The title of Furst von Putbus was confirmed for Franz von Putbus (1927-2004) the son of Malte von Veltheim-Putbus (1889-1945). The heir of the Wylich und Lottum princes of Putbus, Malte von Veltheim, had inherited the princely estate from his aunt, and had initially joined the NSDP, but in 1938 fell out with the Nazis partly after he was told he would have to choose between being a knight of the Johanniter order or the party and he chose the former, as a Christian. Critical of Nazi policies he was arrested and publicly degraded of his SA rank. He then joined the clandestine opposition, publicly criticising treatment of the Jews, and although in 1940 he was appointed to the army staff (he was a friend of General Beck, who himself was a leading opponent of Hitler), he was dismissed from the army after a special trial in 1942 for raising the German flag rather than the swastika. He meanwhile managed the Purbuys estate on the island of Rugen and continued the policies he had initiated in providing schools, etc, for the inhabitants. Arrested twice more and each time released he was arrested again the day after the 20 July plot and sent to Sachsenhausen where he was executed (almost certainly) by lethal injection on 10 February. The family estates (10,000 hectares of arable land, 5000 of forests, Schloss Putbus and a hunting estate, and some 200 other properties and businesses) were then confiscated but not by official order - they were just simply occupied by the state. Then, with the establishment of the DDR they were under communist control until 1990. Since then Franz, who was accorded the title of Furst by decision of the German Nobility Association, tried in the courts to obtain the return of his property but as the confiscation was not formalised, although actual, before 8 May 1945, it was not deemed subject to restitution. This was thanks to the disgraceful decision of the BRD to only compensate victims of the Nazis and not victims of the communists - despite Malte von Putbus's heroism in standing up to the Nazis for which he paid with his life. Franz bought a small property on Rugen, near Putbus, for his son and heir, Malte, to maintain the historic connection with their family home.