Early Life
The brothers were born into an old and distinguished aristocratic South German Catholic family. Their parents were the last Oberhofmarschall of the Kingdom of Württemberg, Alfred Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, and Caroline née Gräfin von Üxküll-Gyllenband. Among Alexander's ancestors were several famous Prussians, including most notably August von Gneisenau. His name points to the imperial Hohenstaufen mountain and castle.
Alexander Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg went to school in Stuttgart and studied ancient history at the University of Heidelberg, University of Jena, University of Munich and University of Halle. He and his brothers were introduced by Albrecht von Blumenthal to the circle of the mystic symbolist poet Stefan George, many of whose followers later worked for the German Resistance to National Socialism.
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