Helmuth Stieff
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General Helmuth Stieff (born 6 June 1901 in Deutsch Eylau (now Iława, Poland); died 8 August 1944 in Berlin) was a member of the OKH (German Army General Staff) during World War II who took part in the attempt by the German resistance to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944.
Stieff joined the General Staff in 1938. Recognized for his excellent organizational skills he was appointed Chief of Organization at OKH headquarters in October 1942 in spite of Hitler's personal dislike for him, calling the young, diminutive Stieff a "poisonous little dwarf."
Stieff wrote many letters to his wife during the war illustrating his despair over Hitler's conduct of the war and his outrage at atrocities committed in Poland. He initially volunteered to kill Hitler but later backed away and refused repeated requests from Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg to more actively support other assassination attempts.
Stieff was arrested on July 21, 1944 at the Wolf's Lair and brutally interrogated under torture. He held out for several days against all attempts to extract the names of fellow conspirators. Tried by the Volksgerichtshof (People's Court), he was sentenced to death August 8, 1944 and executed the same day in Plötzensee prison in Berlin.
