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8-1971 Hortensienstrasse 50. The and the 20th of July Thomas Childers University of Tennessee - Knoxville

Recommended Citation Childers, Thomas, "Hortensienstrasse 50. The Kreisau Circle and the 20th of July. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 1971. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/3110

This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Thomas Childers entitled "Hortensienstrasse 50. The Kreisau Circle and the 20th of July." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in History. Arthur G. Haas, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Edward Chmielewski, Edwin H. Trainer, Galen Broeker Accepted for the Council: Dixie L. Thompson Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) July 19, 1971

To the Graduate Council:

I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Thomas Childers entitled "Hortensienstrasse 50. The Kreisau Circle and the 20th of July." I recommend that it be accepted for twelve quarter hours of credit in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of ·Science( with a major in History.

Major Professor

We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: �� ·� £� &4;��

Accepted for the Council:

s�C::Z.?L:rd Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies and Research HORTENSIENSTRASSE SO. THE KREISAU CIRCLE

AND THE 20TH OF JULY

A Thes is

Presented to

the Graduate Council of

The University of Tennessee

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

by

Thomas Childers

August 197 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This study of the Kreis au Circle of the German

res is tance movement agains t- National Socialis m and its rela­

tionship to the coup �'etat of July· 20, 1944, was- undertaken with the guidance of Dr. Arthur G. Haas in January 1969.

During the following academic year, a Fulbright grant allowed me to pursue this investigation in , where the facilities of the Ins titut fur Europais che Ges chichte in

Mainz were at my dis posal.

To the many people who· kindly granted me interviews or provided me wi th valuable unpublished material, I owe my deepest thanks . I would es pecially like to express my appre­ ciation· to Frau Dr. Marion Grafin Yorck von Wartenburg,· who gave me cons iderable help in many as pects of my research.

To Dr. Arthur G. Haas, who not only inspired this project but als o first aroused my interest in history, I am greatly indebted. Finally, I want to thank my wife Bets y, my mother, and my father for their steadfas t support and as sistance.

To them, this work is dedicated.

ii 984118 ABSTRACT

The Kreisau Circle of the German resistance movement

to National Sociali sm was first organized by Count Helmuth.

James von Moltke and Count Peter Yorck von Wartenburg in.

1940. The circle 's membership was· composed of socialists , representatives of the Christian Churches, members of the

Foreign Office and governmental administration , and East­

Elbia� aris tocrats. Until May 1943 the circle concentrated primarily on the formulation · of a plan for the reconstruction of German· society in a post�Nazi Europe. In drafting th e program , three large conferences were held at Moltke 's estate of Kreisau in , from which the circle derived its name.

Between May 1943 and the early months of the following year , the circle passed through a transitional phase in its development. With the plans for a new government and society essentially completed in the summer of 1943, the circle grad­ ually turned to concrete organizational preparation for X-Day , the day of Hitler 's· fall. The death of Carlo Mierendorff , one of the circle ' s leading figures , the arrest of Helmuth von

Moltke , and the arrival of Colonel Claus von in

Berlin , all contributed to a reorientation · of the circle 's activities.

The circle did not· collapse after the loss of Mo ltke , its·co-leader. Instead , Yorck assumed the role of "business

iii iv manager, " and the circle continued to meet in his · small hous e in the Hortens ienstras se until July 20, 1944. Yorck's cous in

Stauffenberg, who became the center of the military resis tance and planned· to as sassinate Hitler, gradually drew the Kreisau

Circle into the active plans for the coup.d'etat. Rather than· being the "conscientious objectors of the res is tance, " as the

Kreis auers are so often portrayed, Yorck, Adam von Trott zu

Solz , , and their friends participated in the political preparations for X-Day, which came on July. 20, 1944. TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTE R PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

I. THE PARTI CIPANTS: THE FOUNDING OF THE

CIRCLE 5

II . THE PROGRAM: THE CIRCLE 'S PROGRAMMATIC

PHASE . • • ...... 31

III . THE PREPARATIONS: THE CI RCLE IN

TRANS ITION 66 '

IV . THE PLOT: THE CIRCLE AFTER JANUARY 19,

1944 ...... • • 10 4

v. THE 20TH OF JULY AND AFTERWARDS • . 153

v INTRODUCTION

In 1967 Ger van- Roan 's basic study of. the Kreisau

Circle of the German resistance movement against National

Socialism appeared in Germany. Until the publication of

Neuordnung im Widerstand. Der Kreisauer Kreis innerhalb der

deutschen Widerstandsbewegung no comprehensive treatment of the circle existed. While standard works on the German· oppo­

sition· dealt with the Kreisau Circle within the broad. context

of the entire resistance movement, van Roon.' s extensive re­

search concentrated exclusively on. the development of this

important circle. The result was an impressively detailed, well-documented, and apparently authoritative account of the

circle 's activities from its· origin in 1940 until its col­

lapse in 1944.

Nevertheless , there are gaps. In an- imposing volume

comprising over six hundred pages , only three are dedicated · to an examination. of the circle 's activities between January

19 , 1944, and July 20 , 1944. These were critical months for

the German· resistance , and the role of the Kreisau Circle

during this· period deserves more attention. This remarkable

gap in· van Roan 's otherwise thorough treatment is , of course,

no oversight. Helmuth von Mo ltke , who along wi th Peter Yorck

von- Wartenburg founded and led the circle , was arres ted on

January 19 , 1944, and thereafter , van Roon contends , the

1 2

circle 's diverse membership lacked· a common- , cohesive center.

The Kreisau Circle , according to van Roon , therefore dis­

solved in early 1944. But what exactly happened to the

Kreisau Circle after Mo ltke 's arrest? Was Peter Yorck ab le

to hold the circle together? Were the Kreisauers really the

"conscientious objectors of the resistance"? If the circle

collapsed in January of 1944, how does one explain the

involvement of several of its leading members in the plot of

July 20? These are questions which prompted this investiga­

tion--a project , it should be added , which could hardly have been undertaken- without the foundation laid by van· Roan 's

study .

Any attempt to re construct· the developments· within the

Kreisau·Circle after January 1944 must begin with the ro le.of

Count Peter Yorck von Wartenburg . Although other Kreisauers ,

especially and Julius·Leber, played

equal or even greater roles in the active conspiracy , Yorck 's

position at the circle 's nucleus is vital in·understanding

the structure and operating procedures of the circle after

January 19 , 1944. Since Yorck and his· friends , as security

precautions , rarely recorded their actions in writing , th e

re searcher is co nfronted with - obvious prob lems . Letters and

unpublished co mpositions , especially the Materialsammlung of

Frau · Dr. Clarita von Trott zu Solz , contribute greatly to the

surmounting of these prob lems , as do interviews with friends , 3 relatives, co-workers, and the few living members of the

Kreis au Circle. Most important in this regard are Frau Dr.

Marion· Grafin Yorck von Wartenburg, Yorck's widow, and Dr.

Eugen Gerstenmaier and Dr. Paulus van Husen, two Kreis au members who- were very close to Yorck in- 1944. Countes s Yorck remained with her husband in throughout 1944 and shared in his resis tance-work. Dr. Gers tenmaier, later the

President of the West German- , lived in the Yorcks ' small hous e in the Hortensienstrasse during this period, and

Dr. van Hus en was in almos t daily contact with Yorck. Sup-­ ported by published and unpublis hed material and checked against documented accounts of the period, their recollec­ tions provide an authoritative picture of Yorck's activities in the months before July 20, 1944.

Al though the major emphas is of this study is , therefore, focused on the circle's activities in 1944, their significance can be accurately ass essed only when viewed against the back­ ground of the circle's development since 1940. A chapter on· the circle's origins and compos ition-is , therefore, neces sary.

Moreover, since the Kreisauers considered the formulation of a political-social program for a post- as their primary duty and since this tas k occupied their att ention un­ til the summer- of 1943, a chapter dealing exclusively with the Kreis au program is also included. This study- is , there­ fore, not intended as a comprehens ive histor-y of the Kreis au 4

Circle. Its scope is much mo re limi ted . Yet , by concentrat­ ing on the activiti es·of Yorck , Trott , Leber and their friends

after January 1944 and their re lationship to th e events· of the

2 0 th of July , it is hoped that a contribution to the unde r­ standing of this remarkab le group of. men may be· attained . CHAPTER I

THE PARTICIPANTS: THE FOUNDING· OF THE CIRCLE

On Th ursday , May 21 , 1942 , the guests of Count Helmuth

James von Moltke were arriving for a short holiday at-his country estate of Kreisau near Schweidnitz in Silesia. It was the week of Pentecost, and the religious nature of the holiday was not without significance·. The guests were said to be colleagues of Count von Moltke from Berlin and were lodged partly in the Schloss , the large imposing hous e which. served as the focal point of the estate , and partly in. the

Berghaus , a smaller and somewhat secluded dwe lling situated in the rough Silesian lands cape above and away from the

Schloss. The large , rambling estate of Kreisau to which the gues ts had been invited had come to the Mo ltke family through

Count von Moltke 's illus trious great-grand uncle , Field Mar­ shal Helmuth von Moltke , who had acquired it in 1866. Upon. the death of the Feldmarschall , who himself had no male heirs ,

Kreisau was. bequeathed to Helmuth James ' grandfather , but the atmosphere of history which pervaded the grounds. did not diminish with the great mi litary man's. passing. His aus tere living quarters in the Schloss were left untouched , and his

5 6 tomb, situated on a small knoll in the estate's extensive

1 park, continued to attract visitors to Kreisau.

The estate actually consis ted of three distinct areas,

Wierischau, Kreis au, and Nieder Graeditz. The nucleus of the estate, however, was- Kreisau, where the gates of· the Schloss opened onto the main street of the small rural village which had grown up around it. On one of the many ridges in the

Nieder Graeditz section-of the estate overlooking the hollow in which· the Schlos s and the village of Kreisau were nestled stood the charming white-walled red-roofed Berghaus, where

Helmuth James von· Moltke, his wife Freya, and two small sons lived. There in the spacious high-ceilinged rooms of this comfortable hous e and in the pleasant, relaxed atmosphere of its· large open porch and meticulously cultivated garden,

Count and Countess von· Moltke entertained their frequent gues ts . Leading a traditional country life as the Moltkes did, weekend gues ts were quite common· on. the great estate, and those arriving on that Thurs day did not appear out of 2 the ordinary. Yet, if in terms- of numbers these weekend guests at Kreis au were not very striking, their composition was indeed exceptional.

1 Ger van Roan, Neuordnung im Widerstand. Der Kreisauer Kreis innerhalb der deutschen WiderstanasDewegung-, hereafter cited as Neuordnll:ng, , 1967, pp. 56-57. 2 rnterview with Countess Freya von· Moltke, Heidel­ berg, January 22-, 19 7 0. 7

There was Hans Peters , an international lawyer and professor of law in Berlin; Harald Poelchau , a Lutheran

chaplain at Berlin 's· Tegel prison; , a former governor of Upper Silesia and Center party member; Adolf

Reichwein , a forme r professor of political studies at the

Pedagogical Academy in and a socialist; Fath er Augustin

ROsch , the Father Provincial of the Bavarian.Jesui ts; Theodor

Steltzer, a former Landrat in Schleswig-Holstein and now a transportation officer in the ; and , accompanied by his· wife Marion , Count Peter Yorck von Wartenburg , descendant of a historic and noble Prussian fami ly , who since· the summer of 1940 had become , along with Moltke , the vi tal nucleus . around which this highly heterogeneous circle of colleagues. 3 had centered. On May 22 the Moltkes met with their guests in the Bergh aus , and discuss ions were begun which , within the next three days , were to produce the "Declaration of Basic

Principles" of what Constantine FitzGibbon· credits as being the "intellectual force which · epitomized the opposition · to 4 Hitler and ," the Kreis au Circle .

Since the early months of 1940 this highly diversified group had cautiously expanded to encompass representatives of both Protestant and Catholic Churches , former German· Social-

ist (SPD) and labor leaders , members of the Foreign · Office

3 Ger van· Roan , Neuordnung , pp . 252-53. 4 constantine FitzGibbon· , � July , New York , 196 8 , p. 95. 8

and the governmental bureaucracy , as we ll as distinguished

men from the academic community . Aside from those who·

attended that initial meeting at Kreisau in May of 19 42 ,

there were others who played significant roles- in shaping

the Kreisauer- Kreis .

The very formidable socialist influence within the

circle was contributed by Carlo Mierendorff, Theo Haub ach ,

Adolf Reichwein, and , in the final phas e of the circle 's work , Julius Leber. Supporters of the Young· Socialism mo ve­

ment of the early twen-ties , which sought to reform the

Social Democratic Party and make it more responsive and re le-

vant to the changed conditions of postwar German society ,

Mierendorff , Reichwein , and Haubach were drawn in the course

of the decade to the religious-socialist ideas of philosopher­

theologian Paul Tillich . By contributing to Tillich 's influ-

entia! Christian-Socialist journal � Blatter fur den

Sozialismus , to whose advisory board both Haubach and Reich-

wein also belonged , Mierendorff became a prominent socialist

journalist in the . With the ominous growth

of National Socialism , Mierendorff through his constant and

energetic attacks against Hitler and his movement , proved

himself to be among the SPD's staunchest and most active

opponents of the Nazis . At one time he organized twelve mass 5 rallies throughout Germany within a single week . Elected to

5 carl Zuckmayer, Carlo Mi erendorff . Portrat eines Deutschen Sozialisten , Berlin, 19 47, p. 32 . 9 the Re ichstag in 1930 , his influence and reputation · within the party and with the public steadily increased . Soon after

Hitler 's Machtergreifung in 19 33, however , Mierendorff was among tho se who disappeared during the firs t . great wave of arrests . In 19 38, after five excruciating years of imprison­ ment, Mierendorff was released , his political will supposedly 6 broken .

