Carl-Hans Graf von Hardenberg entered the German army. In 1914 he married Countess Renate von der
Schulenburg (1888-1959). 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 where he met
Major General Henning von Tresckow and became involved in the resistance against Hitler. In 1942 he was transferred to
Berlin where he came into contact with
colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg 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 liberated on April 22, 1945, a day before Hardenberg was expected to be sentenced to death and executed. 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. He died on October 24, 1958, age 67, in
Frankfurt am Main,
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. == References ==