Hardenberg, Carl-Hans Hildebrand Christoph Wilhelm von, born 22-10-1891 in Glogau
in the province of Silesia in Prussia (now Poland), as the second child and only son of Count Wilhelm von Hardenberg (1858–1915) and his wife and relative, Gräfin Helene Anna Maria, born Freun von Hardenberg (1862–1922) and he had one sister, Baroness Helene Elisabeth Schilling von Cannstatt (1890–1969). He in 1914 was married with Gräfin Renate, born von der Schulenburg von Hardenberg (1888–1959).
The couple had two daughter and one son, Gräfin Reinhild von Hardenberg (1923–2016), Friedrich Carl von Hardenberg ()1924–2018) and Gräfin Astrid von Hardenberg (1925-2015).
Carl-Hans Graf von Hardenberg entered the German army
. He was wounded several times during World War I. In 1921, having reached the rank of major, he gave up his military commission and settled at his castle in Neuhardenberg.
Besides his farming, he was active in communal politics, engaged in administration of the district of Lebus in the province of Brandenburg, and was active in the Protestant noblemen’s Order of Saint John. When the National Socialist Party came to power in 1933, Hardenberg refused to join any of the party-sponsored organizations and was removed from all his positions.
In 1939 he was called for military duty as major in the military reserve force. In 1940 he was assigned to Army Group B
under command of Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock
where he met Major General Henning von Tresckow
and became involved in the resistance against Adolf Hitler. In 1942 he was transferred to Berlin where he came into contact with colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
Stauffenberg on the right and began organizing for the plot for the assassination of Hitler. Many of the meetings of the conspirators took place at the Neuhardenberg mansion, which was located at 70 km from Berlin and was not under police supervision. Had the coup d’état succeeded according to the initial plan, Hardenberg would have taken the position of prime minister of Berlin-Brandenburg.
After the failure of the coup, Hardenberg was arrested and his estate was confiscated. He tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide and was imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp
and tried for treason. The concentration camp was, luckely, liberated on 22-04-1945, a day before Hardenberg was expected to be sentenced to death and executed.
Some 71,000 people were incarcerated in Sachsenhausen concentration camp and its satellites at the beginning of 1945, of whom 24,000 were in the Sachsenhausen main camp. When the Red Army
reached the River Oder, the camp commandant, following the instructions of the top SS leadership, ordered preparations to be made for evacuating the camp. In the course of this, in February 1945 an SS special unit headed by SS officer Otto Moll
murdered some 3,000 internees who were considered “dangerous”, who had military training or had previously been classified as “unfit for marching”. At least 13,000 more internees were taken to Mauthausen and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.
Moll held the rank of SS-Hauptscharführer and the position of SS Rapportführer, a senior SS position within the SS guard units (the Totenkopfverbände)
sanctioned within the camp. Moll was known as “Cyclops”, due to having a glass eye, and as the “Butcher of Birkenau”
Death and burial ground of Hardenberg, Carl-Hans Hildebrand Christoph Wilhelm von.
After the end of World War II, Hardenberg returned with his family to Neuhardenberg. But his estate was nationalized by the Communist authorities, and he fled with his family to West-Germany and lived in Kronberg im Taunus, Hesse. Hardenberg, Carl-Hans Hildebrand Christoph Wilhelm von, died on 24-10-1958, age 67, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was buried at the Schinkelkirche in Neuhardenberg, Brandenburg, Germany. Karl-Marx-Allee 27, 15320 Neuhardenberg, Germany.
A foundation named Carl-Hans Graf von Hardenberg was created in 1997 by his daughter Astrid Gräfin von Hardenberg.
The foundation has its headquarters in the commandry of Lietzen.








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