Hans von Dohnányi

Hans von Dohnanyi (; originally Johann von Dohnányi ; 1 January 1902 – 8 or 9 April 1945) was a German jurist. He used his position in the Abwehr to help Jews escape Germany, worked with German resistance against the Nazi régime, and after the failed 20 July Plot, he was accused of being the "spiritual leader" of the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler, and executed by the SS in 1945. Early life Hans von Dohnanyi was born to the Hungarian composer Ernő Dohnányi and his wife, pianist Elisabeth Kunwald. After his parents divorced, he grew up in Berlin. He went to the Grunewald Gymnasium there, becoming friends with Dietrich and Klaus Bonhoeffer. From 1920 to 1924, he studied law in Berlin. In 1925, he received a doctorate in law with a dissertation on "The International Lease Treaty and Czechoslovakia's Claim on the Lease Area in Hamburg Harbour". After taking the first state exam in 1924, he married Christel Bonhoeffer, daughter of Karl Bonhoeffer and sister of his school friends, in 1925. About this time, he began putting the word stress on the "a" in his last name (which is of Hungarian origin, where it is stressed on the first syllable), and removed the acute accent (which indicates vowel length, not word stress, in Hungarian). He and his wife had three children: Klaus (mayor of Hamburg from 1981 to 1988), Christoph, (an orchestra conductor) and Barbara.