fbpx
Wikipedia

Helmuth James von Moltke

January 07, 2023

For the German military commander of the 19th century, see Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. For the German chief of staff at the start of the First World War, see Helmuth von Moltke the Younger.

Helmuth James Graf[1] von Moltke (11 March 1907 – 23 January 1945) was a German jurist who, as a draftee in the German Abwehr, acted to subvert German human-rights abuses of people in territories occupied by Germany during World War II. He was a founding member of the Kreisau Circle opposition group, whose members opposed the government of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, and discussed prospects for a Germany based on moral and democratic principles after Hitler. The Nazis executed him for treason for his participation in these discussions.

Helmuth James Graf von Moltke
Moltke in January 1945
Born(1907-03-11)11 March 1907
Kreisau, Prussia, German Empire (now Krzyżowa, Poland)
Died23 January 1945(1945-01-23) (aged 37)
Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, Nazi Germany
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Resting placeHamburg-Wandsbek, Germany
NationalityGerman
Other namesHelmuth James Ludwig Eugen Heinrich Graf von Moltke
EducationUniversity of Breslau
University of Oxford
OccupationLawyer
Known forNon-violent opposition to the Nazi government of Germany as co-founder of the Kreisau Circle
SpouseFreya Deichmann
ChildrenHelmuth Caspar, Konrad

Moltke was the grandnephew of Helmuth von Moltke the Younger and the great-grandnephew of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, the victorious commander in the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars, from whom he inherited the Kreisau estate in Prussian Silesia, now Krzyżowa in Poland.[2]

Early life

Moltke was born in Kreisau (now Krzyżowa, Świdnica County, Poland) in the Prussian Province of Silesia. His mother, Dorothy (née Rose Innes), was a South African of British descent, the daughter of Sir James Rose Innes, Chief Justice of the Union of South Africa from 1914 to 1927.[3]

Moltke's parents were Christian Scientists, his mother adopting his father's religion after marriage.[4] His father became a Christian Science practitioner and teacher,[5] and both parents were in the group that translated the first German edition of the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.[6][7] For reasons of family tradition, Moltke decided to become confirmed in the Evangelical Church of Prussia when he was 14.[8]

Education

From 1927 to 1929, Moltke studied law and political sciences in Breslau, Vienna, Heidelberg, and Berlin. In 1928, Moltke became involved with college teachers and youth movement leaders in the organization of the Löwenberger Arbeitsgemeinschaften (Löwenberg working groups) in which unemployed young workers and young farmers were brought together with students so that they could learn from one another.[9] They also discussed civics, obligations, and rights. In Kreisau, Moltke set aside an unused part of the estate for farming startups, which earned him harsh criticism from neighbouring landowners.[2]

In 1931, he married Freya Deichmann, whom he met in Austria.[2] In 1934, Moltke took his junior law examination. In 1935, he declined the chance to become a judge to avoid having to join the Nazi Party. Instead, he opened a law practice in Berlin. As a lawyer dealing in international law, he helped victims of Hitler's régime emigrate, and he traveled abroad to maintain contacts. Between 1935 and 1938, Moltke regularly visited Great Britain, where he completed English legal training in London and Oxford.[2]

International law division of the Abwehr

In 1939, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. Moltke was immediately drafted at the beginning of the Polish campaign by the Abwehr, the High Command of the Armed Forces (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht), Counter-Intelligence Service, Foreign Division, under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, as an expert in martial law and international public law.[10] Moltke's work for the Abwehr mainly involved gathering insights from abroad, from military attachés and foreign newspapers, and news of military-political importance, and relaying this information to the Wehrmacht. He maintained the connection between the OKW and the Foreign Office, but above all to provide appraisals of questions of the international laws of war. Unusually, he chose not to wear a uniform.[11]

In his travels through German-occupied Europe, he observed many human rights abuses, which he attempted to thwart by insisting for Germany to observe the Geneva Convention and by local actions in creating more benign outcomes for local inhabitants, citing legal principles.[10] In October 1941, Moltke wrote: "Certainly more than a thousand people are murdered in this way every day, and another thousand German men are habituated to murder.... What shall I say when I am asked: And what did you do during that time?" In the same letter he said, "Since Saturday the Berlin Jews are being rounded up. Then they are sent off with what they can carry.... How can anyone know these things and walk around free?"[6][10]

Moltke hoped that his appraisals could have a humanitarian effect on military actions; he was supported by anti-Hitler officers such as Canaris and Major General Hans Oster, Chief of the Central Division. During Nazi Germany's war with the Soviet Union, Moltke wrote a memorandum urging the Wehrmacht to follow both the Geneva Convention and the Hague Convention, in order to comply with international law and to promote reciprocal good treatment for German prisoners of war, but the recommendation was rejected by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, who scribbled on the margin that "The objections arise from the military concept of chivalrous warfare".[12]

Moltke invoked international law and political reasoning to stop the shooting of hostages in Holland, and was involved in warning Danes of the impending planned deportation of Danish Jews, which enabled their mass evacuation by boats from Copenhagen to Malmö, Sweden..[13][6] Having access to information about deportations and the shootings of hostages reinforced Moltke's opposition to the war and the entire program of the Nazi party.