Theo Haubach , a very close friend of Mierendorff and a student of Karl Jaspers in , had also been a militant opponent of National Socialism in· the years before

19 33. As Harald Poelchau notes , Haubach was "somewhat·mili- tary in his manner" and "through and through· a political 7 fighter ." He was an inspiring speaker and a talented po lit­ ical organizer . Al though considered a specialist in foreign affairs for the social-democrati c Hamburger Echo , Haubach was not· content with journalistic forays against the spread of

Nazism . He put his political ab ility to work in organizing the militant street organization of the SPD , the Reichsbanner

Schwarz Rot Go ld , which hoped to counteract Hitler 's SA and the Communist Rotfront. Through Haubach 's· diligence the

Reichsbanner developed into a mass organization , designed to defend the beset Weimar Republic. Yet, shortly after

6 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung , pp. 123-131. 7 Harald Poelchau , Die Letzten Stunden . Erinnerungen eines· Gefangnispfarrers, Berlin , 1949 , p. 123 . 10

January 30, 1933, his suggestions for an energetic confron­ tation with the Nazis were re jected by a confused and weary 8 SPD leadership . After more than a year of continual harass- ment by the new regime , Haubach was arrested in November 19 34.

He emerged two years later from the concentration . camp 9 Esterwegen-Boergermoor; his spirit, too , remained unbroken.

These men were eventually brought into contact with ·

Helmuth von Mo ltke by , the widely respected educational theorist and frequent contributor to the Sozial- 10 1s. t1s . che Monats h efte an d th e Neue B 1""att er. A man· of keen academic and intellectual ab ility, Reichwein also possessed a restless sense of adventure whi ch led him across. the North

8 Karl Rohe, Das Re ichsbanner Schwarz Ro t Go ld . Ein· Beitra zur Geschich�und struktur der politiSChenlKam � verbana e� r Zeit der wei:marer RepUhrrK , Dusseldorf , 19� 6, p. 440. - -- -- 9 Ger van Roan, Neuordnung , pp . 181-1 88. See also Theodor Haubach zum GedHchtnis , ed. Walter Hammer, , 1955. 10 rn his memoirs Carl zuckmayer reports, however, that Moltke actually first met Mierendorff and Haubach in Zuck­ mayer 's Aus trian home in the summer of. 1927 . He recalls that "Moltke , though bound to his Christian-conservative tradition , was already inclined toward socialism, while th e German Young Socialists displayed a lively interest in the train of thought and concepts of the English- Young Conservative. " Zuckmayer, Als war's ein Stuck von mir, Frankfurt, 1969, p. 53. Aside from this- Single encounter, it seems that contact between Moltke an d Zuckmayer 's socialist friends was not maintained in the fo llowing decade and was not reestablished until 1941 . 11 11 American continent . and into As ia. He had taken a great interest in the voluntary wo rk camps., wh ich brough t together young Germans from all walks of life with the go al of over- coming class , regional , and religious an tagonisms . Th rough them · he had first· met Helmuth von Mo ltke , and , . in the 19 30's , contac t between the tw o was renewed. Simultaneous ly , Mo ltke was in troduced to the circle of younger socialist leaders who had gathered around Mi erendorff since his re le ase from the 1 2 concentration camps . Among them were Weimar 's mo st promi - nent representatives of the new. po stwar· gene ration· of social- ists --Haubach , Leber, Gustav Dahrendorf , Emil Henk , Ludwig

Schwamb , Hermann Ma ass , and others . Through Mierendorff

Moltke was. ab le to es tablish contact with· the older SPD and

lJ labor 1 ea d ers l'k� e W� e'lh m 1 L eus ch ner an d kJa b K o a�s' er .

Among the younger socialist leaders the figure of

Julius · Leber was to emerge as the mos t imposing political force . Leber was a former Re ichstag member and a . to ugh­ minded political re alis t. Arrested in 1933 on the steps of the Re ichstag. , he endured four and a half nightmarish years of SS brutality including an entire year in solitary

11 Hans Bohnenkamp , Gedanden an Adolf Re ichwein , Brauns chweig-Berlin- , 1949 , p. 1 2 . For a mo re compre­ hensive acco un t of Re ichwe in's early life and academic career see : James L. Henderson , Adolf Re ichwe in . Eine politisch­ padagogische Biographie , Stuttgart , 1958 . 12 Ge r van Roon , Neuordnung , pp . 10 0-10 8 ·•

1 3 � ., P· 227. 12 14 confinement in a darkened ce11. He , like his colleagues ,

began to renew· his old contacts. Leber , like Mierendorff ,

maintained close ties with· Leus chner and was also in contact with Fritz von der Schulenburg who served as an important

liaison between the later military conspirators and the ma jor

civilian·groups. But Leber 's impact on the circle of friends

around Mo ltke and Yorck was· felt only indirectly until the

final weeks of 194 3. Although he· was. kept informed of the

activities of the group and was favorab ly inclined toward its work , Leber tended to remain somewhat aloof, skeptical of what seemed· an overly theoretical approach of the Kreisauer 15 group . It was only after January 1944, as the circle be-

came increas ingly involved with the leading military conspir-

ators around Claus von· Stauffenberg , that Leber 's role within-

the circle began to expand.

The hub of the expanding resis tance circle to which these socialist leaders attached themselves in-1940-41 was

represented, remarkably enough , by the friendship of two young Prus sian nob lemen. While Moltke and Yorck were the bearers of old and respected Prussian names. and were justly

proud of their respective family heritages , both were far

from the stereotyped Eas t-Elbian aristocrat. Moltke realized

14 Annedore Leber , Den toten immer lebendigen Freunden , --- Berlin , 19 46, p. 3. 15 Julius Leber, � Geht Seinen· Weg. Schriften , Reden , und Briefe von Ju�l1u s Leber, ed. Gustav Dahrendorf , Berlin-Frankfurt , �2 , p. 285. ' . 13 that aris tocrati c privilege no longer had a place in German society and thus · opposed the pre ferential financial aid given to noble estate owners by the government. His intens e concern with socioeconomic problems and their political consequences led him during the bitter depression years to he lp found and organi ze the Loewenberger . Arbeitsgemeinschaft in Silesia and 1 6 the vo luntary work camps as soci ated wi th it . Through these camps Moltke hoped, as FitzGibbon eloquently phrases it ,

that thus a group of people woul d be created who , though they might have nothing else in common. , would be free of the narrow political and soci al strait­ jacket which is the curse of the century , men who would respect one another 's humanity and who there­ fore might provide the seed for a kinder and more intelligent society in which self-interest would as sume its· proper , subordinate place . 17

To the as tonishment of his Junker peers the independent

Mo ltke , in a fashion reminiscent of To lstoy , divided a portion· 18 of his estate among the local peasan ts , and even allowed himself to be photographed with hammer and sickle , though he . 19 was b y no means enamoured Wl.'th c ommun-1.sm. From his British mother, Dorothy Rose Innes , Mo ltke had early developed an interest and deep respect for the democratic principles and

1 6 countess Freya von Mo ltke , "He lmuth James· Graf von Moltke , Lebensbericht," unpublished composition , 19 48. 17 constantine FitzGibbon , � July, p. 105 . 18 Eberhard Zeller , Geist der Freiheit . � 20 . Juli , Munich , 19 65 , p. 132 . 19 ' Interv1.ew w1.'th C oun tess von Mo ltk e, B a d G o d es b erg , January 16 , 19 70. 14

traditions associated with.the Anglo-Saxon world. Thus ,

while recogni zing its faults and weaknesses , Mol tke remained 20 in support. of the troubled We imar Republic and was , of

course , an implacable anti-Nazi. His feelings were certainly 2 1 ' no secret, and consequently the judicial career for which

he had prepared was closed to him after January 30 , 1933.

Moltke opened a private practice in Berlin ,

through. which he was often ab le to aid those persecuted by

the Nazis . In order to maintain contacts outside the increas-

ingly stifling atmosphere of Hitler 's Germany , he prepared for

the British· law examinations in 19 35. With the fatherly

assistance of Lionel Curtis , a close friend of his· mother 's

family· , Moltke was· introduced to influential circles in Great

Britain, and England became a· second home for him. In 19 38,

·as the international situation ·was ominous ly sliding from one

crisis into another , Mo ltke gained admittance to the English

20 Ger van Roon1 Neuordnung , p. 65. 21 Aside from his outspoken criticism of Hitler and the Nazis before January 30 , 1933, Mo ltke often demonstrated his opposition to the regime through gestures which today might seem inconsequential but·were in the totalitarian sys­ tem overt and dangerous acts. For details see : A German of the Resistance. The Last Letters of Count Helmutn James von MOitke , ed. LioneiiCurt1s , London ,-r946 , p. 13. Dr. Paulus­ van Husen surmises that Moltke and Yorck were able to show their opposition to some degree because of their posi tion in Prussian· society. "Moltke and Yorck were--besides Bismarck-­ the two names which represented Prus s ian tradition ." To take action against them , the Nazis would· jeopardi ze the so-called "spiri t of , " which they had so ab used. Paulus van Husen, "Report on my participation in the enterpr ise of the 20 , July 1944, " unpublished report, 1945 . 15 22 Bar. After the outbre ak of the war , Moltke became an advi sor on international law to the German High Command , and also es tabli shed contacts with-leading re sistance figures . 23 Among them was Count Peter Yorck von Wartenburg .

Peter Yorck was the highly educated des cendant of a. noble Prussian fami ly with a tradition of social re sponsi- bility and intellectual activity . The fami ly was long. known for its - appreciation of phi losophy an d the arts , and among its illus trious acquaintances had been.artis ts an d philoso- phers like- Rubenstein , Lis zt, Hegel , Schelling , Tieck , and

Di lthey . But above al l , it was Feldmarschall Yorck von ••

Wartenburg who brought. the fami ly its mo st widespread nota­ bility. It was he who disobeyed the King of Prus sia by sign- ing the Treaty of Tauroggen-with Rus sia in 1812 thereby 2 4 setting th e stage for the Wars of . This· tradi- tion of re sponsib le opposition remained a significant influ­ ence within the fami ly , and its implications for the situation in Germany after 19 33 were not los t on Peter Yorck .

Yo rck had studied law in Bonn , but because. of his grasp of economics and finance he chose a career in the civil service . In Bre slau he served as an important advisor to the

22 Helmuth James von Moltke , Last Letters , ed . Lionel Curtis , pp . 10-14 . 2 3 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung , p. 214 . 2 4 Ib id. I p. 77 . 16

Silesian adminis tration , and , in 19 38, he became an.influen-.

tial advisor to the Re ich Commission for Prices in Berlin .

For Peter Yorck , who was more closely bound to his Siles ian-

Prussian heritage than Mo ltke , "foreign· domination , whether 2 5 from· without or within , was- unbearable· . " He viewed National

Socialism · with its macabre inhumanity and monstrous perversion

of German· life as an odious stain on· the honor and de cency of. his fatherland. He deep aversion-to the Nazis had developed

steadily since 1933, but the infamous Re ichskris tallnacht

ignited his· loathing· into de termination to act agains t the 26 regime . After a short visit to the newly incorporated

Sudetenland in 1938, where he witnessed National Sqcialis t o ccupation-me thods at clos e range , Yorck assembled a group

of anti-Nazi friends and relatives . These included Nikolaus

Graf Uxkull , Bertho ld Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg , Fritz

Graf von-der Schulenburg , Caesar von· Ho facker, and. like-minded

as sociates from economic and administrative circles including

Otto Ehrensberger , Hermann Abs , Gunther Schm. olders , and

Albrecht von Kessel. They· often-me t in Yo rck 's small hoU•e

in Berlin· and at hi s estates of Kauern and Klein Oels in

25 Margre t Boveri , Der Verrat ----im XX , Jahrhundert . vol . II , Hamburg , 1956 , p. 71 . --- 26 In terview-with Countess Marion Yorck von Wartenburg , Berlin , April 7, 19 70. 17 27 Silesia . The former group , with the very notab le addition of , was to form the hear t of what· was later to be labeled by the Ge s tapo the "Grafenkreis" (circle of counts) , while several of the latter group were to perform important services as technical advisors to the.Kreisau Cir- cle in the field of economic policy . The work of this ci'rcle around Yorck was up set in 1939 by the outbreak of· the war , and· only after returning from the campaign.was he once - again · able to turn-to the incredib ly difficult and dangerous task of organizing responsible opposition in. moments of national triumph . It was then , after a chance meeting and a lively exchange of letters in the early months of 1940·, that the friendship between Peter Yorck and Helmuth von Mo ltke 28 was· renewed. As th is· close personal friendship matured, it

I formed the solid foundation. upon. which the Kreisau :Circle was· built .

During 1940-4 1 new contacts were made and old ones. intensified. Along with the socialists , Mo ltke and Yorck drew into the circle a dis tinguished group of responsible men

27 . Ger van Roan , Neuordnung , pp . 84-85. Also see: Gunter Schmo lders , Personalistischer Sozialismus.. Die Wirt­ schaftsordnungskonzept�on· des Kre�sauer Kre�ses der--ai'ut'SCilen Widerstandsbewegung , , 1969, p. 12. 28 rbid. , p. 215 . Mo ltke and Yorck had been acquainted with· one another for some time , though the contacts between them were few until 1940 . 18 with backgrounds in various aspects of public administration .

In the fall of 1940 Theodor Steltzer , until 19 33 a state councilman· in· Schleswig-Holstein , was introduced to Mo ltke .

Steltzer was to become a principle figure in formulating the cultural and ecumenical facets of the Kreisau wo rk . However , until 19 41, the circle was to remain a loose group of· friends� a Freundekreis , bound together· by their mutual abhorrence to

National Socialism , but as yet without a clear conception of 29 how best to translate their re j ection· into meaningful action .

Hans Lukaschek , the former governor of Upper Silesia who had been forced out by the Nazis in 19 33 for his re fus al to suppress a Catholic newspaper , also belonged to this loose 3 0 Freundekreis in 19 40 . His· ·unshakable devotion to the Catho-, lie Church had made him· politically "unreliable " for the

National Socialists , and after his retirement from public office in 19 33 he turned to a private law practice in Breslau.

Th is brought about numerous professional ties with Mo ltke wh ich led , after 1938 , to extens ive discuss ions of the- politi- 31 ca1 sl. . t uat' J.on . His ample knowledge of government on the

2 9 Theodor Steltzer , Von Deutscher- Pol:ltik, Frank furt , 1949 , p. 7 2 . 30 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung , p. 11 9 . 31 spiege lbild einer Ve rschworung . Die Ka ltenbrunner Berichte an Bormann und Hitler Uber das Attentat vom 20. -- Juli 1944 . Geheime DOkumente aus-dem ehemalJ.gen RerchSsicher­ fieftsfiiU;ptamt , ed . Karl Heinricn-Peter, Stuttgart, 1961, p. 19 state or Land level drawn from years of experience was to be a valuable contribution to the plans of the Kreisau Circle .

