Salterberg, Kurt Kurt Salterberg

Als Wachsoldat in der Wolfsschanze

Experience the harrowing recollections of a simple soldier in the very heart of power of the "Third Reich." Salterberg served in the inner security perimeter of Hitler's headquartersthat heavily guarded area where the fate of the war was decided daily. As a young soldier, he performed his duties in the shadow of Adolf Hitlerand unexpectedly became a witness to one of the most consequential events in German history. With meticulous detail, he recounts July 20, 1944: the day of the assassination attempt, on which he himself allowed Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg to passunaware that just a few hours later a bomb would explode in the situation room. In sober, precise language, Salterberg describes the events within the security perimeter, the atmosphere of strained loyalty, the sudden chaos after the detonation, and the immediate reactions at Hitler's headquarters. But this book is more than just an eyewitness account. In collaboration with Ute Jape, it is a reflective exploration of personal responsibility, sense of duty, and the subsequent reassessment of the military resistance. Decades after the events, Salterberg looks back on his own roleand on the men of July 20th, whose motives and courage he once viewed from the perspective of a duty-bound soldier. Authentic, moving, and historically significant, this work offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of Hitler's headquarters and the mindset of a man who did not experience history from a distance, but stood at its very center.