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== Resistance to Hitler ==
As early as 1940, during a stay in Breslau, he learned of pogroms against the civilian population. On October 5, 1942, at the age of 23, the highly decorated first lieutenant happened to witness the systematic mass execution of over three thousand mostly Jewish civilians -- men, women, and children -- at the Dubno airfield in the Ukraine. The killings were carried out over two days by [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD (Sicherheitsdienst)]] officers, who were led by eight [[Schutzstaffel|SS (Schutzstaffel)]] officers. Von dem Bussche described this crime: “SS people led the Jews to a pit. There they had to undress, then climb into the pit where a layer of convulsing bodies was already lying: obeying orders, they had to lie face down on the murdered victims and were then shot in the back of the head.”<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31046779 |title=Axel von dem Bussche |date=1994 |publisher=Hase & Koehler |others=Gevinon von Medem |isbn=3-7758-1311-X |location=Mainz |oclc=31046779}}</ref>
Until then, the career officer von dem Bussche had felt bound by the personal oath to Adolf Hitler. After these events, he asked himself and a small circle of like-minded individuals in the regiment (to which [[Richard von Weizsäcker]], later elected President of Germany, also belonged),<ref>{{Citation |title=69. 1. Bestimmt sich bei einem Streit über das Bestehen oder die Sicherstellnng einer erst später fälligen Forderung der Streitwert im Verfahren vor den ordentlichen Gerichten auch dann nach dem Betrag (Aufwertungsbetrag) der Forderung, wenn die Hinausschiebung der Fälligkeit auf dem Aufwertungsgesetz beruht? Ist ein Abzug wegen der späteren Fälligkeit zu machen? 2. Wie ist der Beschwerdewert zu berechnen, wenn sich ein Schuldner lediglich darüber beschwert, daß die Fälligkeit der Forderung auf einen früheren als den von ihm gewollten Zeitpunkt angenommen ist, und wie dann, wenn nicht nur die frühere oder fpätere Fälligkeit, sondern zugleich die Forderung an sich streitig ist? |date=1928-12-31 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783112342343-070 |work=Band 118 |pages=321–325 |publisher=De Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783112342343-070 |isbn=9783112342336 |access-date=2022-12-17}}</ref> why he should still be bound by this oath, which is based on respect and reciprocity, when the Führer had already broken it with the crimes he had ordered. Three months after his traumatic witnessing of the mass execution, Bussche's decision was clear: it could no longer be a question of sacrificing one's own life on the battlefield, but of using it for Germany against Hitler. This experience, from which he never recovered until his death many years later, motivated him to consciously join the resistance group around [[Claus von Stauffenberg|Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg]] against the Hitler regime through the mediation of [[Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg]].
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