Born in
Buckeburg, Kurt Freiherr von Plettenberg studied law and forestry at the universities of
Kiel,
Lausanne,
Hannoversch Münden,
Berlin,
Munich and
Eberswalde. His studies were temporarily interrupted by the
First World War. He became regional forest director in the Reich Forest Office. In 1937, he resigned from the forest service at his own request because the political prescriptions of the National Socialist regime conflicted with his opinions. In the post of court chamberlain, he administered the property of the former royal house of
Schaumburg-Lippe. Drafted in 1939, he distinguished himself in service as a battalion leader and commander of a subsidiary regiment of
Infantry Regiment 9 Potsdam. At the end of 1941, he became
plenipotentiary of the former
Prussian royal family. Kurt von Plettenberg was arrested at the beginning of March 1945. To avoid betraying his friends under torture, he threw himself out of a third-floor window of the
Gestapo’s "house prison" at 8
Prinz-Albrecht-Straße in
Berlin. ==Bibliography==