For his involvement in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia, Helldorff was condemned by Roland Freisler at the Volksgerichtshof and later put to death at Plötzensee Prison. So enraged was Hitler at Helldorff's participation in the plot that he insisted Helldorff be forced to watch his fellow conspirators being hanged before his own execution.[10]