Moltke was in contact with Aimée Sotto Maior, later called Aimée de Heeren, a Brazilian spy who had come to Paris in 1938 under the cover of being a wealthy heiress and fashion shopper.[14]

In 1943, Moltke traveled to Istanbul on two occasions. The official reason was to retrieve German merchant ships impounded by Turkey. The real reason was participation in an effort to end the war by a coalition of anti-Hitler elements of the German Army, German refugees living in Turkey, members of the OSS, the Abwehr (German military intelligence) and the German ambassador to Turkey, Franz von Papen. This group passed a report to the Allies, which reached President Franklin Roosevelt. However, Roosevelt's advisers, including Henry Morgenthau Jr., counseled against the credibility of the report.[2]

Nonviolent opposition to Nazi rule

Moltke also surreptitiously spread the information to which he was privy, on the war and the Nazi concentration camps, to friends outside the Nazi party, including members of the Resistance in occupied Europe. Declassified British documents reveal that he twice attempted to contact British officials, including friends from Oxford, offering to "go to any length" to assist them, but the British refused the first time, confusing him with his uncle, the German ambassador to Spain, and replied to the second offer by asking for "deeds" rather than "talk".[6]

Moltke possessed strong religious convictions. In a 1942 letter smuggled to a British friend Lionel Curtis, Moltke wrote: "Today, not a numerous, but an active part of the German people are beginning to realize, not that they have been led astray, not that bad times await them, not that the war may end in defeat, but that what is happening is sin and that they are personally responsible for each terrible deed that has been committed – naturally, not in the earthly sense, but as Christians".[15] In the same letter, Moltke wrote that before World War II, he had believed that it was possible to be totally opposed to National Socialism without believing in God, but he now declared his former ideas to be "wrong, completely wrong". In Moltke's opinion, only by believing in God could one be a total opponent of the Nazis.[15]

Kreisau Circle

 
The von Moltke main house at Kreisau

In Berlin Moltke had a circle of acquaintances who opposed Nazism and who met frequently there, but on three occasions met at Kreisau. These three incidental gatherings were the basis for the term "Kreisau Circle".[16] The meetings at Kreisau had an agenda of well-organized discussion topics, beginning with relatively innocuous ones as cover. The topics of the first meeting of May 1942 included the failure of German educational and religious institutions to fend off the rise of Nazism. The theme of the second meeting in the autumn of 1942 was on post-war reconstruction, assuming the likely defeat of Germany. This included both economic planning and self-government, developing a pan-European concept that pre-dated the European Union, summarized in documented resolutions. The third meeting, in June 1943, addressed how to handle the legacy of Nazi war crimes after the fall of the dictatorship. These and other meetings resulted in "Principles for the New [Post-Nazi] Order" and "Directions to Regional Commissioners", works, which Moltke asked his wife, Freya, to hide in a place that not even he knew.[16]

Moltke opposed the assassination of Hitler. He believed that if one succeeded, Hitler would become a martyr, and if it failed, that would expose those few individuals among the German leadership who could be counted on to build a democratic state after the collapse of the Third Reich. On 20 July 1944, there was an attempt on Hitler's life, which the Gestapo used as a pretext to eliminate perceived opponents to the Nazi regime. In the aftermath of the plot, some 5,000 of Hitler's opponents were executed.[6]

Arrest, trial and execution

 
Moltke at the Volksgerichtshof

Moltke's mindset and his objections to orders that were at odds with international law both put him at risk of arrest. Indeed, the Gestapo arrested him in January 1944. A year later, in January 1945, he stood, along with several of his fellow régime opponents, before the People's Court (Volksgerichtshof), presided over by Roland Freisler. Because no evidence could be found that Moltke had participated in any conspiracy to bring about a coup d'état, Freisler had to invent a charge de novo.[2]

