and so was not involved at all in the July 20 Plot to kill Hitler . Von dem Bussche ' s role in the earlier assassination plots was not suspected , and he was not betrayed by any of the officers who knew of his involvement . Consequently , he was one of the extremely few Army plotters to survive the war . After the war . After the war , Baron Axel von dem Bussche studied law at Göttingen University and later became a diplomat , serving from 1954 to 1958 in the German embassy in Washington . Then he was headmaster of the Kurt Hahn boarding school " Schule Schloss Salem " located near the lake of Constance in Southern - Germany . In 1968 , he was admitted to the Swiss commandery of the Order of Saint John as an " Ehrenritter " ( " Knight of Honor " ) . In addition , he was also a member of the presidency of the Evangelical Church in Germany , an adviser to the World Bank , and a delegate to the Stockholm UN environment conference of 1972 . In 1950 , he married Lady Mildred Camilla Nichola Acheson , eldest daughter of the 5th Earl of Gosford and Mildred Carter ( of Virginia ) , who before had been married to Baron Hans Christoph Schenk von Stauffenberg . Von dem Bussche had two daughters with Lady Camilla , ( Mrs . ) Nicola Dietzsch - Doertenbach and Baroness Jane von dem Bussche . Axel von dem Bussche was a godfather to Prince Friso of Orange - Nassau . He was a friend and distant relative of Prince Claus of the Netherlands . Axel von dem Bussche was first cousin of the Danish Victoria Cross recipient Anders Lassen , who fought with the British against the Germans . Anders Lassen was killed in action in 1945 in Italy .