Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist, the last survivor of Operation Valkyrie, the July 20, 1944 plot to kill Hitler, died aged 90 on March 12 in Munich. A man with a world view in his twenties and who spent time in a concentration camp because of this, in 1963 he founded what became the annual "Munich Security Conference", a forum which continues to bring together the world's top diplomats and defense officials in an informal setting, for talks on global security policy.
It is considered the most important conference covering NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a political and military alliance whose mission is peace and security.
The people involved with Operation Valkyrie, including Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist, had also tried to rid Germany of Hitler in previous attempts. Their work had little in common with what appeared in the Tom Cruise movie, and were acts of extreme and selfless bravery by all involved.
Francine A. McKenna - German Culture Editor
German Culture Site -
German Culture Facebook Avatar: HOHENZOLLERNBRÃœCKE Cologne with CATHEDRAL and LUDWIG MUSEUM. The Bridge a symbol of how Germany was rebuilt after WWII, it was left in ruins, the Cathedral with roots in the 13th century represents the country's history, Museum of Modern Art the present day.
