As Germany marks 75 years since a failed attempt on Hitler’s life, the grandson of one of the plotters is still fighting for the return of confiscated family property.

In March 1945, the jailed Prince Friedrich zu Solms-Baruth was forced to sign over his property — some 17,500 hectares — in order to save his life. He died shortly after the war. Less than half the property has since been returned to the family while 7,000 hectares in the former East Germany remain disputed, said Friedrich zu Solms-Baruth, who carries the name of his grandfather.

At issue is whether the land registries listing these properties were destroyed by the Nazis deliberately or after the war, as this complicates efforts to identify them. Restitution laws do not apply to post-May 1945 cases.

“It is my dream to see this land returned… to honour my grandfather’s memory,” he said, adding that his case might help others who were forced to give up property to the Nazis, such as Germany’s Jewish population.

So far, there has been no response to a letter requesting a meeting with government representatives, according to a spokesperson for the family.

Mr Solms-Baruth is one of many descendants who marked the solemn anniversary of the failed plot against Hitler this week by speaking at an event in London.

In Berlin, the Foundation for the 20th of July 1944 held ceremonies, opened a special exhibition and hosted presentations by historians.

“It is important to keep this part of history alive,” said foundation board president Axel Smend, whose father, Guenther Smend, was executed in September 1944. The point is “to show that there have been men and women who have recognised the criminal character of the Hitler regime and had the courage to resist it, risking their own lives in the process.”

Honouring their memory earlier this month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that citizens should emulate the plot’s orchestrator, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, and stand up against right-wing extremism today.

The people around von Stauffenberg “followed their conscience” becoming role models for the generations to come, she said, adding that Germany owes them a debt
of gratitude.

Mr Solms-Baruth said he appreciated Ms Merkel’s words. “But her government is still perpetrating a crime against one of these very men.”

His family’s struggle began after the 1944 assassination attempt, when the Nazi regime arrested 7,000 suspected co-conspirators and executed nearly 5,000, often on slim evidence, according to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Prince Friedrich zu Solms-Baruth was one of the few jailed suspects to be released — but only after he signed over virtually all the family’s vast properties. The recipient of the properties was Gestapo chief Heinrich Himmler.

It is also possible that his life was spared due to his connections to Swedish royalty. Reportedly, Himmler was already thinking about negotiating a truce with the British monarchy via the Swedish royal family, and did not want to burn his bridges.

The post-war years and decades were marked by humiliation and deprivation for families of the 20th of July conspirators, Mr Solms-Baruth told the JC.  His family moved to Namibia, then to South Africa. In both places, “we were attacked by other Germans who said it was a pity we weren’t exterminated,” he recalled.

“The men of the 20th July were all considered traitors and to some degree many Germans still do view them that way, though it is not politically correct to say so.

“A ‘good German’ is one who supports the government, whatever it does.”

Mr Smend said he personally feels there is no longer any significant stigma against the anti-Nazi resistance. Education has played a role, and “the generations have shifted,” he said.

Although Mr Solms-Baruth agreed the post-war trials of Nazi war criminals in Germany helped change many minds, he suggested the current government is still reluctant to give up loot appropriated under the Nazis

His family began to seek restitution after German unification in 1990.

Some land was restituted in the early 2000s, in an agreement between the prince’s son and the German government.

In 2011, the Federal Supreme Court in Leipzig overturned a 2008 ruling against the family and instructed a court to hear the case again.

In 2014, the court rejected the claim once more.

Now, armed with new evidence that the Nazis — and not the East German government — tried to cover up the confiscation, the grandson vows to bring the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if all else fails.

He has the support of Lord Goldsmith, the former Attorney General in Tony Blair’s government, who said he will gladly accompany Mr Solms-Baruth to Strasbourg.

In a statement, Lord Goldsmith, who is now with US law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, said he had been following the case for years and was “surprised that, 75 years after the event, the descendant of one of the victims of Nazi expropriation was being forced to take a case to court to prove his right to recover assets confiscated by the Nazis.”

According to Mr Solms-Baruth’s lawyer, Christian Linde, the documents in the German state archives may hold the key.

The lawyer said that recent, independent chemical analysis of “destruction orders” proves that the Nazis ordered the destruction of land registries related to the estate of Solms-Baruth, in order to cover up their confiscation.

The finding challenges German government claims that the destruction orders were given by the post-war, east German administration.

Mr Solms-Baruth said his case could trigger a raft of further similar claims.