Friedrich Gustav Jaeger Friedrich Gustav Jaeger ( 25 September 1895 – 21 August 1944 ) was a resistance fighter in Nazi Germany and a member of the July 20 Plot . Life . Friedrich Gustav Jaeger – sometimes known as " Fritz " – was born in Kirchberg an der Jagst , a small town in eastern Württemberg ( now part of Baden - Württemberg ) to the district doctor ( later chief doctor ) , Franz Jaeger and his wife Sofie Katharina ( née Schirndinger von Schirnding ) . In 1906 , the family moved to Stuttgart , where Jaeger went to the " Eberhard - Ludwigs - Gymnasium " . At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 , Jaeger did the " Notabitur " ( a special , harder wartime version of the " Abitur " ) , declared himself a volunteer , and became an ensign in Infantry Regiment 119 . During the war , he was deployed in Flanders and France , and also at the Battles of the Isonzo on the Italian Front in Slovenia . Jaeger was wounded six times and received numerous decorations . After the war ' s end , he studied agriculture in Tettnang . In 1919 , Jaeger ' s only son , Krafft Werner Jaeger , was born . In the same year , Jaeger joined the German Workers ' Party ( " Deutsche Arbeiterpartei " ) , which later called itself the National Socialist German Workers ' Party ( NSDAP ) . Although he was a leading member of the Munich Freikorps Oberland , Jaeger refused to participate in the Kapp Putsch and quit the NSDAP . In the years that followed , Jaeger was a resolute opponent of the Nazis . In 1934 , he went out of his way to get himself back into the Reichswehr , since he was foreseen as " Reichssportführer " Hans von Tschammer und Osten ' s adjutant . He was taken on by Infantry Regiment 29 as a captain . In 1936 , he was promoted to major . Resistance activities . In 1938 , after the Sudeten Crisis , Jaeger took part in the German invasion of Czechoslovakia ' s Sudeten - German areas . With the outbreak of the Second World War , he was deployed in the invasion of Poland . From 1939 , Jaeger forged contacts with resistance elements within the Wehrmacht , including Hans Oster , Friedrich Olbricht and Ludwig Beck . In 1940 , he participated in the Battle of France where he earned the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross ( German Medal Of Honor ) and in 1941 , he was deployed in the Russian Campaign . After his wife ' s death during a British bombing raid on 17 February 1942 , Jaeger spoke with his son for the first time about his contacts with the resistance and their plans to overthrow Adolf Hitler . In the course of the year , Jaeger was made a colonel , and he was sent to the Battle of Stalingrad . There , he was wounded eight times , and after becoming sick with epidemic typhus , he was flown out to Lublin . In 1943 , Jaeger was approached and reluctantly agreed to the plans for an attempt on Hitler ' s life . Owing to his Christian convictions , he would rather have seen Hitler standing before a duly constituted court . Jaeger ' s son was a Captain in the " Gross Deutschland " Division , one of Germany ' s most elite units . Jaeger ' s son Krafft was arrested and charged with attempted treason and leading a comrade into military disobedience . Krafft was freed for lack of evidence , but he was then sent back to the front so that he could " recover his honour " . Plot failure , downfall , and death . On 20 July 1944 , the day of the attempt on Hitler ' s life , Jaeger was commander of the Panzer reserve troops in defence districts II ( Stettin ) and XXI ( Kalisch ) . After the briefcase bomb exploded at the Wolf ' s Lair in East Prussia , Jaeger received orders from Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg to arrest an SS Oberführer . Furthermore , he was also to arrest Joseph Goebbels and occupy the radio station in Masurenallee . After it became known that Hitler had survived the attempt on his life , however , the soldiers under his command would no longer take his orders . Jaeger himself was arrested by the Gestapo in connection with the plot . His son was likewise arrested , being taken from an Italian military hospital and brought by train to the Gestapo prison in Berlin . On 21 August , Friedrich Gustav Jaeger was sentenced to death for treason by Roland Freisler at the " Volksgerichtshof " , and he was hanged later the same day at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin . His family ' s property was confiscated . Honours . Krafft Jaeger was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp . He survived , however , and on 25 September 1995 , he unveiled a memorial plaque to his father at the house where he was born exactly one hundred years earlier . The house is now Kirchberg an der Jagst ' s town hall . Friedrich Gustav Jaeger has also been honoured by having a street in Wünsdorf named " Fritz - Jaeger - Allee " after him .