Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim Albrecht Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim ( 25 March 1905 – 21 July 1944 ) was a German officer and a resistance fighter in Nazi Germany involved in the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler . Early life . Von Quirnheim was born in Munich , Bavaria , to Hermann Ritter Mertz von Quirnheim , a captain on the Bavarian General Staff . He spent his youth in the Bavarian capital before his father became head of the Imperial Archive ( the " Reichsarchiv " ) and the family moved to Potsdam . As a child he befriended Hans - Jürgen von Blumenthal and as a young man came to know the brothers Werner von Haeften and Hans Bernd von Haeften , through family connections ; these were all future fellow - conspirators . Military career . Following his " Abitur " , von Quirnheim joined the " Reichswehr " in 1923 . His friendship with Claus von Stauffenberg , who would become the key conspirator in the 20 July plot , began in 1925 . World War II . On the outbreak of World War II , von Quirnheim was appointed Staff Officer at the General Staff ' s organisational division . He had initially welcomed Hitler ' s seizure of power , but began to distance himself from the régime as he became more aware of its brutality . In 1941 , for example , his support for the more humane treatment of civilians in Nazi - occupied Eastern Europe triggered a dispute between Alfred Rosenberg ( Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories ) and Erich Koch ( Reich Commissar for the Ukraine ) . In 1942 , while being promoted to lieutenant colonel and then to Head of Staff of the 24th Army Corps at the Eastern Front , von Quirnheim strengthened his ties to the resistance through his brother - in - law Wilhelm Dieckmann . He was promoted to colonel in 1943 , the same year he married Hilde Baier . 20 July plot . By September 1943 , von Quirnheim had become involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler . He , his superior General Friedrich Olbricht and von Stauffenberg drew up Operation Valkyrie , a plan of action to be implemented as soon as Hitler had been killed . Meanwhile , he succeeded Stauffenberg as Chief of Staff at the Army ' s General Office in Berlin . Immediately after the attempt on Hitler ' s life in East Prussia on 20 July 1944 , von Quirnheim urged General Olbricht to activate Operation Valkyrie , even though they could not be sure whether Hitler was dead . At about the same time , however , news began to arrive that Hitler had survived the assassination attempt . Within hours , von Quirnheim , von Stauffenberg , Olbricht and Werner von Haeften had been arrested , summarily tried by Colonel General Friedrich Fromm — a quiet supporter who betrayed them once he saw the plot had failed — and were shot and buried in the Matthäus Churchyard in Berlin ' s Schöneberg district . There is a stone in memory of the event in the churchyard . Heinrich Himmler subsequently ordered the bodies exhumed , burnt and the ashes scattered . A few days later , von Quirnheim ' s parents and one of his sisters were arrested by the Gestapo and his brother - in - law Wilhelm Dieckmann was executed on 13 September 1944 . There is a now a memorial at the spot where von Quirnheim and his co - conspirators were shot .