Lukaschek 's close friend Paulus van Husen was also brought into the growing group around Moltke and Yorck in·

1940 . In distinction to the pervasive youthful character of the circle (nearly all the Kreisauers were between thirty and 32 forty years of age) , Husen , like Lukaschek , Steltzer , and

Father Augustin Roesch, belonged to the generation of· Germans that· had reached maturity before the outbreak of the First

World War . He had studied law and political science in Mun­ ich, Mllnster , , and Oxford before the Great War and in the postwar years had· served as a member of the Polish-German

Commission created.by the to guarantee

minority rights in areas of highly mixed population • . In 19 40

Husen arrived in Berlin , summoned to a staff position in the

Wehrmacht which was· later to· prove important for the wo rk of

388. These documents· provide a wealth of information concern­ ing the 20th of July and the figures involved in the events that led to it. One mus t·, however , use considerable caution· in. dealing with these reports , sine� they· a�e , in fact, the work of the Ges tapo and were intended for a vengeful Hitler. 32 Moltke , Yorck , Trott , Haeften , Konig , Delp , Gersten­ maier, and Einsiede l had not yet reached· the age of forty by July 20, 19 44. Of these men·, the first six were dead before their fortieth birthdays . Re ichwein , Mierendorff , Haubach , and Peters were in their forties in 194 4. Of them , only Peters lived to be fifty , and Mierendorff was the victim of an allied air raid in December 194 3. Leber, Husen , and Roesch were in their early fifties , wh i·le Stel tzer and Lukaschek were both born in 1885 . 20

the circle in 1944 . Here he came into contact with Helmuth

von- Mo ltke and soon was integrated into the expanding circle ,

bringing wi th him an· extensive knowledge of the theoretical 33 and practical aspects of international law .

Mo ltke's cous in Carl Dietrich von . Trotha and· his

friend Horst· von Einsiedel were also active in the circ le in

194 0-41 . Both had enthus iastically participated in the Ger-

man· youth movement and the-wo rk organizations as sociated with

the Loewenberger project, and both had studied in Breslau

under the unique condi tions found in the universities· of the

Eastern border provinces of pos t-Versailles Germany . In the

un iversities of these frontier zones , w here Germans and non-

Germans lived· and wo rked side by side , th e role of the nation­

al state was. discus sed with fervor. As Hans Ro thfels po ints

out :

�upranational and federalistic solutions were here mos t seriously discussed , a separation of national­ � ity from po litics for wh ich the form of Qultural .·

autonomy offered itself .•••Th e who le stress of these efforts circled round the problem of peace between peoples as they on ly sound basis for peace be tween states . Fundamentally, the affirmation of a divine order was sough t wh ich wo uld ass ure the dignity of the individual and the fami ly, the dig-. nity of all wo rk , •••and the dignity of. every national community , so supplying an inner im�!tus to a new national and in ternational society .

33 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung , pp. 196-198 . 3 4 Hans Ro th fels , The German 0Eposition to Hitler. An Appraisal , Chicago, 1962 ,· p. 110. 2 1

The effects of this background are clearly re flected in the later Kreisau program and helped to build common ground for cooperation with the socialists .

Trotha and Einsiedel were highly trained and qualified in matters of economic theory and organization , and Einsiedel , a former SPD member and acquaintance of Reichwein , was to become one of the leading figures in formulating the Kreisau economic plans . Trotha , from his· position· in. the Re ich · Eco- nomics · Ministry , and Einsiedel , a member of the Reich Economic

Group for the Chemical Industry , had made beginnings at organ- izin9 resis tance cells within their respective ministries .

Both had established contacts wi th , the Commu- nist re sistance leader as sociated with the famous spy ring , 35 the "Rote Kapelle " or "Red Orches tra." Their contributions to the circle 's work were to lie exclusively within the pro- granunatic phase of the circle 's development .

During April and May of 1941 two import ant.additions were made to the circle : Ad am von Trott zu Solz and Hans-

Bernd von Haeften , both of the Foreign Office . Mo ltke had met Trott in England during the 1930 's where the latter had

35 Ger van Roan , Neuordnung , pp . 91 and 97 . The Rote Kapelle (Red Chapel or Re d Orchestra) was the name givenJS:Y the to a group of communists at work in· Goring 's air Ministry . The group , headed by Arvid· Harnack and Harre Schulze-Boysen , actually transmitted military information to the Soviet· Union until the ring was uncovered in August, 1942. None of the Kreisauers who established contacts with this· group were involved in its activities . 22

studied as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford. Actually , he spent much of the 19 30 's traveling abroad.. Furthermore , although.

trained for the legal profession , Trott was also very inter­ ested in philosophy , especially in Hegel . By 1938, despite his youth , he had been drawn toward the center of German

resistance circles , standing· in. close contact with- Carl

Goerdeler, , Hjalmar Schacht , and Wilhelm Leus ch- · ner , and had acted as their representat ive in England where he was· granted interviews with several prominent English politicians and diplomats , Lord Halifax and Lord Lothian· 36 being among them . After the outbreak of th e war , Trott again acted as a spokesman for the German resis tance- in con- fidential talks in the with various British· and 37 American diplomatic spokesmen·. The remarkable young Adam von Trott, who possessed contacts with the major resistance groups as wel l as · with prominent diplomats , was to become an important figure in Kreisau 's inner circle and came to be the circle 's expert on foreign - affairs .

Another foreign policy specialist was Hans-Bernd von

Haeften , who , like Trott , had al so been an exchange student

36 aarald Deutsch , Verschworung gegen den Krieg. Der Widerstand in den Jahren. 19 39- .194\J , Munich, I9b9 1 p. 160-.- 37 Hans Roth fels , "Adam von- Trott und das State Depart­ ment ," Vierteljahrshefte fiir Zeitg:eschichte , v. 7 , July- , 1959 , p. 139. 23 in England and joined the Foreign Office in 19 33. Due to his membership in the Protestant and his repeated refus al to join the Nazi party , his· pos ition·remained precarious , and this· preven-ted him later from ever· journeying to Kreisau. However, his· conceptions of a new foreign policy , which were often presented formally to the circle by his friend Trott., were a considerable aid in the Kreisau dis cus- sions , and his projected reorganization of the Foreign Office 3 8 contributed to the overall concrete planning for X-Day .

Hans von Haeften was a man of devout religious conviction· and delicate physical constitution . His· courageous spiritual- and physical stru ggle under the intense unremitting-pressures brought about by his role in the planning and execution of

X-Day belongs to the central theme of the circle's develop- ment in the first six hectic months of 19 44 .

Hans Peters , another of Molt�e 's friends· with a career in- law and public life , was also integrated into the circle in 1941. Peters had known Moltke from the Loewenberger days of th e late 1920 's and the two had met off and on thereafter.

Then in· 19 41 both men found themselves in Berlin; Peters drafted as a staff officer into Go ring 's Luftwaffe and Moltke called as an advisor on international law to the. Supreme

Armed· Forces Command (OKW) . Within the Lu ftwaffe ministry

38 Ger van Roon, Neuordnun-g , p. 15 4. Also· interview· with· Frau Barbara von Haeften , Heidelberg, May 2 7- , 1970 . 2 4

Peters was- in contact with Harre Schulze-Boysen. and other members of the Communist "� Kapelle". group , but his contri-· bution- to the German resistance movement was to lie in his

Kreisau work with- Kulturpolitik and the shaping of a new Ger­ man society purged of Nazism. The introduction-· of Moltke to

Count Preysing , the Catholic Bishop of Berlin· , was also an important service of Peters ' , for with Mol tke·' s visit to

Bishop Preys ing in September , 1941, the third-major element in the complex composition of t.lle Kr�isau- Circle was intra-. 39 duced: the Christian· Churches .

Following close upon. the heels of Moltke 's September visit· to Bishop Preysing came a second important contact with· the . Father- Augustin Ro sch, the Father Pro- vincial of the Bavarian Jesui ts , had arrived· in Berlin for discussions with· the Army High Command in October, when· he was directed by a· friend to Moltke 's tiny apartment in the

Derfflingerstrasse . The Nazi campaign agains t· the Churches· was at its· height , and Ro sch- , who sough-t to protect his Church and clerical order, expressed interest in- Mo ltke 's ideas con­ cerning resis tance activity . In December, after being visited in Munich by Moltke , the Jesuit Father was again in-Berlin , where he joined Stel tzer , Yorck , and others in preparing for 40 th e f.1r s t o f th e 1 arge mee t'1ngs a t K re1s ' au .

39 40 rb id., pp . 114 and 274 . ±bid., pp .· 237-38. 2 5

At the same time Father Lothar Konig , . Ro sch 's·

inde fatigable young· secretary , was also brought into the

circle, becoming-a trusted courier between Father ROsch and

the circle 's active core in Ber lin . Konig continued to per­ 4 1 form in. th is· capacity until shortly before July 20 , 1944 .

Not· only Catholics were won for the Kreisau wo rk ; efforts to enlist support from the Protestant camp also proved successful . Harald Poelchau· , a. young Lutheran- theo- logian and chaplain in· Berlin 's· somber Tegel ,prison , was 42 brought to Mol tke by Hans von Haeften . Poelchau had stud-· ied with Paul Tillich in Marburg· and · Frankfurt and adhered to Tillich's concept of re ligious socialism . During his con­ siderable interest in theological and social matters , Poel­ chau re adily accepted an invitation . to work with the Kreis au 43 group cons idering questions of Kulturpoli tik . He was among those who took part in the first. large conference at Kreisau

in May of· 1942 when cultural policy and church-st�te re lations we re discussed.

As a result of the success of that first. Kreisau gath- ering , Moltke asked Father· Ro s ch to supply a representative

41 Ibid. , pp . 2 00-204 . 42 Interview with Dr. Harald Poelchau , Berlin , April 6, 1970 . 43 aarald Poelchau , Die Ordnung· de r Bedrangten , Hamburg­ Munich , 1963 , pp . 24-32. and91. 26

of his order who was· well-versed in sociological matters for

the next large· meeting. Father Al fred Delp , who had served·

as a consultant on social ques tions on the editorial staff of

th e Jesuit paper Stimmen· der �e it, was· his choi�e . Delp was

a very fortunate selection, for witnin a very short time he was to become one of the intellectual leaders of the Kre isau

Circle . By the end of July , 1941, Delp had met with Mieren­

dorff and other· socialist leaders , and after initi al misgiv-

ings and uneasiness on both sides , a mutual rapport of 44 friendship and respect was quickly es tablished·. His very

important contributions to the Kreisau work were to lie in

the ph ilosophical and social sphere , and Theodo r Steltzer

considered him one of the mos t revo lutionary members of the 45 c10 rc 1 e. De lp was to play a prominent role in th e two

remaining large conferences of the circle at Kreisau and in

numerous smaller meetings of the group 's inner core in Ber-

lin .

Finally , in late 1942 Eugen Gerste nmaier was· intro­

duced into the circle by Tro tt and Haeften . Gers tenmaier , who later became pres ident of th e West German parliament , was

a member of the Fore ign Affairs Office of the German Evangel­

ical Church · and served as the Berlin· representative · of Bishop

44 Ger van· Roon , Neuordnung , pp . 242-43 . 45 Theodor Steltzer , Sechzig Jahre Zeitgenosse , Munich , 19 66, p. 151. 27

Wurm , the Pro testant bishop of Wiirttembe.rg . When· the war

broke out , Gerstenmaier was asked by his church to care for

the spiritual needs of foreign·workers brought into the Reich .

Beginning in late 1942 , he took part in· the frequent dis cus ­

sions in Berlin· and at the final two large. gatherings· at

Kreisau . He was· considered a representative of the Protestant

viewpoint- in cultural - questions and also contributed to the 46 circle 's foreign policy conceptions . Gerstenmaier soon

became the circle 's most. outspoken activist, and his· activi-

ties in the confused and tension-filled period between Moltke 's

arrest.and July 20 , 1944 , are of.considerab le significance in

the history of.the Kreisau Circle .

These , then , were the men-who together made for the

remarkably complex character of the Kreisau· Circle . In light

of th is unique and somewhat paradoxical composition· , Hermann

Graml 's description of the circle as a "fascinating group of

highly· unorthodox Christian socialists , socialist Christians , 47 and Christian socialist aristocrats " seems quite apt. Fitz­

Gibbon , however , claims that the Kreisau Circle was "never in·

any way a political party or even a conspiracy ," but "a cross-

section of what· should-have been the German ruling class"

46 see im Dritten Re ich. Eine Dokumentation , ed . Fabian von Scfirabrendorff , Stuttgart , 196 5. 7 4 Hermann Graml , "Die Aussenpolitis chen Vorstellungen des deutschen-Widerstandes ," in Graml , Hans Momms en , Hans­ Joachim Re ichardt , and Ernst Wolf , Der deutsche Widerstand ge en Hitler : Vier historisch-kritiiChe Studien , Cologne , g -- 19 61 P • 45 • 2 8 wh ich set out amid· the nihilism of National Socialist Germany to. de vise "the fundamental principles on which· a moral and, cultural renaissance might. be founded ." Th us th eir thought, wh ile being politically oriented , was at th e same ti me ethi-· cal, philosophical, and theological . "Inde ed," FitzGibbon· concludes, "it would not be an exaggeration-to say th at th e

Kreisau Circle was as much a re ligious movement • • . as a 48 political one." Gerhard Ritter likewise characteri zes the

Kreisau activity as a "religious pro test against National 49 Socialism-and its brutal rule of force ." The Kre isauers in fact are called the "cons cientious ob jectors of the

Res istance " by John Wheeler-Benne tt . He praises them for

"the,, dis tinction· of their principles· and the high merit of th eir virtue," but he suggests th at they failed "to take 50 cogni zance of Christ militant ."

However , as Margare t Boveri wri te s, "it is cle ar th at for these men Politik represented on ly· a component of wh at· was to be done and they did not believe it possible to combat the evil of Nation al Socialism with only political me ans . 51 Th ere fo re, they did no t think primarily of. a Staatsstreich."

