Wolf Graf von Baudissin
Wolf Graf von Baudissin (May 8, 1907 – June 5, 1993) was a German general, military planner and peace researcher who helped shape the modern German armed forces.
He was born in Trier and studied law, history and economics in Berlin. In World War II, he served as a captain in the General Staff at the personal request of General Erwin Rommel. He was captured in North Africa in 1941 and sent to Australia, where he was held at the Dhurringile prisoner-of-war camp in Victoria. While a POW, he was promoted to major and created the idea of a “prisoner-of-war university”—German prisoners teaching each other to prepare for life after the war.
Baudissin was released in 1947. In 1950 he worked on the secret Himmerod Memorandum, which supported German rearmament. In 1956 he helped build the new Bundeswehr, becoming a colonel and soon commanding a tank brigade. In 1963 he was promoted to lieutenant general and became Commandant of the NATO Defence College in Paris, serving until 1965. He then served as Deputy Chief of Staff at SHAPE, NATO. He retired in 1967.
After leaving the army, Baudissin joined the Social Democratic Party and supported Willy Brandt in 1972. From 1971 to 1984 he was the founding director of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, becoming a professor in 1979. He also taught social science at the University of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg from 1980 to 1986.
Baudissin championed Innere Führung—leadership development and civic education—and the idea of “citizens in uniform” to ensure the Basic Law’s values were embedded in the armed forces after the war. He was part of Generals for Peace, a peace group.
He received the Theodor Heuss Prize and the Great Federal Cross of Merit in 1967. Memorials honor him, including the Forum Wolf Graf von Baudissin in Koblenz and a Hamburg barracks named after him. He was married to Dagmar Gräfin zu Dohna-Schlodien.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:41 (CET).