Georg Hansen Colonel Georg Alexander Hansen ( 5 July 1904 , Sonnefeld , Saxe - Coburg and Gotha – 8 September 1944 , Plötzensee , Germany ) was an " Oberst " ( Colonel ) in the " Generalstab " ( General Staff of the German Army ) and one of the participants in the German Resistance against the Nazi Regime of Adolf Hitler . Early life . George Hansen was born in Sonnefeld , the son of Theodor Hansen , a " Oberforstmeister " ( Senior Ranger ) for the Duchy of Saxe - Coburg and Gotha . In Coburg , he attended since 1914 the " Gymnasium " ( high school ) Casimirianum , where he graduated in 1923 . He then studied law for two semesters at the University of Erlangen . In 1924 he joined the " Panzergruppe " ( Tank Corps ) of the " Reichswehr " ( Imperial Defense Forces , later the " Wehrmacht " ) . He was promoted to " Leutnant " ( Second Lieutenant ) in 1927 , and then " Oberleutnant " ( First Lieutenant ) in 1931 at the Bavarian Motor Vehicles Department in Fürth . In the same year he married Irene Stölzel from Michelau ; with her he had five children . In 1935 Hansen became the commander of the general staff training at the Military Academy ( " Kriegsakademie " ) in Berlin - Moabit , where he met the Chief of General Staff Ludwig Beck and Graf ( Count ) Claus von Stauffenberg . In 1937 , he was transferred from the training academy to the Department of Foreign Intelligence and Counterintelligence ( Department of Foreign Armies of the East ) in the War Ministry of the Reich under the command of " Konteradmiral " ( Rear Admiral ) Wilhelm Canaris . Beginning in 1939 , this department was renamed as " Amt Ausland / Abwehr " ( Office of the Foreign Military Intelligence ) . There Hansen , as a group leader in Division I , was promoted to Major in May 1941 and " Oberstleutnant " ( Lieutenant Colonel ) in July 1942 . In 1943 he succeeded Hans Piekenbrock as the Chief of the Division I , Secret Intelligence Service . His tasks included military reconnaissance in the foreign countries . Finally , Canaris , before his resignation in February 1944 , appointed Georg Hansen to succeed him as Head of Military Intelligence . In March 1944 Hansen attended a meeting with the " Sicherheitsdienst " ( SD ) ( Security Service ) to set up a unified intelligence service . Two months later , in May 1944 , he and most of his staff were transferred to the " Reichssicherheitshauptamt " ( RSHA ) ( Security Headquarters of the Reich ) , where he served as the deputy under his immediate superior , Walther Schellenberg . Assassination Attempt on Hitler . Probably under the influence of Beck , Hansen ' s conversion took himself to the opposition by 1938 ; the official review of the crimes of the Nazi Regime might have led him to finally join the Resistance . He was one of the key informants of the resistance group led by two men , Generalmajor ( Major General ) Henning von Tresckow and Oberst ( Colonel ) Claus Count von Stauffenberg . Hansen worked since 1943 in all plans for the Hitler assassination attempt . In 1944 , he took part in the most important meetings about the preparations . Hansen organized the use of cars and airplanes as well as the protection of the co - conspirators . His house in Rangsdorf often served as the meeting place for the conspirators . If the attack succeeded , he would occupy the RSHA and have the SS commanders arrested . In addition , it was planned to have him , on the behalf of Beck , who was assigned as interim Head of State , to negotiate with General Dwight D . Eisenhower for a separate accord of peace with the Western Powers . Because of strong disagreements with Stauffenberg about the political plans after the attack , Hansen decided on short notice against personal participation and drove on 18 July to Michelau for the baptism of his youngest daughter . Although he knew that Hitler had survived the attack and that the coup attempt had failed , and despite the possibility of escape , he returned on 21 July with his wife because , as he said , " my place is in Berlin ” . On 22 July the Gestapo chief , Heinrich Müller , summoned him to the RSHA , where Hansen was arrested in the waiting room . He was put through a prolonged interrogation , during which he broke down and confessed to everything . On 4 August he was given by the " Ehrenhof " ( Court of Honor ) , formed two days earlier , a dishonorable discharge from the Wehrmacht , so that the War Court of the Reich ( " Reichskriegsgericht " ) was no longer responsible for the sentencing . Death . On the day of the arraignment , 10 August 1944 , Georg Hansen , as well as Erich Fellgiebel , Alfred Kranzfelder , Fritz - Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg and Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg were , in a show trial at the Court of the People ( " Volksgerichtshof " ) under President Roland Freisler , sentenced to death . On 8 September 1944 , the judgment was execution by hanging at the prison in Plötzensee . Aftermath . In comparison , the Hansen family was deemed to be guilty by association . Its properties were confiscated , the wife was arrested , and the five children were placed in a children ' s home in Bad Sachsa , where they were not permitted to carry the family name . In the same home were also the children of other resistance fighters , such as the Stauffenbergs and von Witzlebens . In late September 1944 , the children were allowed to return to their mother , who was also released , in Michelau . The hostility towards the family continued even after the end of the war . Hansen ' s widow waged a year - long fight against the Federal Republic of Germany in the courts to obtain a pension as a war widow . But the courts denied her because her husband had been dishonorably discharged from the " Wehrmacht " . * ( de ) Digitales Stadtgedächtnis Coburg