Enlarge imageBERLIN (Reuters) - Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager, believed to be the last surviving member of an unsuccessful 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, has died at the age of 90.
The German Defence Ministry issued a statement on Friday saying Boeselager had died on Thursday night. No cause of death was given.
Boeselager was just 25 when he and a group of other officers, led by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, attempted to kill Hitler with a briefcase bomb at his "Wolf’s Lair" headquarters in eastern Prussia on July 20, 1944.
The bomb went off, killing four men, but the Fuehrer was shielded from the blast by a heavy oak table and only slightly injured. Stauffenberg and most of his co-conspirators were executed within days.
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But despite brutal torturing by the Nazis, none of them revealed the role of Boeselager, who had provided the explosives used in the assassination attempt, and his participation in the plot remained secret until after the war.
He carried cyanide on him every single day until the war ended, convinced the Nazis would eventually find him out.
The plot to kill Hitler has become a famous symbol for German resistance to the Nazi regime, discussed in school lessons and honoured in museums. A movie about the plot called "Valkyrie", and starring Tom Cruise as Stauffenberg, is due out later this year.
In a 2004 interview with Reuters, Boeselager said his sleep remained troubled, 60 years later, by dreams of the failed plot and visions of his fellow conspirators.
"If you are the only one among some 100 who is still alive, that makes you think. I feel they are watching me and I have a certain responsibility towards them," he said.
After the war, Boeselager studied economics and became a forestry expert. He urged young people to get politically involved and feel responsible for their country.
(Writing by Noah Barkin; editing by Sami Aboudi)