48 constantine FitzGibbon·, 2 0 July, pp . 103 and. 112 . 49 Gerhard Ritter, The German Resistance- , Carl Goerde­ ler 's Struggle against Tyranny, New York, 1958, p. 19 8 . 50 John Wheeler-Bennett, The Neme sis of Power, The Ger­

�-� in· Politics 19 18-194S,�w York, 1�7, p. 54� --- 51 Margre t Boveri, Ve rrat, p. 65. 29

Gerstenmaier explains the Kreisau position further:

Military matters were not their department. They were neither army commanders nor did they possess any other organized power. Their field was thought, their task , the drafting of a new· and just· order , their will , to overcome the ideology of the total state , their goal , to rebuild Germany in the spirit of Christianity and social jus tice and to integrate it into a united Europe . 5 2

For Kreisau, then· , the essential task was to prepare the

intellectual , spiri tual , and practical foundation for "die 53 Zeit danach ," the. time after the fall of the Nazi regime .

Thus·, Wheeler-Bennett correctly states that Mol tke , Yorck ,

and their friends felt it "more important to prepare for the

sequel than· to hasten the catas trophe ," and that to them "the

conflict was not· against a regime so much as· against· the per- version of the human spiri t and the dignity of- man." However,

this approach to .resistance activi ty , as we shall see , by no means prevented the circle from playing an active and . signifi­

cant part in the events· of the 20th of July . Furthermore , his conclusion · that the Kreisau program was "little mo re than· 4 an amalgarn. of Prussian Christian Socialisrn ,":5 is sadly super-

ficial. In a letter smuggled to his British friend Lionel

52 Eugen . Gerstenmaier , "Der Kreisauer Kreis ," in �· Juli 1944 , ed. Erich Zimmermann and Hans-Adolf. Jacobsen , Bonn , · �� pp . 33-34 . 53 Annedore Leber and Countess Freya von Moltke , Fur und Wider. Ents cheidungen in Deutsch land 1918 -19 45 , Berlin - -- -- I'9b2 , p. 99 . 54 John. Wheeler-Bennett, Nemesis , p. 546 . 30

Curtis in 1�42, Moltke presented his · conception · of Kreisau 's basic role within the German· resistance :

We can only expect to get our people to overthrow this· regime of terror and horror if-we are ab le to show a picture beyond the terrifying and hopeless inunediate future. A picture · which will make it worthwhile for the disillus ioned people to strive for , to work for , to start aga in and to believe in

• . . this is a question of religion and education ·, of ties to work and family , of the proper relation of responsibility and rights . S S

The Kreisau drafts of 1942 and 1943 pre sent in broad outline the synthesis of these factors and represent a re flection of a new order not only for Germany , but for Europe as a whole .

As Mo ther Mary Alice Gallin has pointed out in her study on the ethics of the German resistance , "there is nothing par- ticularly 'Prussian ' about such a program; rather it is uni-: 56 versa! and Christian in the best sense· of the· term."

5 5 He lmuth James von Mo ltke , Last Le tters , ed. Lionel Curtis, pp . 28- 29 . 56 Mary Alice Gallin , German Resistance to Hitler. Ethical and Religious Factors , Wash�ngton , D. c.-, 1961 , p. - 67 . CHAPTER II

THE PROGRAM : THE CIRCLE 'S PROGRAMMAT�C PHAS�

During the win-ter of 1941-42 Mo ltke, Yo rck, and . the ir friends undertook the systematic study of political, social, and cultural topics, from · wh i ch, it was hoped, a unified and coherent program for a future Ger.many could be mo lded . Un de r the sinister an d oppressive conditions . of National Socialist.

Germany, where the Ges tapo haunted the live s of every "Volks - genosse," the organi zation of such an enterprise was· subject to immense hardships and dangers and demanded the most rigid security precautions . In a letter smuggled to Lione l Curtis in 19 4 2 , Mol tke wrote :

Can you imagine wh at it . me an s to wo rk as a group when you cannot use the te lephone , when you are unable to post letters , when you· canno t tell the names of your. closest f�iends to your , other friends for fear th at· one of them might be Iaught and might divulge the names under pressure .

For this reason much of· the Kreisau work was done in small groups · which me t mo stly in· Berlin and Mun ich , each con- centrating on relevant questions within particular areas of social, economic, cultural , or foreign po licy . 2 As a rule -,

1 Helmuth- James von Mo ltke, Last Letters, ed . Lione l Curtis, p. 29 . 2 Margret. Boveri , De r Ve rrat , v. II, p. 64.

3 1 32 the work of these groups was so independent that. their participants knew only those who were directly involved- in their own small, group . Poelchau·, who worked with those con­ sidering cultural-political questions and who attended the first large conference at Kreis au, learned only much later 3 the true extent of the circle 's membership . In th is way the knowledge of Kreisau 's experts (Sachverstandiger) in technical fields such- as- economic and agricultural planning could be drawn upon. without necessarily bringing these men into the center of the circle . 4 Furthermore , as a necessary security procedure , only those persons who were particularly qualified to contribute to the discussion of a certain topic were informed of the meetings . Thus ·, at each of the meetings , whether large-or small, the participants varied according to 5 the topic under cons ideration . While the circle acquired its name from the three large conferences held at Kreisau 6 during 1942-43, the foundations for these gatherings had

3 Harald·Poelchau, Die . Letzten Stunden, p. 108·. 4 GUnter Schmolders , Personalistischer Sozialismus , pp . 12-13. 5 countess Freya von Mo ltke , "Helmuth James Graf von Mo ltke ," unpublished composition , 1948. 6 The appellation "Kreisau Circle " was never actually used by Moltke , Yorck , and their friends . In discussions the group was· referred to simply as "the friends " or "we." Interviews with Frau Barbara von Haeften , Heidelberg , May 27, 1970 , Frau Rosemarie- Reichwein , Berlin , July 15, 1970 , and 33 been painstakingly laid in the sm aller meetings,· primarily · in Be rlin, where the apartments of Moltke and . more ofte n 7 Yorck, served as the "real home " of the circle .

Only Mo ltke and Yo rck, who to gether served as the

"business managers " of the circle, knew the name s. of all those involved in the Kreisau work and had an overall view 8 of· the circle 's activities . However, the German-Ame rican historian · Peter Hoffmann, by stre ssing the independence of the individual Kreisau members, rightly ch allenges the gen­ erally accepted conception of the nature of Mo ltke 's leade r­ ship within the circle . All too often . the ideas and . atti tudes of th is truly extraordinary man· are accepted as tho se of the entire circle . Yet, Hoffmann goes too far wh en he· claims . I 9 that· the Kre isau Circle had "no re al leader ." Until his arrest in January 19 44, Helmuth. von Mo ltke was· the prominent .

Countess Yorck von Wartenburg, Berlin, Ap ri l 7 ,· 1970 . Accord­ ing to Roger Manvel! and �e inri ch Fraenke l, the te rm was· first coined by Ro land Freisler , the infamous Nazi judge of th e Volksgerichthof during the trials of the conspirators following the 20th of July , 1944. Roger Manvel! and Heinrich Fraenkel , The Men Who Tried to Kill Hitler , New York , 1966 , - --- p. 206 . -- 7 Eugen Gers tenmaier , "Helmuth von Mo ltke ," Re den und ' " Aufsatze, v. II , stuttgart, 196 2 , p. 23 4 . The circle s real home was found· in the Hortensienstras se 50 in Berlin-Li chter­ felde in the small house in wh ich Marion,· th e wife of Count Peter Yorck was always a friendly and he lpful hostess ." 8 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung, p. 2 51 .

9 Peter Ho ffmann , Widers tand, Staatss treich, Attentat . Der Kampf der Oppos ition gegen H1tler, Munich, 19 69, p. 247 . 34

personality of the Kreisau Circle , but he was , as Bodo 10 S cheurig indicates , 11 primus inter pares • 11 He neither

monopolized the drafting of the circle 's program , though much

of his thought is reflected in the Kreisau documents , nor did

he consider himself in a position to prescribe - the activities

of the other members . Thus , van· Roan.' s opinion · that Mol tke

"could be strict and allowed no 'Seitenspriinge '" and that·

"the others submi tted to this leadership" leaves a false

impression of the relationship which existed between the mem­ 11 bers of the circle . Mo ltke 's leadership was essentially

derived. from his ro le as an initiator, organizer, and an

energetic and skilled coordinator .

The numerous meetings· in Yorck 's small house in Berlin

were almost. always conducted late in the evening and usually

did not· adjourn until the early morning hours . Physical and

mental exhaus tion· from a full day's work in· their respective

offices and. the unremitting pressure concomitant with their

resistance activities often proved to be considerable ob sta-

cles to Moltke , Yorck , and their friends when they gathered

for discussion · of· the prearranged topic . While . Yorck 's· calm

re solve and Mierendorff 's gregarious warmth consistently

10 Bodo Scheurig, Deutscher Widerstand 19 3 8 -19 44, � Fortschritt oder Reaktion? , Munich , 1969 , p. ---- 11 Ger van Roan , Neuordnung, p . 287 ·. See Gerstenmaier , "Der Kreisauer Kreis ," VfZ , XV , 1967, p. 227, for a refuta­ tion of this view . 35 emerged as antidotes to the omnipresent tension , Moltke 's determination to accomplish the evening 's goals , to re ach definite conclus ions , and to record them· in written form pro- vided the necessary stimulus and direction for the discus- sions . When his friends would stray from the bus iness at hand , as Mierendorff in his affab le manner was- apt to do ,

Moltke would· soon begin to drum his long , slender fingers nervously on· the tab le before him, obvious ly impatient - with the digressions . As Countess Yorck later mused , it was as if Helmuth. Mo ltke somehow knew just how little time they all 12 had .

By la·te 1941 Moltke and Yorck had won representatives of both Christian confessions as wel·l as labor and socialist leaders for the circle , and it was· at this juncture , as

Steltzer explains, that the group 's work entered a new and more significant phase.

It was· no longer a matter of theoretical studies , but of concrete preparatory work for a· definite situation [the collapse of the Nazi regime] , . which can be characterized as political general-staff work . It was necessary to fix in- black and white a type of program , which could- be presented to the different Chris tian , conservative , labor , and socialist. groups not yet compromised by National Socialism. l 3

12 Interview with Countess Yorck von Wartenburg , Berlin , Ju ly 15 , 1970 . 13 Theodor Steltzer, Sech zig Jahre Zeitgenosse , p. 157 . 36

For this· purpose Count von Mo ltke and his friends met at

Kreisau on the weekend of Pentecost in Ma y of 1942. That initial meeting was· exploratory , and whether more conferences on the same scale would be held depended on its results . It� · success encouraged the group to schedule a second conference in the following October, and finally a th ird again at- Pente ­ cost in 1943. During these three . meetings at the Mo ltke estate the Kreisau program- was· formally drafted .

The heterogeneous nature of the circle precluded a dogmatic or doct�inaire approach to the discuss ions, and the program was , therefore , the result of compromise and mutual . agreement . There were no votes and. no majority decisions , 14 only vo luntary agreements among . the individual members .

As Eugen Gerstenma ier recalls , "wha t resulted was not per­ .. lS fect, [but] it did , however , create a broad bas is for all .

This manner of decision-making is reflective of the- highly flexible nature of the circle and has prompted the Dutch his torian· Ger van Roon to describe the group as an tlberkreis . Not only did this loose circle of men represent diverse and influential elements within German· society , but al so possessed contacts with a wide range of groups within· the German· resis­ tance . The Kreisauers were , indeed , independent personalities ,

14 Theodor Steltz er , Von Deutscher· Poli tik, p·. 7 8 . 15 Eugen Gerstenmaier , "Der Kr eisauer Kreis ," VfZ , p. 227. 37 but their common· spiri tual and intel lectual center , neverthe­ 6 less , remained the Kreisau Circle . 1

As representatives of al l the circle 's various com- ponents assembled for the first time at Kreisau in May of

1942, the programmatic phase of the circle 's work yielded its first tangible results . The principle topic· was to be Kultur­ po litik, a topic well prepared by previous discussions of both an· organiz ational and thematic nature dating back to 17 late 1941. Th e conference at . Kreisau was held in the secur- ity of the Bergh aus , where the central theme of cultural pol-, icy was broken down into discuss ions dealing primarily with the relationship between church · and state and educati onal reform . The Protestant Steltzer and the Catholic Father

Rosch discussed church-state relations . Hans Peters , drawing upon· his experience in international law , reviewed· the ques- tion of the existing concordat between the Reich and the

Papacy . Mol tke then brought up the po ssibilities for educa- tional reform of the German· high school system , and a paper 18 by Reichwein on pedagogical questions was considered . After deliberating on these reports , Steltzer and Rosch were asked

16 G6nther Weisenborn , Der lautlose Aufstand. Bericht tiber die Widerstandsbewegung de s de utschen Vo1kes 1933-1945 , Hamburg , 1960 , p. 96 . 17 Ger van Roan , Neuordnung , p. 252 . 18 Theodor Steltzer , Von Deutscher Politik, p. 74 . 38 to draft a s ummary of the discus sion results which would emphas ize the points of agreement. The draft was discussed and revised by their colleagues , and a new copy was typed up by Countess Mo ltke , who , at the close. of the weekend, con- cealed it carefully in· the attic of the Schloss. Thus a pro­ cedure was established which - was followed at all subsequent 19 meetings at Kreisau.

In the following weeks and mon.ths numerous smaller but important meetings · took place which relayed the results of the conference at Kreisau to the different groups represented within the circle . In June , Mo ltke learned from Fathers

Ro sch and Konig that the influential Archbishop of Munich

Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber, had been informed of the meeting and had approved- of its results . In Berlin· Bishop

Preys ing was also being drawn closer to the circle . Coopera­ tion from the Protestant Church- was· also confirmed in June , when Bishop Theophil Wurm , considered by many to be the head of the resistance forces within the German Evangelical 20 Church , visited Mol tke in Berlin . These contacts with · the bishops , whose support was· considered essential for . a- meaning-_ ful continuation of the Kreisau work , were progressively

19 . I n t erv1ew · w1"th C oun tess von Mo ltke, B a d G o d es b erg, January 16, 1970. 20 This is particularly the case after the arrest of Martin Niemoller . See Karl Schumacher, Theophil Wurm in· den Krisen und Ents c heidungen seiner Zeit, Bad Cannstatt , � 5� also Ger van Roan , Neuordnung , p.�. 39 intensi fied so th at by mid-19 4 2 influential persons within both Ch ristian confess ions were familiar and favorably 21 impressed with the basi c outline of the circle 's program .

