ABSTRACT
The historiography of resistance has long left the investigation of motives behind, moving on to other things. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to look from a special point of view at the driving force which, under certain circumstances, motivated people to resist. The Pomeranian landowner Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin embodied the old Prussian element within the resistance in its purest form. Born in 1890, Kleist was a patriarchal large landowner with a social conscience. When approached in 1938, Kleist was immediately prepared to join the conspiracy. The susceptibility towards National Socialism, as well as the defences against it conferred by the Prussian heritage are also illustrated by Henning von Tresckow, the general who, from 1943 on, became the strongest force among the conspirators of 20 July 1944. A person’s moral worth only begins where he is prepared to give up his life for his convictions. These words illustrate the elevated meaning of Tresckow’s notion of honour.
