Stauffenberg

The Schenken von Stauffenberg are a noble (see Uradel) Roman Catholic family from Swabia in Germany, whose best-known member was Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg – the key figure in the 1944 "20 July plot" to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

The recorded history of the family Schenk von Stauffenberg begins in Swabia in the 13th century, when the family, who belonged to the Reichsrittern (Imperial Knights), originated from the settlement Cell, where they owned extensive estates surrounding the village and the Zollerberg long before the Counts of Zollern (Hohenzollern family/dynasty) took possession of the mountain and acquired lands there.