Also during the summer of 19 42 Mierendorff introduced

Mo ltke to , the former Deputy Chairman of the General German· Alliance . Leus chner, who had as sembled many of his union and socialist friends around· his· small factory in. Berlin, . had used the pre text of "bus iness trips " to establish a net of res istance cells throughout·

Germany . He also served- as an important link between the labor movement and the mi li tary conspirators around· General 22 Beck . Mol tke and Leus chner agreed that· the latter sh ould. have a representative at Kreisau, and, in July, Hermann . Maass , a close. associate of Leuschner and a former leader of the

2 3 2 4 socialist youth organi zations, assumed this task .

2 1 Ge r van Roan ., Neuordnung, pp . 2 40-2 4 2 . Van Roan. claims that "both churches had been won for the Kreisau pro­ gram . " Dr . van Husen, however, feels that this is so mewhat of an exaggeration . Interview with Dr . Paulus van - Husen, Munster, April 16 , 1970 . The Kreisauers could, indeed, count on support from bishops of both denominations, but it should be remembered that Bishops Wurm and Preysing, for example, were also in close contact wi th · Carl Goe rde ler, Hans Ro th.fels, The Ge rman Opposition to aitler, p. 8 5 . 22 Joach im Leithauser, Wilhelm Leuschner. Ein· Leben fUr die Republik , Cologne, 1962, pp . Iao-181 . 2 3 Annedore Leb er, Das Gewissen enscheidet, Frankfurt,

• 19 6 1 1 PP • 6 4-6 6 2 4 Ger van Roan, Neuordnung, p. 231. 40

Throughout the summer. months preparatory talks were conducted fo r a second con ference at Kre isau. In Augus t these prelimi­ nary di scussions were climaxed by a meeting at- which Leus ch - . ner, Mi erendorff, and Maas s agreed with Fathe rs Ro sch, Delp, and Konig th at the wo rk begun at Kreisau - in May could be endorsed by the groups they represented . Having completed the final organi zational details during September, Co unt and

Countess von Mol tke once again received weekend vi sitors at 25 K re J.s . au .

At th is- second meeting at Kreisau . the struc ture of the state and the economy were the central themes, with- Stel tzer ,

Gerstenmaier, Delp, Einsiedel, Re ichwein, Maass , Yorck, and

Mo ltke taking part . Consti tutional considerations conce rning a federalis tic structure of th e state, discus sed by Mo ltke and Steltzer , dominated the tw o-day meeting . Economic dis­ cussions, le d · by Einsiedel, produced only a short introduc­ tory statement to the Kreisau conception- of a new economic 26 order .

The third meeting at Kreisau began on · June 12, 19 43 , and ended two days later , once again coinciding with the

Pentecos t holiday . At thi s final mee-ting at Kreisau the economic aspects of the circle 's program were . reconsidered as we ll as ques tions regarding foreign po licy and the

2 5 26 - Ibid. I p . 2 5 3 • rbJ." d. I PP · 253 5 4 · 41 . 27 pun�s. h men 't o f war cr�. m�na 1 s. The basis for the economic de liberations had· been laid primarily by Einsiedel and Trotha , . . though GUnter Schmolders had also contributed an economic 28 paper at the reques� of Mo ltke and Yorck .

The three conferences at the Moltke estate were con- ducted in a mo re. relaxed. atmosphere than the clandestine meetings· in Berlin . A reserved holiday mood- pervaded the discuss ions , for pleasant walks in the Silesian countryside ! and convivial conversation were interspersed among. the lengthy debates in the Berghaus . A relationship of mutual trust existed between the Moltkes and the servants who occas ionally entered the Berghaus , and a. re freshing· sense of security and openness was· therefore enjoyed by the 29 guests .

From these conferences in Silesia and subsequent smalle� meetings · in Berlin during the summer of 19 43 ten documents remain , which together comprise th e Kreisau pro- gram . A thorough and penetrating examination -of the circle 's 30 programmatic efforts deserve an entirely independent study . I

27 rbid. , pp . 254-55. 2 8 Glinter Schmo lders , Personalistischer Sozialismus , p. 6 9. 29 rnterview with Countess von Mo ltke , Bad Godesberg , January 16 -, 1970 . 30 The best comparative study of the programs of the various resistance groups is to be found In Graml , Mommsen , Reichhart , and Wolf , Der deutsche Widerstand gegen Hitler , 42

Still, within the bounds of a . pres entation of· the ogpr ram in outline form , certain interpretive comments are appropriate.

The program may·, in general terms , be broken· into three primary categories : Kulturpolitik, with emphasis on church­ state relations and educational reform (discussed at the initial. conference at . Kreisau) ; the state , its structure and pos ition within· the European community of nations (considered at the second Kreisau meeting) ; and the reshaping of the economic· system (the subject of the final large conference) .

In the realm of· Kulturpolitik the Kreisau statement of

Basic Principles emphasizes "the freedom of· conscience , the dignity of the individual , protection of family life and an 31 organic developmen.t of corranunal life. " The public practice of the Christian religion was to be guaranteed , and the organizations of the Churches were to be res tored , as were religious publications and . films. Autonomy and self�adminis­ tration · were to be assured to the German Evangelical and Roman 32 Catholic. churches . As for the re lationship between church

Cologne, 1 966. Also see Bodo Scheurig, Deuts ch er Wid ers tand 1938-1944, Munich , 1969, as well as Hans Peters , Verfassungs ­ una-verwil tungs reformbestregungen innerhalb der Widerstands ­ EeWegun

and state , the "Basic Principles for the New Order , " dated

August 9, 1943, declared : "The Government of the Re ich-we l-

comes the determined cooperation of the two great Churches· . 33 in the wo rk of· shaping public life." Wi th· this· statement ,

as van Roon correctly asserts , the des ire of the Kreisau Cir-

cle for th e Christian permeation of the foundations of public 3 4 life is clearly expressed. Indeed , the "Declaration of

Basic Principles ," . a product· of the. first me eting at Kreisau ,

commences with the proclamation :

We see in Christi anity the mo st valuable force for the re ligious and mora l renewal· of the people , for the overcoming of hatred and falsehood., for the rebui lding of the Wester world , for the peaceful 3 � .. coexistence of nations .

In a later draft this idea is elaborated :

The point of departure is man· ' s obligation to recognize the Divine Order wh ich supports both . his· inner being and outward exis tence . Only when th is· Divine Order has· been made the standard of re lations between individuals and between states can the di s­ order of. the age be overcome and a genuine condition of peace brought about . The internal reorientation of the Re ich is the bas for the achievement of a. just and lasting peace . ��

The specific legal re lationship between the Re ich and. the two

major confessions "!aS· to be settled "on a friendly unders tand­

ing· with the two Churches ." In the me antime , the future-

33 . . "Grunds atze. f" ur" die Neuordnung ," August 9, 19 43 , in van Roon , Neuordnung , p . 565 ·. 3 4 35 Ibid. , p. 354 . Ibid. , p. 561. 3 6 Ibid. , p. 561 . 44

Regional Commissioners (governors ) were to establish prompt relations with the representatives of the Churches . Evangel­ ical and Catholic primates were to be appointed to negotiate with the national Government through. the Reich Chancellor, while the remaining administrative matters in the are a of church-state relations were to be handled by the Minister of 37 the Interior.

At the firs t Kreisau conference Poelchau· and Reichwein suggested the establishment of a "German Christendom " to which all Chris tians might belong regardless of denomination . . , This proposal was· mo tivated by the desire to insure the co l­ laboration of the two Churche,s· on all administrative leve ls I thereby securing a truly ecumenical approach to the recon- struction · of German society . Its goal, however, was not a theological merger of the two , for within the circle there reigned a unanimous loathing of the "positive . Christianity " 38 espoused and artificially nourished by the Nazis . The pro- posal , though· not formally re jected , was not incorporated into the circle 's program .

The Kreisau conception of church-state re lations was , then , less liberal than that of the. weimar Republic with its

37 "Grundsatzliche Erklarungen ," in van Roan , Neuordnung , p. 544 . 38 Interview with Dr. Harald Poelchau ·, Berlin , Ap ril 6, 1970 . 45 insistence on separation of the two spheres . Although , as 39 Gerhard Ritter no tes , 11 the term 'Church-State ' is avoided, .. the Kreisau Circle sought a fundamental relationship of coop-, eration · between the spiritual and temporal institutions of society , which corre sponded to the cooperative ideal of

Catholic social teaching as well as Lutheran- conceptions .

The socialists within the circle were ab le to support this arrangement because , as Husen explains , 11it was ab solutely clear between us that our plan had nothing to do. with 'cleri­ calism. ' In concordance with . the churches· the participation of clergymen· in the political life was· thought of as undesir­ 40 able and to be avoided. n

However , the Kreisau emphasis on the importance of a revived and reinvigorated Christianity in a post-National

Socialist· Gerrnany was not unique within the Ge rman resistance movement . Indeed , the Christian Churches occupied a signifi- cant position in· the plans of nearly all the ma jor resistance 4 1 groups . Yet as Hans Peters indicates , in no other group did Christianity (11das Christliche11 ) represent a 11 fundamen.tal 42 bui lding block (Wesensbaustein) of a new society ... For

39 Gerhard Ri tter, The German Resistance . Carl Goerde­ ler 's Struggle Against Tyranny , p. 203 . 40paulus van Husen , 11 Report on my participation in the enterprise of the 20 . July 19 44,11 unpublished composition , 1945 . 4 1Mary Alice Gallin , German Re sistance to Hitler , pp . 1-79. 42Hans Peters , Verfas sungs-und Ve rwaltungsreformbe­ strebun,en innerhalb der WiderstandSDewegung �e�en Hi tler , PP · 2o- r. 46 while practical administrative cons iderations demanded by

the organizational planning fo r X-Day compelled the circle

to turn logically to the established churches as the basic organi z ations of the Christian faith, it was the Christian · ethic , the elemental mo ral force of Ch ristianity , rather

than· its fo rmal , organi zational mani festations th at inspired 43 the hope of the Kreisauers .

The Kreis au drafts , the re fore., stressed the public· school as a Chris ti an school , in wh ich religious instruction according to the denominations was to be a compulsory sub-

ject. The un iversities · were to be classified as higher schoo ls (Hochschulen) or Re ich un iversities , the higher schoo ls catering to advanced te chnical training whi le th e·

Rei ch . univers ities were to be centers for research · and study of a universal nature . The educational task of the univer- sity was the scholarly training of those who would perform in

4 3 Re flecting on . the circle ' s conception of Christianity as. well as Socialism , Counte ss von Moltke believes th at th e almost th ree . decades that have elapsed since those ' me etings at Kreisau have allowed her to re cogni ze th at her husband and his · friends we re groping for something beyond established Christiani ty and Socialism . They believed , although they did not (perhaps at that point could not articulate it) that regardless of the fate of organi zed Christianity and formal­ ized Socialism , these two forces would always remain vital currents · in man· ' s moral and intellectual being . There fo re , the edifice of a new Germany could not rest on solid founda­ tions without these two cornerstone s of human morality . Interview with Countess von Mo ltke , Bad Go de sberg , January 16 , 19 70 . 47 public service , and the imbuing of the necess ary trai ts of 44 leadership and the "highest sense of respons ibility."

Ultimately, education , administered by the school, in cooperation with family and church , was charged with aw aken­ ing and strengthening the moral powers of the individual.

It was to shape :

••• a decent human being who, on a religious basis , is capab le of making rules of conduct. consist of honesty and justice , truth and uprightness , love of his neighbor and loyalty towards his own conscience . A man· so brought up will possess the maturity needed to make decisions in the consciousness of responsi­ bility·. 4 5

For the Kreisauers this awakening of a "cons ciousness of responsibility" was the crucial function of education · and is the Leitmotiv of the entire Kreisau program .

This intense concern for the fate of the individual human· being in an age of ever-increasing atomi zation and impersonal collectivization was the basic point of departure for the Kreisau drafts , and it is from this vantage point that the circle 's proposal� tor the reconstruction of the. state · mus t be examined. Within· the circle , as , indeed, in 46 near1 y a 11 res1I s t ance groups , th e e ff ec t s o f mo d ern

44 "Grundsatzliche Erklarungen ," in van Roon , Neuord":"' nung , pp . 543-544. 45 • �. 1 P 543. 46 , "Gesellschaftsbild und Verfassungsplane des deutschen· Widerstandes ," in Der deuts che Widers tand gegen Hitler , pp . 82-8 3. 48

indus trial society were roundly condemned . Mode rn indus trial

society , the Kreisauers were convinced , had eroded the moral

foundations of Wes tern man by unde rmining the fundamental

beliefs upon wh ich a stab le and just order had to be estab-

lished . It was thus considered to be the ignominious creator

of the alienated and insecure "mass-roan , " upon whose frustra-

tions and fears had laid the foundations of the

Th ird Re i ch . This mass -roan felt himself , according to

Steltzer , to be the vi ctim of forces beyond his control .

"He sees himself in the service of a powe r wh ich he can neither es cape nor trust ." Uproo te d from the traditional

life style of his ances to rs , his fundamental beliefs pro-

foundly shaken· or lost in the chaos of secularized , indus-

trial society , mode rn man· is le ft without the inne r substance

to re sist or combat these deve lopments and consequently

II ..see ks security (Geborgenheit) in th e crowd ." Mas sifi­

cation · is , there fore , the product of a spiri tual and psycho- 47 logical identi ty crisis in mo dern society."

Twentieth cen tury mass -roan , Father Delp lamented , had·

grown incapable of independent de cis ions and had come to view himself merely as "� vegetativum et sensitivum , .. .