Since Moltke and his friends had discussed a Germany based on moral and democratic principles that could develop after Hitler, Freisler deemed this discussion as treason, a crime worthy of death. Hanns Lilje writes in his autobiography that as Moltke stood before the Volksgerichtshof, he had "possessed, in the face of clear recognition of the fact that the death penalty had already been decided, the moral courage for an attack on Freisler and the whole institution". In two letters written to his wife in January 1945 while imprisoned at Tegel Prison, Moltke noted with considerable pride that he was to be executed for his ideas, not his actions, a point that had been underlined a number of times by Freisler. In one letter, Moltke noted "Thus it is documented, that not plans, not preparations, but the spirit as such shall be persecuted. Vivat Freisler!"[15] In the second letter, Moltke claimed that he stood before the court "not as a Protestant, not as a great landowner, not as an aristocrat, not as a Prussian, not as a German...but as a Christian and nothing else".[15] He wrote: "But what the Third Reich is so terrified of ... is ultimately the following: a private individual, your husband, of whom it is established that he discussed with 2 clergymen of both denominations [Protestant and Catholic] ... questions of the practical, ethical demands of Christianity. Nothing else; for that alone we are condemned.... I just wept a little, not because I was sad or melancholy ... but because I am thankful and moved by this proof of God's presence."[6]

Moltke was sentenced to death on 11 January 1945 and hanged twelve days later at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.[17] In a letter written while in custody, he revealed his motivation for resistance to his two sons: "Since National Socialism came to power, I have striven to make its consequences milder for its victims and to prepare the way for a change. In that, my conscience drove me – and in the end, that is a man's duty."[18][19]

Recognition

 
Memorial stone to Moltke and his brother at Kreisau (now Krzyżowa, Poland)

In 1989, Moltke was posthumously awarded the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis for his work, Briefe an Freya 1939–1945.[20]

In 2001, the German Section of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War established the Helmuth-James-von-Moltke-Preis for outstanding judicial works in the field of security policy.[21]

As Germany continues to shed light on the internal dynamics of the Nazi era, Moltke has become a prominent symbol of moral opposition to the Nazi regime. On 11 March 2007, Moltke's centenary was commemorated in the Französischer Dom in Berlin, where he was described by German chancellor Angela Merkel as a symbol of "European courage".[6]

His life was the subject of a 1992 documentary film nominated for an Oscar, The Restless Conscience: Resistance to Hitler Within Germany 1933-1945.[6] A biography by Günter Brakelmann compiles Moltke's letters, diary, and other papers shared by his wife.[22]

Scott Horton, chair of the New York City bar committee on international law, cited parallels between the attitudes of the German general staff during World War II and those of the George W. Bush administration during the Iraq War, regarding adherence to the Geneva and Hague Conventions, both having referred to those treaties as “quaint” and “obsolete,” and not applicable to the mode of warfare practiced in either era. He reported that von Moltke "pleaded in forceful terms for respect of the Geneva Convention rights of enemy soldiers, civilians, and irregular combatants on the East Front, mustering a series of arguments that bear remarkable similarity to a memorandum sent by Colin Powell to President Bush 60 years later".[23]

Publications

  • Bericht aus Deutschland im Jahre 1943 ("Report from Germany in the Year 1943").
  • Letzte Briefe aus dem Gefängnis Tegel ("Last Letters from Tegel Prison"). Letters to his wife Freya and his two sons from the time of the trial against him, first published in 1951, later published together with Bericht in many editions (latest: Diogenes, Zürich 1997 ISBN 3-257-22975-5).
  • Briefe an Freya. 1939-1945, ed. Beate Ruhm von Oppen. 2. Auflage, Beck, München 1991 ISBN 3-406-35279-0. English edition: Letters to Freya: 1939–1945, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 0-394-57923-2

