Opening paragraphs................................

      When Max Planck heard his son's verdict, he addressed a letter to Adolf Hitler.  He wrote with calm respect and a surgeon's precision, as always, but he conveyed his shock.  And the man of physics bartered as follows:  If i am a national treasure, as you say, then show mercy.  Reward this 87-year-old man's lifetime of work for the Fatherland by sparing my son's life.

-Brandon R. Brown,  Planck:  Driven By Vision, Broken By War

Back story on Erwin Planck here.   Wiki on Max Planck here