47 Theodor Steltzer, Von De utscher Politik , pp . 61-62 . See al so Hannah· Arendt , The--origins of To talitari anism, New York , 19 58, p. 446 . "Notlllng perhapsdistinguished modern mas ses as radically from those of previous centuries as the loss of faith in a Last Judgment; the wors t have lost th eir fear and the bes t have lost the ir hope ." 49

Contemporary man· is to a considerable degree not only godless • • • he has · fallen into a way· of life

in which he is incapable of accepting •••• Wherein exists this incapacity for God? It exis ts in the withering of certain human· organs which no longer perform their normal functions . But also in the structure and form of human life which demands too much of the individual and prevents 48 him from being himself ••••

The dilermna of social "massification" was. viewed by

Mo ltke and Yorck as a consequence of the.. dissolution . of the concept of universalism following the Middle Ages and the

steady advance of the modern nation-s tate , which , they believed , had· reached its logical terminus in Hitler 's

totalitarian- Germany . Gradually all loyalties and relation­ ships outside the state had been curtailed and all energies employed· in the service of the state , reducing the individual

to an anonymous bure�ucratic functionary . Not on ly had the emotional bond that once existed between the citizen and his

state become perverted , the relationship between the individ- ual and his neighbor had become warped. The state and its

social structure had grown too complex , too impersonal , and

the individual had , therefore , become progressively alienated

from his· society . He no longer understood his state or his place within- it, and could not feel himself responsib le for

its actions . With - the loss of his individuality mas s -roan had 49 forfeited his· sense of responsibility.

48 Alfred Delp , Im Angesicht des Todes , ed . Paul

Bolkovac , Frankfurt, 1965 , p. 131 . --- 49 Hans Mommsen , "Gesells chaftsbild und- Verfassungs- plane ," pp . 85-86. so

The circle , however·, re jected a return to traditional liberal individualism, which Steltzer felt "denied every metaphysical element and sought to construct human society on purely pragmatic grounds . .. so Although. the individual was., indeed , the focal po int· of the Kreisau drafts , it is an indi­ vidual tempered by an awareness of responsibility for the whole of his society . This· is evident in Delp 's statement:

Man always appears chiefly as an individual but never as a solitary traveler (Einzelganger) . The full realization- of his being requires companionship , partnership , and a conscious existence within· the natural groups . These groups (family, occupational and social organizations , Vo lk , and state ) sus tain , consolidate , and influence� life of the individ­ ual . He is always mo re than · himself . The practice of freedom occurs within the reality and order of these groups and draws from. them an expansion as· well as a limitation of its possibilities � S l

A social and political structure of an organic nature is implied in Delp 's "natural groups " as it is in Moltke 's concept of small near-autonomous groups , which were intended to represent the foundations of a revo lutionary governmental structure . To overcome mass existence Mo ltke believed. that the modern state in its · "mechanistic, hypertechnical form" would· have to be eliminated. In its place a federal sys tem of highly decentralized groups was to be formed . The

50 Theodor Steltzer , Von Deutscher Politik , p. 29 . 51 Alfred Delp , Der Mensch und. die Geschichte , Kalmar , 194 3 , p. 35. 5 1 isolated individual could then· be reintegrated into these small managab le groups , where "man as an individual would be taken serious ly " and "where there can be a reawakening of a sense of re sponsibility an d whe re true fe llowship can 52 flourish ." As van Ro on indicates , these groups were not to be special interest groups but rather local organizati ons sharing common. general interests such - as a vo lunteer fire · de par tment, neighborhood sanitation , neighborhood kindergar- ten , pres ervation of local resources , and cultural an d edu- cational ente rprises . Mo ltke 's goal was a "social structure with largest possible number of the smallest possible groups 53. (Gemeins chaften ) ." In this· manner Mo ltke and Kre isau

Circle sought to shape a synthesis whi ch was beyond indi- vidualism or col lectivity and which began with developing the truly - socially integrated person ( "gemeins chaftsgeb undene 5 4 Person") • Thus , as Ro thfels poin ts out , "political respon- sibility was firs t to be developed in small circles , that is , by re sponsible participation in· recogni zable neighborly un its

52 Hans Mommsen , "Gesellschaftsbild und Ve rfas sungs - plane ,'.' p. 86 . 5 3 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung , p. 403. 5 4 Hans Momms en , "Gesellschaftsbild und Ve rfas sungs­ plane , " p. 8 6 • 52

and within the framework of· the tasks with which the man in 55 the s t ree t was f am1'1' 1a r .

The men of Kreisau conceived of their task as the

creation of a system in whi ch , as FitzGibbon states , "power

should exist in. human , not numerical form , or to put it in

other terms , [in which ] the people- could be enabled to admin-

ister their own · affairs and therefore accept that element of

responsibility without which no man can be a truly useful and 56 satisfied member of his society." To accomplish this , in

Ri tter's words , "the loosening of the fabric. of state is car­ 57 ried very far . " The underlying principle of the reorgani-·

zation· of the Reich was an almost radical decentralization ·

and federalism . The Rei ch , while remaining the supreme

authority of the German· nation , wou·ld be divided into nineteen

states (Lander) , which displayed little reverence for tradi-

tional Land boundaries . To prevent the as cendancy of any one

state , each Land was to have three to five mi llion inhabitants , 58 thereby dismembering both and . Fritz von der

Schulenburg , whose re lationship with the circle will be de alt· with - in the next chapter, contributed significantly to the

55 Hans Ro thfels , The German Opposition · to Hitler, p. 117 ·. 56 constantine FitzGibbon , � July , p. 119 . 57 Gerhard Ritter, The German Resistance . Carl Goer- de ler 's Struggle against �anny , p. 201 . 58 Ger van Roan , Neuordnung , p. 396 . 5 3 circle 's work in the area of territorial reorgani zation ·. He is said to have followed the principle of "as much un iform leadership at the top as nece ssary , as much freedom and self­

5 9 responsibility of· the members as possib le ."

The Kreisauers hoped to .avoid the es tab l ishment of large politi cal parties , wh ich they felt had been too large , too bureaucrati c, and politically irresponsib le . "We were ,"

Gers temaier relate s , "burned ch ildren , so to speak , of the

We imar party cons tellation · and didn .' t wish to re turn to that 6 0 situation ." "The parties of the We imar state," Countess von Moltke late r wro te , "had led the repub lic ad adsurdum; the inability of· the Ge rmans to work constructively within the party sys tem led them through· a one party dictatorship 61 in to the abyss . " Th us , to avoid the party sys tem , . wh i ch . they were convinced had led to mas s di ctato rship , and to foster political involvement on a grass-roots level , only lo cal and county repre sentatives were to be elected directly .

Each citizen ove r the age of twenty-one was eligib le to vote , but the heads of fami lies were to be given an· extra vote for

5 9 Albert Krebs , Fri tz-Dietlof Graf � de r Schulenburg . Zwischen· Staatsraison · und H ochverrat , llaiiiburg , -,:-g-6 4 , p. 227 . 6 0 Eugen Gers tenmaier, "Der Kr eisauer Kre is ," VfZ , p. 2 4 0 . 6 1 countess Freya von· Moltke , "Der Au fbau· De uts chlands . aus dem Gedankengut de s 'Kre is auer Kreises ,'" unpublished composition . 54

each child below voting age . Eligibility for election · was

res trict�d to a minimum· age of twenty-seven , wh ile civil.

servants and members of the armed forces were eliminated

from· candidacy . Municipal and county councils , elected directly , would then elect the state (Land) assemblies or

Landtage , and these in turn would elect the national parlia­ ment or Re ichstag . One half of tho se elected were to come

from outside the electing bodies . The Landtag would then elect a governor or Landesverweser, and the Re ichstag a pres ident, or Re ichsverweser , for a . term of tw elve years .

Th e Reich Chancellor was to be appointed by the Reichsverweser with · the approval . of the Re ichstag, which could also remove him· from office wi th a qualified· majority , provided a succes -

sor was simultaneous ly sugges ted. A Re ich Council, consis t- ing of the governors , the Reichstag President , the Re ichs ­ ve rweser, and other membe rs appointed by him, was to serve as

an upper house . It was to serve primarily as an advisory body , al though it was also to have a disciplinary jurisdic- 6 2 tion. over the national and state governmen ts .

The forma tion of this federalized Reich and the revival of Christian principles were in themselves insufficient to

re s tore man's individual ity and sense of responsibility .

De lp clearly re cognized this .

6 2 "Grundsatliche Erklarungen ," in van Roon , Neuordnung , pp . 545-547. 55

I can preach as much as I wan-t and de al adeptly or incompe tently with people as long as I want; as long as human beings mus t live in shabby, subhuman· conditions , most will succwnb to these conditions and neither pray nor think . A fundamental change of the living conditions is needed . The twe ntieth century revol ution acquires at last it s theme and the possibility of creatin new and lasting oppor­ tunities for human beings . � 3

It was , there fore , considered essential that man- be given a greater interest, both financially and spiri tually , in his wo rk and that industry become an act of cooperation- between owne rs and employees . To accomplish · thi s·, the - government of the Reich was to promote the development of each indus trial concern into an economic community . In such· communities , re ferred to as factory unions (Be triebgewerkschaften ) , th e owner and the repre sentatives of the employees would agree on a system according to which all employees would share in 64 the control and profits of the concern . This arrangement , it was hoped , would once again aw aken· in· the working man- that· pride and interest in his work which modern "massification!' and impersonali zation indus try had so greatly diminished .

Furthermore, steps were to be taken-by the "economic leader­ 65 ship" to in sure a standard of living in keeping with human

63 Alfred De lp , Im Angesicht de s Todes , pp . 132-133.

o 6 4 I •• II o 'Grunds atzl1ch e Erkl ar'' ungen , 1n van Roon , Neuord - nung-, p. 54 8-549 . 65 . .. Grunds atze.. fur. d'1e Neuordn ung·, " 1n . van Roon , N eu- . ordnung , p. 566. The indus trial leadership consisted orthe state, the German Trade Union , the factory . unions , and the individual . 5 6 needs an d dignity , for , as Trott stated , the whole of the

Kreisau endeavor was an "attempt to preserve the core of

personal , hwnan integrity . ,. GG Although a "German· Trade

Union " was· foreseen , the mass ive , bureaucrati c unions of the

We imar period were hopefully to be avoided. There fore , the

"German Trade Union" was viewed as a temporary expedient in

· the transitional phase and was eventually to turn over its

responsibilities to the autonomous industrial communities

and the state . 6 7

As ide from· the formation· of the decentralized and

self-responsib le factory unions , certain key industries such

as the mi ning , iron , s teel , fuel , power, and basic chemical

concerns were to be nationalized. Further nationaliz ation

projects , however , seem to have been discouraged by the cir- · 68 cle 's economic experts ·. Thus , the economic system.

66Hans Ro thfels , ed. , "Zwei aussenpolitische Memo ran­ den der deutschen Opposition, " VfZ , 5 , 1957, p. 394. 67 Ha�s Mommsen , "Gesellschaftsbild und verfassungs­ plane ," pp . 148- 149 . With the exception of Mierendorff, the fac tory unions had been re jected by the socialists , espe cial­ ly Haubach , Hermann Maass , and Wilhelm Leus chner. Mo ltke and Yorck , on the other hand , frowned on the establishment of large trade unions of the Weimar scale . The creation· of the German Trade Union , whi ch was· to exist only tempoJ;arily , was , there fore , a compromi se . 68 Gtinter Schmolders , Personalistischer Sozialismus , pp . 51-5 6 . Schmolders contents that the natio nalization of these basic industries was a matter of grave doubt and should not· be considered a de finite tenet of the Kreisau economic policy . This· assertion seems , however , high ly unlikely since of these indus tries is included in every for­ mal Kreis au documen·t concerning the. future economy . . ... 57 envisaged by the Kreisau Circle may be surnrnarized . as a mixed sys tem of "competition. carried out within the framework of an. industrial direction by the state , and insofar as competi­ 6 9 tive methods go , under constant supervision - of the state ."

This is , in very abbreviated form, the basic outline · of the

Kreisau conception . of the new. domestic order for Germany .

But a discuss ion of these pr inciples for Germany 's reorgani- zation· would- be only partially complete without consideration ' of Kreisau 's plans for the development of a genuine European community after the war .

Moltke and Yorck , as earli-er noted , saw in- the idolatry of· the modern nation state not· only a constant threat to wo rld peace , but also the chief factor in the alienation · of man from his society . Therefore , just as the circle sough t to loosen the contro l of man by the state through a. system of. far-reach- ing domestic federalism , it also conceived of a sort of inter- national fede ration of federations wh ich wo uld allow the deve lopment of. the rule of law and peace in Europe . Adam von­

Trott zu Solz , who might be called the foreign · minister of · the circle , wrote in this regard: "for us nationalism is· an illusion for the ma sses , a tragic and frightful force which 7 0 mus t someday be· transformed into internationalism. "

69 "Grundsatzliche Erklarungen ," in van Roon , Neuord­ nung, pp . 547-548. 70 Hermann Graml , "Die aussenpolitischen Vo rs tellungen de s deutschen Widerstandes ," in De r de utsche Wide rstand gegen Hitler , p. 45 . 5 8

Throughout the Kreisau compositions , as Hermann Graml notes ,

"the central Le itidee is the rationaliz ation of European foreign po licy , the transformation - of Europe from a continent

of Machts taa ten . • • • into a continent with a pluralistic society of states , wh ich wo uld be in a po sition to settle its 71 conflicts in a rational spirit. " Th is· aspect of Kreisau thought has often been characteri zed as sheer utopiani sm .

Indeed , Mo ltke believed th at �' the end of the war offers a ch ance for a favorable reordering of the world , wh ich mankind 72 has not wi tnessed since the fall of the Me dieval Church ."

Yet , perhaps the mo st eloquent express ion of th e Kreisau position on· postwar Europe lies in Mo ltke 's wo rds to Lionel

Curtis :

For us Europe after the war is less a problem of frontiers and soldiers , of top-heavy organiz ations or grand plans , but Europe after the war. is a . ques­ tion · of how the picture - of man· can be ;�tab lished· in the breas ts of our fellow citizens .