References

  1. ^ Regarding personal names: Graf was a title before 1919, but now is regarded as part of the surname. It is translated as Count. Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given (Graf Helmuth James von Moltke). Since 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix (von, zu, etc.), can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, and thus come after any given names (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke). Titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting. The feminine form is Gräfin.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Balfour, Michael; Frisby, Julian (1972). Helmuth von Moltke—A Leader against Hitler. London: Macmillan. p. 388. ISBN 978-0-333-14030-7.
  3. ^ Innes, James Rose, James Rose Innes: Chief Justice of South Africa, 1914-27 : Autobiography Oxford University Press (1949). Retrieved June 28, 2013
  4. ^ von Moltke, Dorothy (1999). Translator: von Oppen, Beate Ruhm, ed. Ein Leben in Deutschalnd. Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck. p. XII. ISBN 3-406-45475-5
  5. ^ von Moltke, Dorothy (1999), p. XIV
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Marquand, Robert (March 12, 2007). "Moral legacy of Nazi resister takes root in Germany – and abroad". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2015-01-02.
  7. ^ Hammond, Catharine, "We are translating Science and Health into German". Lead article in the "Report to Members" (Spring/Summer 2009) Longyear Museum, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States
  8. ^ von Moltke, Dorothy (1999), p. XII
  9. ^ Schäuble, Wolfgang (2007-06-21), (in German), Ministerium des Inneren, archived from the original on 2015-06-29, retrieved 2013-01-14
  10. ^ a b c von Moltke, Helmuth James (1990). Letters to Freya—1939–1945. Translated by von Oppen, Beata Ruhm. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-57923-2.
  11. ^ Wengler, Wilhelm (1948). Vorkaempfer der Voelkerverstaendigung und Voelkerrechtsgelehrte als Opfer des Nationalsozialismus, Nr. 9: H. J. Graf von Moltke (1906[sic]-1945). London: Die Friedens-Warte 48. pp. 297–305.
  12. ^ "Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression vol. 2 chapter XVI part 4". Avalon Project. Yale Law School Law Library. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  13. ^ Berghahn, V.R. (1 July 1990). "No, Mein Führer". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  14. ^ The spectator. F.C. Westley. 1 January 2004. p. 44. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  15. ^ a b c d Rothfels, Hans (1961). The German Opposition to Hitler. London: Oswald Wolff. pp. 112, 114, 122. ISBN 0-8371-8696-X.
  16. ^ a b von Moltke, Freya (2003). Memories of Kreisau & The German Resistance. Translated by Winter, Julie M. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4669-2.
  17. ^ Susanne Eckelmann, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, Deutsches Historisches Museum, 14 September 2014.
  18. ^ Original quotation: "Nationalsozialismus zur Macht gekommen ist, habe ich mich bemüht, seine Folgen für seine Opfer zu mildern und einer Wandlung den Weg zu bereiten. Dazu hat mich mein Gewissen getrieben—und schließlich ist das eine Aufgabe für einen Mann."
  19. ^ von Moltke, Helmuth James (1986) [1945]. "Letter to sons". In van Roon, G. (ed.). Helmuth James Graf von Moltke: Volkerrecht im Dienste der Menschen : Dokumente (Deutscher Widerstand 1933-1945) (in German). Berlin: Siedler Verlag. p. 6. ISBN 978-3886801541.
  20. ^ Jury (1989), , Geschwister-Scholl-Preis, archived from the original on 2016-03-04, retrieved 2013-01-13
  21. ^ (in German). Deutsche Gesellschaft für Wehrrecht und Humanitäres Völkerrecht e.V. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18.
  22. ^ Brakelmann, Günter (2007). Helmuth James von Moltke, 1907–1945 : eine Biographie (in German). München: C.H. Beck. ISBN 9783406554957. OCLC 82149044.
  23. ^ Horton, Scott (2006), "The Nuremberg Precedent: When Lawyers Are War Criminals (Scott Horton: The Nazi Paradigm)", in Spannaus, Nancy; Spannaus, Ed (eds.), ASIL Centennial Conference on The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, 44, vol. 33, Washington, DC: EIR, pp. 34–35, retrieved 2013-05-28

Further reading

In English

  • Balfour, Michael, and Frisby, Julian, "Helmuth von Moltke: A Leader Against Hitler", London: Macmillan, 1972.
  • Rothfels, Hans, "The German Opposition to Hitler", London: Oswald Wolff, pages 112, 114, 122.
  • von Moltke, Freya (2003). Memories of Kreisau & The German Resistance. Winter, Julie M. (translator and editor). Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4669-2. OCLC 50476640.
  • von Moltke, Helmuth James (1990). Letters to Freya: 1939–1945. von Oppen, Beata Ruhm (translator and editor). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-57923-2.

In German

  • Finker, Kurt: Graf Moltke und der Kreisauer Kreis. Dietz, Berlin 1993 ISBN 3-320-01816-7
  • Lilje, Hanns: Im finsteren Tal, Reihe Stundenbücher Bd. 25, Furche Verlag, Hamburg
  • von Moltke, Freya, "Die Verteidigung europäischer Menschlichkeit", in: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, Beilage zur Wochenzeitschrift "Das Parlament", Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, Heft B27/2004
  • von Moltke, Freya, "Erinnerungen an Kreisau 1930-1945", München 1987/2001
  • von Schwerin, Franz: Helmuth James Graf von Moltke. Im Widerstand die Zukunft denken. Zielvorstellungen für ein neues Deutschland. Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 1999 ISBN 3-506-73387-7

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Helmuth James Graf von Moltke.
  • German Resistance Memorial Center: Helmuth James Graf von Moltke – Biography (in German)
  • Daily Telegraph obituary: Freya von Moltke – Includes description of the von Moltkes' resistance activities