The Kreisau program has been lauded for its idealism, its concern for the indiv.idua l, and its inte.rnationalisrn , and ye t condemned for its antiliberal , conservative ch aracteris­ tics . It has been accused of representing me rely an extens ion ·

7 1 Ibid·., p. 46 . 72 Ger van Roon , Neuordnun , p. 456 . Compare Steltzer 's statement: "We were convinced �at in our epic something old "li aS· sinking and something new· emerging ." Theodor Stel tzer , Sechzig Jahre Zeitgenosse , p. 160 . 73 Helmuth James von Mo ltke , Last Letters , ed . Lionel Curtis, p. 28 . 59 of the an tidemocratic thought of the so-called "Conservative 7 4 Revolution" of the Weimar period , and its plans for an organic reorganization of the state have been labeled "author-

. . ,, 75 1.t ar 1.an . Th e men of Kreisau were , indeed, dis trus tful of mo de rn mass democracy , which in· Germany had not· only· failed dismally but had ended with the triumph of the Nazis . Gers­ tenmaier admits · that· the fiasco of those last chaotic years of the Weimar Republic had cre ated a vivid impression on the circle 's thinking , and there was little inclination· to return 76 to the risks and insecurities - of We imar parliamentarianism.

It should, however , be remembered that these men. were not ideologues and we re by no means ideologica lly opposed to the practice of demo cracy . Mierendorff , Haub ach , and Leber had·, in fact, dis tingui shed themse-lves in the struggle to preserve the Weimar parliamentary government . But as the Kreisauers reviewed the failure · of Ge rmany 's. initial experiment with -

Wes te rn democracy , the essential sense of pe rsonal po litical responsibility in public affairs , which had been accumulated through generations of democrati c government in- Engl and and·

74 see · George Romoser , "The Politics of Uncertainty : The German Re sistance - Movement ," Social Research , XXXI , 1964 ; and Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in- Jerusalem . E in Bericht von· der Banalitat des Bosen , Mun iCh , 1964 . 75 see Hans Momms en , "Gesellschaftsbild und Ve rfas sungs­ plane ."

7 6 Eugen Ge rstenmaier , "Der Kreisauer Kreis ," VfZ , 196 7, p. 239 . 60

France , seemed· ob viously lacking in. their fellow countrymen .

Political pragmatism ·, rather than an ideological dis taste for parliamentary democracy , seemed to dictate the Kreisau efforts to impa-rt this sense of responsibility so vi tal to democratic government . This public sense , they felt , _ could. be developed most effectively th-rougll the participation· of the individual in· the self-administra-tion. of small, managab le groups (Selbstverwaltung der kleinen· und Ubers ch aubaren

Gemeins chaften) within· an. organic governmental structure-. 77

George· Romoser has critici zed the Ge rman· resistance , including·, of course , the Kreis au Circle , · for its underes ti- mation· of . "the possibility· of achieving th e political com- . 8 muni ty through party-parli amentary methods ," 7 and one may legitimately question the indirect elections and organic· nature of· the Kreisau·program . However , by 1943, when the final Kreisau . draft was completed, Germany had been- subjected. to ten years of the most extensive , concentrated , and appar­ ently effective propaganda that modern technology could mus -· ter . For ten years the Nazi Party had dominated public · life ,

and responsibility for civil affairs had been removed from the man on the stre et . He had , in fact, been depoliticized

77 Countess von Mo ltke , "Der Aufb au Deutschlands · aus dem Gedankengut des 'Kreisauer Kreises ,'" unpublished compo­ sition . 8 7 George Romoser , "The Politics of Uncertainty ," Social Research , p. 92. 61

79 (entpolitisiert) by the to talitarian order , and to minimi ze

the effects of these forces on the potenti al electorate of a

pos twar German go vernment would have been to underes timate

the frightening power of the to talitarian Nazi Re ich . Th is

the Kreisauers co uld not do . Mo ltke , Yorck , and their friends

turned to the solutions advocated in the Kreis au ·. program because of a particular historical situation , and the drafts must be unders tood as having been composed not on ly in- the

shadows of We imar 's co llapse· but in the abysmal isolation of ·

Nazi Germany . From th ese circums tances spring not only the

circle 's remarkable idealism, its rather irrational hope , and even utopianism , but also its obvious shortcomings--particu�

larly· its mi s trus t of the masses an d liberal parliamentarian-

ism.

7 9 For a discuss ion of. the Entpolitisierung in the to tali tarian order see Hans Buchheim , To talitare Herrschaft. We sen und Merkmale , Munich , 19 62 , pp . 83-90 . Emil Henk, an act1ve membe r of the resis tance in socialist circles , explains how this depolitici zation affected any plans for a widely based re sis tance movement:

It was clear : a revolutionary situation · di d not exist in Ge rmany . Yes , it was· even - worse , it could not exis t: it was un thinkable . The masses remained unde r press ure and remained inactive even under the great de s truction of the land , the indus try , and their own . homes . They were lamed by te rror. Under this despotism th ere are · mas ses , but there are no po li tical masses .

Emil Henk , Die Tragodie des 20 . Juli 19 44 . Ein· Beitrag. zur po litischen�rgeschicbte;-Heide!Serg�4 6,-p7 33 . 6 2

As for the thought of the circ�e 's representing a- continuation- of the Conservative - Revolution , even Romoser , who firs t introduced the thesis , isn't quite sure of what to make of the Kreisauers . Mo l tke admits he "was not.. a revolu-:- tionary conservative as were such persons as Fritz- von de�

Schulenburg , , Jens Jessen , or Henning von

Tres ckow ." He then· adds that "socialists such as· Julius

Leber, Theodor Haubach , and .Carlo von Mierendorff [sic] mus t . 80 be dis tinguished from opponents of the Weimar Republic ."

Nevertheless, one finds certain similari ties between the Kreisau Circle and conservative circles during the Weimar 81 period. The leaders of the "Conservative Revo lution" were convinced that the dawning of a new age was at hand which wo uld wash. away· the epoch of· the liberal nation with all its defects and produce a new- man with new- values·. It demanded an organic state and the end of the liberal pluralistic society with political parties , for only in such a re formed

80George Romoser, "The Politics of Uncertainty ," Social Research , 1964 , p. 88. Following these statements , Romoser makes the remarkable observation that the socialist influence within the resistance was of little consequence . "Nevertheless , these Socialists played a very minor role in the conspiracy ." This , of course, was not at all the case . 81 Moeller van den Bruck , Ernst Jlinger , Hermann Rausch­ ning , among, others . For an introduction to the early evolu- · tion of this political approach see Fritz Stern -, The Politics of Cultural Despair. A Study in- the Rise of the German1c ------Iaeology , New York, l9b5 . 6 3 state could. "eternal values" (Ewig:keitswerte) be reborn . A people , a Volk , was an organism , a Wesensorganismus , which knew no class struggle , no domestic political conflicts , and 8 2 was· to be educated to recognize this ·. The Kreisauers , especially Mo ltke and Steltzer, certainly saw at least the chance for the emergence of a new age which wo:uld allow man to return to certain fundamental values·, and the Kreisau drafts did call for an organic political structure .

Wh ile these similarities exist, at leas t on a super- ficial basis , th ere are very significant differences . The most important unit in the conservative-revolutionary

Wel tanschauung was the organic �' and as Arnim Mohler points out , "in the Conservative Revolution the individual 83 loses his intrinsic value and becomes a part of the whole ."

For the Kreisauers , however , the individual human. being was firmly anchored in the center of al.l political and social considerations , and the gap which separates the Kreisau · Cir- cle from the Conservative Revolution is clearly visib le in

Delp 's statement :

8 2 Kurt Sontheimer , Antidemokratisches · Denken· in· der Weimarer Republik . Die olitischen Ideen des deutscnen--­ Nationalismus zwis chen-! �1 8 und 1933 , Muni2h; 1962 , pp . 148 ------157 . . 8 3 Armin Mohler, Die Konservative Revolution in· Deuts ch ­ land· l9 1 8 -1932 . GrundriSS ihrer Weltanschauung:en , Stuttgart , 54:- ITS1J1 -p:-1 64

Man should realize his freedom and independence and should· never· forge t them·. He mus t never give or throw them aw ay , fo r if he does , . he becomes. an ob ­ ject , a n�er , a tool of the decisions and orders of others .

Furthermore , for the Conservative Revolution , the organic· structure · of the state was the ultimate re alization by the Volk of its · own organic. nature , while for the Krei­ sauers it was simply. the means by wh ich the individual could. be brought to recognize his own personal responsib ility for the conduct of his state and · society . The Kreisauers sought to find the precarious balance· between the rights of the individual an d his responsibilities toward his· fellow man .

Whether the political organi zation foreseen by Mo ltke , Yorck , and their friends · was· well�suited to accomplish this task is· questionable, but the differences in emphasis between their efforts and those of Moeller van· den Bruck and· the Conserva- tive Revolution . are as unmistakable as they are crucial .

Moreover , although· there were many variations within· the

Conservative Revolution · in. regard to foreign policy , a- cul-· tural and/or political-military competition between the

Vo lker was considered basic. This whole line of thinking , not to mention the racial ideas of certain groups within the 85 Conservative Revolution ·, was totally alien to the Kreisau

84 Al fred De lp , Der Mens ch und die Geschichte , p. 33. 85 Heide · Ge rstenberger, Der Revolutionare Konservativis­ �, Gottingen, 1970 , pp . 110-I!b. 65 concept of cooperation and eventual unity of the European states . Rather than simply representing a continuation - of the antidemocrati c Conservative - Revolution , the Kreisau Cir- cle , according to Klemens von- Klemperer, redeemed construe-· tive conservative thought :

Their though ts , their upright re jection · of the totalitarian state , and, in turn., the violent Nazi reaction against them· have res tated the case for as· a force . for freedom and for de cency·. They may· not have solved· the dilemma but their examp le has demonstrated that, after all, conserva­

tism, or in- 1 s te rms , the bus iness of 1 ennob­ ling 1 the 1 iig.ge of man·, 1 is a task not for 1 fools 1 · but for men·.

86 , German s New Conservatism , Its · Histo and Dilemma in the 'l'wentie� . Century , PrJ.nceton ,

• 6 • !"9"5"7 1 P H CHAPTER III

THE - PREPARATIONS : THE CIRCLE IN TRANSITION

The work of the Kreisau Circle , begun in- 1940 with the exchange of letters between Moltke and. Yorck and . high­ lighted by the three major conferences at Kreisau , had reached the end of its programmatic phase by the winter of

1943-44 . As ide from several papers dealing with foreign policy, the final Kreisau documents were composed in Augus t

19 43, and wi th · the drafting o f . these do cumen·ts , the c�rcle 's ·v· political preparatory wo rk was essentially completed. 1

Although di fferences remained , the basic outline for a new- order in- Germany had been drafted which could serve- as a 2 point of departure fo r a new German· government . of X-Day .

Wo rk on the drafts certainly did not cease entirely after the autumn- of 1943, nor did the circle consider its do cuments as composing an unamendable and sealed political program , for dis cus s ions of the documents continued well 3 into the fateful sununer of the fol lowing year . Indeed , the

l Theodor Steltzer, Von Deutscher Politik , p. 77 . 2 Eugen Gerstenmaier, 11 Der Kreisauer Kreis I II VfZ I July I 196 7, p. 229 . 3 Interview with Dr. Paulus van Husen , MUnster, Ap ril 16, 1970 .

66 67 school issue was still a subject of deb ate a few we eks before 4 July 20 . What· programma-tic polishing was done was the work of Mo l tke , Yorck , and their friends in Berlin ·· The "Firs t .

Ins tructions to the � Commissioners " and · the "Basic Prin­ ciples for th e New Order ," the final Kreis au documents ·, were , in fact, results of the reworking by the "inner circle" in 5 Berlin·. Later versions of the documen-ts were either lost. or des troyed , but· while they ref le cted changing political condi- tiona within the resistance and contained modifications in

4 Hans Lukaschek , "Was war und woll te der Kreisauer Kreis ," unpublished speech , Feb ruary 20 , 1958. 5 van Roon employs the te rm "der ganze innere Kreis" without speci fying which members of�e circle sho uld be included. Van Roon , Neuordnung , pp . 256 -5 7. The "inner circle " may · be said to consist of Mo ltke , Yorck , Trott , Mierendorff, Haubach , Reichwein , Gerstenmaier, Steltzer, and Delp . The composition of the inner circle , however, was sub­ ject . to change . The Kreisauers listed above certainly repre ­ sented the inner circle during the programmatic phase of the group 's work . However, for reasons which will become evident , after Augus t 1943, the inner circle , as the te rm will be used hence forth , was· composed of those Kreisauers in Berlin who were in regular day-to-day contac t with Mo ltke and Yorck . In this regard, Gerstenmaier lists : Moltk.e , Yorck , Trott., Reichwein , Haubach ·, Husen , Mierendorff, and . himself. Haeften was only occasionally present at the meetings in the Horten­ sienstrasse due to security precautions . E. Gerstenmaier, "Der Kreisauer Kre is ," VfZ , July , 196 7, p. 227. The actual draf ting of the "Firs t Ins tructions to the Land Commissioners " was done by Moltke , Yorck , Trott, and Gerstenmiier . Clarita von· Trott, Matieralsammlung , unpublished , p. 229 . 68 light of new developments , the fundamentals established at 6 the rgela conferences in Silesia were maintained .

Although the formulation - of a political-social program for the time "thereafter" was the primary concern of the

Kreisau Circle , its · resis tance . activi ty by no- means came to an end with · the completion of the programmatic stage of its · work . The blueprint· for a new. Germany having been drawn ,

Mo ltke , Yorck , and the Kreisauers were ab le to turn their attention to concre te organiz ational me asures in preparation for X-Day . This change- in objectives was to have significant implications for the general working arrangements within the circle . From - its inception , a bas ic tenet of the circle 's organi zational· proce dure had been to consult or involve only those persons who were specially qualified to deal with · the 7 topic currently under consideration . As long. as the circle 's energies were primarily concentrated on formulating a program which could. be supported by both the Christian Churches and the German working man , repeated consul tation wi th - all. or most of the circle 's members was· of great importance . The large con ferences at Kreisau were , therefore , indispensable

6 countess Freya von- Mo ltke and Countess Marion Yorck von- Wartenburg , unpub lished composition , 15 October , 1945 . Gers tenmaier and Haub ach were entrus ted with the revision · of the drafts in 1944 . Their work on these later drafts will be dealt with · in conj uncture· with the activities of the circle in 1944 . 7 countess Freya von· Mo ltke , "Helmuth James Graf· von Moltke , Lebensbericht, " September 15 , 194 8 . 69 in providing an expanded forum for debate and discussion and in fixing the circle 's plans in written· form . However-, with the ci�cle 's program basically completed, the large conferences at the Moltke estate were no longer necessary , and after the conference in May 1943, no further meetings. 8 at Kreisau were planned .