January 07, 2023
helmuth, james, moltke, german, military, commander, 19th, century, helmuth, moltke, elder, german, chief, staff, start, first, world, helmuth, moltke, younger, helmuth, james, graf, moltke, march, 1907, january, 1945, german, jurist, draftee, german, abwehr, . For the German military commander of the 19th century see Helmuth von Moltke the Elder For the German chief of staff at the start of the First World War see Helmuth von Moltke the Younger Helmuth James Graf 1 von Moltke 11 March 1907 23 January 1945 was a German jurist who as a draftee in the German Abwehr acted to subvert German human rights abuses of people in territories occupied by Germany during World War II He was a founding member of the Kreisau Circle opposition group whose members opposed the government of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany and discussed prospects for a Germany based on moral and democratic principles after Hitler The Nazis executed him for treason for his participation in these discussions Helmuth James Graf von MoltkeMoltke in January 1945Born 1907 03 11 11 March 1907Kreisau Prussia German Empire now Krzyzowa Poland Died23 January 1945 1945 01 23 aged 37 Plotzensee Prison Berlin Nazi GermanyCause of deathExecution by hangingResting placeHamburg Wandsbek GermanyNationalityGermanOther namesHelmuth James Ludwig Eugen Heinrich Graf von MoltkeEducationUniversity of BreslauUniversity of OxfordOccupationLawyerKnown forNon violent opposition to the Nazi government of Germany as co founder of the Kreisau CircleSpouseFreya DeichmannChildrenHelmuth Caspar KonradMoltke was the grandnephew of Helmuth von Moltke the Younger and the great grandnephew of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder the victorious commander in the Austro Prussian and Franco Prussian Wars from whom he inherited the Kreisau estate in Prussian Silesia now Krzyzowa in Poland 2 Contents 1 Early life 2 Education 3 International law division of the Abwehr 4 Nonviolent opposition to Nazi rule 4 1 Kreisau Circle 5 Arrest trial and execution 6 Recognition 7 Publications 8 References 9 Further reading 9 1 In English 9 2 In German 10 External linksEarly life EditMoltke was born in Kreisau now Krzyzowa Swidnica County Poland in the Prussian Province of Silesia His mother Dorothy nee Rose Innes was a South African of British descent the daughter of Sir James Rose Innes Chief Justice of the Union of South Africa from 1914 to 1927 3 Moltke s parents were Christian Scientists his mother adopting his father s religion after marriage 4 His father became a Christian Science practitioner and teacher 5 and both parents were in the group that translated the first German edition of the Christian Science textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy 6 7 For reasons of family tradition Moltke decided to become confirmed in the Evangelical Church of Prussia when he was 14 8 Education EditFrom 1927 to 1929 Moltke studied law and political sciences in Breslau Vienna Heidelberg and Berlin In 1928 Moltke became involved with college teachers and youth movement leaders in the organization of the Lowenberger Arbeitsgemeinschaften Lowenberg working groups in which unemployed young workers and young farmers were brought together with students so that they could learn from one another 9 They also discussed civics obligations and rights In Kreisau Moltke set aside an unused part of the estate for farming startups which earned him harsh criticism from neighbouring landowners 2 In 1931 he married Freya Deichmann whom he met in Austria 2 In 1934 Moltke took his junior law examination In 1935 he declined the chance to become a judge to avoid having to join the Nazi Party Instead he opened a law practice in Berlin As a lawyer dealing in international law he helped victims of Hitler s regime emigrate and he traveled abroad to maintain contacts Between 1935 and 1938 Moltke regularly visited Great Britain where he completed English legal training in London and Oxford 2 International law division of the Abwehr EditIn 1939 World War II began with the German invasion of Poland Moltke was immediately drafted at the beginning of the Polish campaign by the Abwehr the High Command of the Armed Forces Oberkommando der Wehrmacht Counter Intelligence Service Foreign Division under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris as an expert in martial law and international public law 10 Moltke s work for the Abwehr mainly involved gathering insights from abroad from military attaches and foreign newspapers and news of military political importance and relaying this information to the Wehrmacht He maintained the connection between the OKW and the Foreign Office but above all to provide appraisals of questions of the international laws of war Unusually he chose not to wear a uniform 11 In his travels through German occupied Europe he observed many human rights abuses which he attempted to thwart by insisting for Germany to observe the Geneva Convention and by local actions in creating more benign outcomes for local inhabitants citing legal principles 10 In October 1941 Moltke wrote Certainly more than a thousand people are murdered in this way every day and another thousand German men are habituated to murder What shall I say when I am asked And what did you do during that time In the same letter he said Since Saturday the Berlin Jews are being rounded up Then they are sent off with what they can carry How can anyone know these things and walk around free 6 10 Moltke hoped that his appraisals could have a humanitarian effect on military actions he was supported by anti Hitler officers such as Canaris and Major General Hans Oster Chief of the Central Division During Nazi Germany s war with the Soviet Union Moltke wrote a memorandum urging the Wehrmacht to follow both the Geneva Convention and the Hague Convention in order to comply with international law and to promote reciprocal good treatment for German prisoners of war but the recommendation was rejected by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel who scribbled on the margin that The objections arise from the military concept of chivalrous warfare 12 Moltke invoked international law and political reasoning to stop the shooting of hostages in Holland and was involved in warning Danes of the impending planned deportation of Danish Jews which enabled their mass evacuation by boats from Copenhagen to Malmo Sweden 13 6 Having access to information about deportations and the shootings of hostages reinforced Moltke s opposition to the war and the entire program of the Nazi party Moltke was in contact with Aimee Sotto Maior later called Aimee de Heeren a Brazilian spy who had come to Paris in 1938 under the cover of being a wealthy heiress and fashion shopper 14 In 1943 Moltke traveled to Istanbul on two occasions The official reason was to retrieve German merchant ships impounded by Turkey The real reason was participation in an effort to end the war by a coalition of anti Hitler elements of the German Army German refugees living in Turkey members of the OSS the Abwehr German military intelligence and the German ambassador to Turkey Franz von Papen This group passed a report to the Allies which reached President Franklin Roosevelt However Roosevelt s advisers including Henry Morgenthau Jr counseled against the credibility of the report 2 Nonviolent opposition to Nazi rule EditMoltke also surreptitiously spread the information to which he was privy on the war and the Nazi concentration camps to friends outside the Nazi party including members of the Resistance in occupied Europe Declassified British documents reveal that he twice attempted to contact British officials including friends from Oxford offering to go to any length to assist them but the British refused the first time confusing him with his uncle the German ambassador to Spain and replied to the second offer by asking for deeds rather than talk 6 Moltke possessed strong religious convictions In a 1942 letter smuggled to a British friend Lionel Curtis Moltke wrote Today not a numerous but an active part of the German people are beginning to realize not that they have been led astray not that bad times await them not that the war may end in defeat but that what is happening is sin and that they are personally responsible for each terrible deed that has been committed naturally not in the earthly sense but as Christians 15 In the same letter Moltke wrote that before World War II he had believed that it was possible to be totally opposed to National Socialism without believing in God but he now declared his former ideas to be wrong completely wrong In Moltke s opinion only by believing in God could one be a total opponent of the Nazis 15 Kreisau Circle Edit The von Moltke main house at Kreisau In Berlin Moltke had a circle of acquaintances who opposed Nazism and who met frequently there but on three occasions met at Kreisau These three incidental gatherings were the basis for the term Kreisau Circle 16 The meetings at Kreisau had an agenda of well organized discussion topics beginning with relatively innocuous ones as cover The topics of the first meeting of May 1942 included the failure of German educational and religious institutions to fend off the rise of Nazism The theme of the second meeting in the autumn of 1942 was on post war reconstruction assuming the likely defeat of Germany This included both economic planning and self government developing a pan European concept that pre dated the European Union summarized in documented resolutions The third meeting in June 1943 addressed how to handle the legacy of Nazi war crimes after the fall of the dictatorship These and other meetings resulted in Principles for the New Post Nazi Order and Directions to Regional Commissioners works which Moltke asked his wife Freya to hide in a place that not even he knew 16 Moltke opposed the assassination of Hitler He believed that if one succeeded Hitler would become a martyr and if it failed that would expose those few individuals among the German leadership who could be counted on to build a democratic state after the collapse of the Third Reich On 20 July 1944 there was an attempt on Hitler s life which the Gestapo used as a pretext to eliminate perceived opponents to the Nazi regime In the aftermath of the plot some 5 000 of Hitler s opponents were executed 6 Arrest trial and execution Edit Moltke at the Volksgerichtshof Moltke s mindset and his objections to orders that were at odds with international law both put him at risk of arrest Indeed the Gestapo arrested him in January 1944 A year later in January 1945 he stood along with several of his fellow regime opponents before the People s Court Volksgerichtshof presided over by Roland Freisler Because no evidence could be found that Moltke had participated in any conspiracy to bring about a coup d etat Freisler had to invent a charge de novo 2 Since Moltke and his friends had discussed a Germany based on moral and democratic principles that could develop after Hitler Freisler deemed this discussion as treason a crime worthy of death Hanns Lilje writes in his autobiography that as Moltke stood before the Volksgerichtshof he had possessed in the face of clear recognition of the fact that the death penalty had already been decided the moral courage for an attack on Freisler and the whole institution In two letters written to his wife in January 1945 while imprisoned at Tegel Prison Moltke noted with considerable pride that he was to be executed for his ideas not his actions a point that had been underlined a number of times by Freisler In one letter Moltke noted Thus it is documented that not plans not preparations but the spirit as such shall be persecuted Vivat Freisler 15 In the second letter Moltke claimed that he stood before the court not as a Protestant not as a great landowner not as an aristocrat not as a Prussian not as a German but as a Christian and nothing else 15 He wrote But what the Third Reich is so terrified of is ultimately the following a private individual your husband of whom it is established that he discussed with 2 clergymen of both denominations Protestant and Catholic questions of the practical ethical demands of Christianity Nothing else for that alone we are condemned I just wept a little not because I was sad or melancholy but because I am thankful and moved by this proof of God s presence 6 Moltke was sentenced to death on 11 January 1945 and hanged twelve days later at Plotzensee Prison in Berlin 17 In a letter written while in custody he revealed his motivation for resistance to his two sons Since National Socialism came to power I have striven to make its consequences milder for its victims and to prepare the way for a change In that my conscience drove me and in the end that is a man s duty 18 19 Recognition Edit Memorial stone to Moltke and his brother at Kreisau now Krzyzowa Poland In 1989 Moltke was posthumously awarded the Geschwister Scholl Preis for his work Briefe an Freya 1939 1945 20 In 2001 the German Section of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War established the Helmuth James von Moltke Preis for outstanding judicial works in the field of security policy 21 As Germany continues to shed light on the internal dynamics of the Nazi era Moltke has become a prominent symbol of moral opposition to the Nazi regime On 11 March 2007 Moltke s centenary was commemorated in the Franzosischer Dom in Berlin where he was described by German chancellor Angela Merkel as a symbol of European courage 6 His life was the subject of a 1992 documentary film nominated for an Oscar The Restless Conscience Resistance to Hitler Within Germany 1933 1945 6 A biography by Gunter Brakelmann compiles Moltke s letters diary and other papers shared by his wife 22 Scott Horton chair of the New York City bar committee on international law cited parallels between the attitudes of the German general staff during World War II and those of the George W Bush administration during the Iraq War regarding adherence to the Geneva and Hague Conventions both having referred to those treaties as quaint and obsolete and not applicable to the mode of warfare practiced in either era He reported that von Moltke pleaded in forceful terms for respect of the Geneva Convention rights of enemy soldiers civilians and irregular combatants on the East Front mustering a series of arguments that bear remarkable similarity to a memorandum sent by Colin Powell to President Bush 60 years later 23 Publications EditBericht aus Deutschland im Jahre 1943 Report from Germany in the Year 1943 Letzte Briefe aus dem Gefangnis Tegel Last Letters from Tegel Prison Letters to his wife Freya and his two sons from the time of the trial against him first published in 1951 later published together with Bericht in many editions latest Diogenes Zurich 1997 ISBN 3 257 22975 5 Briefe an Freya 1939 1945 ed Beate Ruhm von Oppen 2 Auflage Beck Munchen 1991 ISBN 3 406 35279 0 English edition Letters to Freya 1939 1945 New York Alfred A Knopf ISBN 0 394 57923 2References Edit Regarding personal names Graf was a title before 1919 but now is regarded as part of the surname It is translated as Count Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class titles preceded the full name when given Graf Helmuth James von Moltke Since 1919 these titles along with any nobiliary prefix von zu etc can be used but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname and thus come after any given names Helmuth James Graf von Moltke Titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting The feminine form is Grafin a b c d e f Balfour Michael Frisby Julian 1972 Helmuth von Moltke A Leader against Hitler London Macmillan p 388 ISBN 978 0 333 14030 7 Innes James Rose James Rose Innes Chief Justice of South Africa 1914 27 Autobiography Oxford University Press 1949 Retrieved June 28 2013 von Moltke Dorothy 1999 Translator von Oppen Beate Ruhm ed Ein Leben in Deutschalnd Munich Verlag C H Beck p XII ISBN 3 406 45475 5 von Moltke Dorothy 1999 p XIV a b c d e f g h Marquand Robert March 12 2007 Moral legacy of Nazi resister takes root in Germany and abroad The Christian Science Monitor Retrieved 2015 01 02 Hammond Catharine We are translating Science and Health into German Lead article in the Report to Members Spring Summer 2009 Longyear Museum Chestnut Hill Massachusetts United States von Moltke Dorothy 1999 p XII Schauble Wolfgang 2007 06 21 Zivilcourage und Burgergesellschaft Strategien gegen die totalitare Versuchung 100 Geburtstages von Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg Helmuth James Graf von Moltke und Pater Alfred Delp in German Ministerium des Inneren archived from the original on 2015 06 29 retrieved 2013 01 14 a b c von Moltke Helmuth James 1990 Letters to Freya 1939 1945 Translated by von Oppen Beata Ruhm New York Alfred A Knopf ISBN 0 394 57923 2 Wengler Wilhelm 1948 Vorkaempfer der Voelkerverstaendigung und Voelkerrechtsgelehrte als Opfer des Nationalsozialismus Nr 9 H J Graf von Moltke 1906 sic 1945 London Die Friedens Warte 48 pp 297 305 Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression vol 2 chapter XVI part 4 Avalon Project Yale Law School Law Library Retrieved 22 December 2018 Berghahn V R 1 July 1990 No Mein Fuhrer The New York Times Retrieved 22 December 2018 The spectator F C Westley 1 January 2004 p 44 Retrieved 20 January 2012 a b c d Rothfels Hans 1961 The German Opposition to Hitler London Oswald Wolff pp 112 114 122 ISBN 0 8371 8696 X a b von Moltke Freya 2003 Memories of Kreisau amp The German Resistance Translated by Winter Julie M Lincoln Nebraska University of Nebraska Press ISBN 0 8032 4669 2 Susanne Eckelmann Helmuth James Graf von Moltke Deutsches Historisches Museum 14 September 2014 Original quotation Nationalsozialismus zur Macht gekommen ist habe ich mich bemuht seine Folgen fur seine Opfer zu mildern und einer Wandlung den Weg zu bereiten Dazu hat mich mein Gewissen getrieben und schliesslich ist das eine Aufgabe fur einen Mann von Moltke Helmuth James 1986 1945 Letter to sons In van Roon G ed Helmuth James Graf von Moltke Volkerrecht im Dienste der Menschen Dokumente Deutscher Widerstand 1933 1945 in German Berlin Siedler Verlag p 6 ISBN 978 3886801541 Jury 1989 Preistrager 1989 Helmuth James von Moltke Geschwister Scholl Preis archived from the original on 2016 03 04 retrieved 2013 01 13 Helmuth James von Moltke Preis in German Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Wehrrecht und Humanitares Volkerrecht e V Archived from the original on 2011 07 18 Brakelmann Gunter 2007 Helmuth James von Moltke 1907 1945 eine Biographie in German Munchen C H Beck ISBN 9783406554957 OCLC 82149044 Horton Scott 2006 The Nuremberg Precedent When Lawyers Are War Criminals Scott Horton The Nazi Paradigm in Spannaus Nancy Spannaus Ed eds ASIL Centennial Conference on The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial 44 vol 33 Washington DC EIR pp 34 35 retrieved 2013 05 28Further reading EditIn English Edit Balfour Michael and Frisby Julian Helmuth von Moltke A Leader Against Hitler London Macmillan 1972 Rothfels Hans The German Opposition to Hitler London Oswald Wolff pages 112 114 122 von Moltke Freya 2003 Memories of Kreisau amp The German Resistance Winter Julie M translator and editor Lincoln Nebraska University of Nebraska Press ISBN 0 8032 4669 2 OCLC 50476640 von Moltke Helmuth James 1990 Letters to Freya 1939 1945 von Oppen Beata Ruhm translator and editor New York Alfred A Knopf ISBN 0 394 57923 2 In German Edit Finker Kurt Graf Moltke und der Kreisauer Kreis Dietz Berlin 1993 ISBN 3 320 01816 7 Lilje Hanns Im finsteren Tal Reihe Stundenbucher Bd 25 Furche Verlag Hamburg von Moltke Freya Die Verteidigung europaischer Menschlichkeit in Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte Beilage zur Wochenzeitschrift Das Parlament Bundeszentrale fur Politische Bildung Heft B27 2004 von Moltke Freya Erinnerungen an Kreisau 1930 1945 Munchen 1987 2001 von Schwerin Franz Helmuth James Graf von Moltke Im Widerstand die Zukunft denken Zielvorstellungen fur ein neues Deutschland Schoningh Paderborn u a 1999 ISBN 3 506 73387 7External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Helmuth James Graf von Moltke German Resistance Memorial Center Helmuth James Graf von Moltke Biography in German Daily Telegraph obituary Freya von Moltke Includes description of the von Moltkes resistance activities Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Helmuth James von Moltke amp oldid 1131195543, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.