Finding · trus tworthy and qualified men to assume political responsibility in the different regions of the

Reich on X-Day became the circle 's primary task in the sum­ 9 mer of 1943. The selecting and . contacting of these Land commissioners, who were to act as governors in · the initial period of trans ition , did not require consultation with - the circle as a whole and could- be carried out on a. more indi - vidual level. In the same sense, revision of the- drafts could· be handled by Moltke , Yor-ck , and the Berlin Kreisauers without necessarily involving the entire circle . The real base of operations for the Freundekreis had always been Ber- lin, but after May 19 43, the circle ' s activities began to center more and mo re- around Mo ltke 's garage apartmen-t in

Berlin-Lichterfelde and Yo rck 's· small house at Hortensien- strasse 50 . It was , in fact, the beginning· of. a trend which was to ch aracterize the work and structure of the circle for the remainder of its existence .

8 rbid. 9 Ger van·· Roon ., Neuordnung , p. 257·. Selection· of the Landesverweser had actually begun in late 19 42. 70

The circle 's efforts to find men wi l ling to as sume political leadership in- the respective Lander on X-Day were not undertaken in· a po l� ti cal vacuum , for th e Kreisauers were not alone in their search for men to fill positions in a pos t-Nazi German. government. Carl Goerdeler , the· leading civilian figure of� the German. resis tance and a· member of the older gene ration , had also been engaged. since. early 19 43 in dis cus s ions with · the socialist circle around Wilhelm

Leus chner and Jakob- Kaiser concerning the selection · of political appointees to serve as advisors to the military 10 commanders . in the de fense dis tricts (Wehrkre ise) on X-Day .

Although· the te chnical preparations fo r the actual physical overthrow of· the regime were quite naturally to be made by the mi litary , the task of providing qualified and. reliable men· to ass ume po litical leadership throughout. Germany fe ll to the various civi lian · groups within· the re sis tance . Though the line between the mi litary and politi cal sectors was , indeed, fluid , . this arrangement allowed the · res istance leade rs to meet the necessities of mi litary planning whi le at the same time as s uring the essential civilian character of the. overall · undertaking . This arrangement also presumed· at leas t a minimum of cooperation · between the leading civilian · groups , and the attempt to establish this vital degree of

10 E lfriede Nebgen , Jakob K aiser . Der Widerstands -· kampfer , Stuttgart , 1967, p . 177 ·. 7 1 unity was· a major motif within the German resis tance. through ­ out 1943. The year had begun . not only with meetings between

Goede ler and the Leuschner-Kaiser group , but also with . the now oft-de scribed· confrontation between� the older , more con- servative leaders around Goerde ler and the Kreis auers at th e

Hortensienstrasse 50 in January . The Kreisauers , represented. · by Mo ltke , Yorck , Trott, and Gerstenmaier, had hoped for a penetrating comparison of the respective programs and a thor- ough discuss ion of the points of divergence , whi-le Go erde ler unconvincingly attempted to gloss over the di fferences . As

Goerde ler presented his governmental and social program,

Mo ltke was· moved to mutter "Kerenski l," and th e re sults of 11 the evening were disappoi�ting to a11 .

Peter Hof fmann , however , believes this· January meeting to re present the "beginning of a collaboration · between Kreis- au·' s more active members and the group around Beck and 12 Goerdeler ." Contact with the Goerdeler group was , indeed ,

1 1 , Vom Anderen· Deutschland , Frank -: furt , 1964, p. 260 . Also see:E; Gerstenmaier 1 s letter in· Hassell , pp . 331-332 . As ide from Goerdeler, Ulrich von Hassell , , and Jens Je ssen represented the older generation , while Ludwig Beck presided over the meet­ ings witho ut. actively entering the discuss ion . Fritz von de r Schulenburg was also present , standing somewhat between the two groups . Wh ile disagreement prevailed in mo st ques­ tions , those present were united in the conviction · that the overthrow of· the re gime should. be brought about as soon. as possible . 12 Peter Hof fmann , Widers tand , Staatsstre ich , p. 428. 72 maintained , primarily through Fritz von de r Schulenburg·, a friend of Yorck 's and a. frequent visitor at the Hortensien­ 13 strasse . · But to characteri ze the relations between the

Kreisauers and Goerdeler as collaboration is certainly an overstatement. Yorck , who was· de finitely one of the circle 's mos t active members and who had hoped for closer coordination between the groups be fore the January meeting , was �pparently very disappo inted by Go erdeler . In a qonversation with

Count Heinrich von Lehndorf late r in the year , Yorck described· men like · Goerde ler and · Popitz as too old and too re actionary 14 to form . a capable government. Haubach and· Mierendorff also continued to warn Leuschner about as sociating · himself with 15 Goerdeler. As time passed , criticism· of a Goerdeler cabi­ 1 6 net· grew· within the circle . Neverthele ss , the two groups remained· in touch . Both Trott and Hae ften had· ti es with 17 Ulrich von- Hasse1 , whom· Goerde ler hoped to see as foreign minis ter , and the Kreisau socialis ts remained· · close to Wil- helm Leuschne r, who since at least early 19 43· had· begun to

13 Interview with Countess Yorck von. wartenburg , Berlin , April 71 197 0. Also see Ri tter , Carl Goerdeler --und die -- Deuts ch e Widers tandsbewegung , p. '!br. 14 spiegelbild einer Verschworung , p. 257 . 1 5 Elfriede Nebgen , Jakob Kaiser , p. 16 7. 16 Ge r van Roon , Neuordnung , p. 271.

17 Interviews with Frau Barbara von Haeften , Heidelberg , May 27 , 19 71, and Frau Dr . Clarita von- Trott zu Solz., Berlin , July 15 , 19 71. 73 1 8 work in closer cooperation with . Goerdeler. Contact with the forme r. mayor , however, was. best maintained through Yo rck 's friend Schulenburg .

Schulenburg , wh ose position on· a special Wehrmacht staff provided him· with an extensive view of personne l in· 19 the armed· forces and civil service , was not only a very important contact-man between the military and civilian groups , but also often advised Goerde ler in matters concern- 20 ing· personnel. During th e fall of 1943 Schulenburg con- sulted his Kreisau friends concerning the select ion of· person­ 21 nel for X-Day , and through Mierendorff , Haubach , and 22 Rei chwe in , who en joyed· good re lations wi th Leus chner, the

18 Gerhard Ri tter , Carl Goerdeler und. die Deutsche ------Widerstandsbewegung , pp . �87. 19 Albert Krebs , Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenbur9, p. 2 37·. This was the "specJ.al staff of Generar"'Von Unruh , " created in May of 19 42 . Its function was· to review . al.l pe r­ sonnel in military , administrative , and economic organi zations in order to ascertain whether all personnel were being put· to their mo st effective use under the demands of· the "total war" effort . Schulenburg was assigned to this special staff in January , 19 43. 2 0 Gerhard Ritter, Carl Goerdeler und die Deutsche ------Widerstandsbewegung , p. 3� 21 Theodor Steltzer, Sechzig Jahre Zeitgenosse , p. 158. Steltzer, who was stationed in Norway and only occas ionally · was in Berlin was pre sent and took part in. one. · such meeting with - Schulenburg in Yorck 's house in the fall of 1943 at which personne l for X-Day was discussed . 22 Joachim G. Leithauser , Wilhelm Leuschner , Ein Leben fur die Republik , Cologne , 1962, p. 2 3 2 . Leithauser consJ.ders Mierendorff, Haub ach , Re ichwein , and Leber as members of the Leuschner group . 74

Kreisauers were ab le to maintain influence on . the �eus chner­

Kaiser group. as we ll . Furthermore , the contacts between the

Kreisauers and the Goerde ler group were somewh at intensified in November 1943 , when Ludwig Beck , accepted in bo th mi li tary and civilian circles as the head of the German re sistance movement , · requested Goerde ler to draw up a cabinet list 23 acceptab le to the major groups . Schulenburg·, in hi s ro le as mediator , was especially active during th ese mo nths as discuss ions betwe en the ma jor civilian · groups concentrated 24 on the select�on · of personnel for X-Day .

23 Gerhard Ritter , Carl Goerdeler und · die Deutsche Widerstandsbewegun , p. 3� That the tieS between the Beck­ Goerdele r group ana the Kreisau Circle increased to some degree may be · drawn from Paulus van Husen 's unpub lished· compo­ sition , "Report on my parti cipation in · the enterprise of the

2 0 . July 19 4 4 • " According to Husen ' s re port , when Beck decided "to make the enterprise wi th Goerde ler ," there was an . incre ase of communi cation between the groups , wh ereby the Kreisauers made available information gained through the ir studies to the Beck-Goerde ler group . F�rthermore , there is Hans Bohnenkamp 's disclosure· that in the early days of Janu­ ary (before Mo ltke 's arrest) his friend Ado lf Re ichwein was concerned about the recently incre ased contacts with ·the Goerdeler group . Hans Bohnenkamp , Gedank en an Adolf Re ich­ wein , Braunschweig , 1949 , pp . 19-2 0. Gerstenma1er also acknowledges th at there were contacts with the Go erde ler­ Beck group at this· time , though · it never came to a genuine collaborati on . Gerstenmaier himself ma intained contact with Joh annes · Popitz , but he does not · re call th at Re ichwein even gave express ion to hi s mi sgivings within the circle . Inter­ view with Dr . Eugen. Gerstenmaier , Ob erwinter , June 3, 1970 . 24 Elfriede Nebgen , Jakob Kaiser , p. 177� Frau Dr . Nebgen des cribes Schulenburg as the "driving force " behind the intensified efforts to select the po litical personnel for X-Day . Schulenburg told Kaiser and. Dr . Jo seph Wirme r that the military wo uld· take action agains t Hitler on ly· when the list· of· politi cal appointees was prepared and de livered . 75

It is di fficult, as van. Roan indicates , to ascertain with certainty which persons were contacted in this· regard by the Kreisauers or fo r what· purpose certain contacts were made . Van· Roan asserts , however·, that by mid-January 19 44 , the selection of Land commissioners was completed and th at 25 men stood ready throughout Germany and Aus tria. Th is seems unlikely . Frau vo n Tro tt reports that during a visit to

Stuttgart in June 19 44 , her husband indicated that no Land commissione r had yet been found for that area . When· she expressed concern , he replied that when th e time comes , the 26 right men· would step forward .

The final lists of po litical and military appointees for the de fense districts discovered by the Gestapo in the

Bendlers trasse on July 20 , 19 44 , were primarily the results of consultations between Goerdeler , Schulenburg , and the 27 Leuschner-Kaiser group . The Kreisau efforts to locate Land commissioners , however-, were neither isolated nor divorced from the ma instre am of the German :rt'E!.s istance movement nor· was the circle 's influence in the selection · of personnel fo r X-Day

25 Ger van Roan , Neuordnung , pp . 257-258. It is known that Hans Schlange-Schonigen was to hold, the post in. Pomer­ ania·, Hans Lukaschek in Silesia, Fre iherr von Twickel in · Westphalia , Theodor Steltzer in· Schleswig-Holstein , and prob ­ ably Joseph Ernst Fugger von. Glott in Bavaria. 2 6 rnterview with Frau . Dr . Clarita von Trott zu Solz , Berlin , July· 15· , 19 70 . 27 Peter Hoffmann , Widers tand, Staatsstreich , p. 421. 76 insignificant. Several Kreisau members and persons close to 28 the circle were include d in these final lists , and Yorck , in fact, worked closely with Schulenburg on the selection of 29 adminis trative pe rsonnel un til shortly before July 20 .

Furthermore , the close contacts between Mierendorff, Haubach ,

Re ichwein , and the socialist circle around Leus chner should not be overlooked.

While the search. for po li tical representatives in the

Lander occupied the attention of the circle , the Berlin Krei- sauers became involved·· in an issue of perhaps a more vital nature --the composition of the future cabinet. The Kreisauers we re , of course , very interested in the membership of th e cabi­ 30 net and had their own pre ferences , but they were care ful

28 In this· connection . van Roon lists : Bernard Letter­ haus , Ludwig Schwamb , Otto Gessler, Gustav Roske , Gus tav Dahrendorf, Franz Rehrl , and Heinri ch Graf zu Dohna-To lks­ dorf . Neuordnun , p . 257� P. Hof fmann then adds : Heinrich Graf von Lehndo rt f-Ste inort , Ludwig Freiherr von- Leonrod , and Nikolaus Gra f yon Oxkull-Gyllenband . Widerstand, Staats­ streich , pp . 428 . and 790 . 29 a spiegelbild einer verschw run , p. 110 . Also see Yorck 's tes timony before the Peoples 1 eourt in : E. BUdde and hess , Die Wahrheit Uber den 20 . Juli , DUs seldorf , P. LUtsc ------1953, p. 86. 30 Interview with Dr·. Eugen Gers tenmaier , Oberwinter , June 3, 19 70 . According to van Roon , the Kreisauers hoped to see Reichwein as Minister of Culture and also planned to suggest Augsburg lawyer Fran z Riesert for the post of Minis­ te r of Justice . Neuordnung , p. 259 . Gerstenmaier , however, states : "It may be that some within the circle thought of Rei chwein for the Minister of Culture , but I don 't re call it being · a demand of th e circle . It is very certainly an· 77 never to compose lists wh ich mi ght be discovered by the

Ges tapo . Neither Mo ltke nor Yorck sought official positions in a new cabinet, and many of the Kreisauers believed· them- selves too young to be cons idered for the top ministerial 31 pos ts . Though they did not wish to be associated with ·

Goerde ler 's social-political concepts , they were re luctantly willing to accept him as chancellor of an interim·, trans i- 32 tional government. Their real hopes , however, were placed on a "second wave," which they believed would. sweep the 33 socialist· Julius Leber to the head of the government.

But Leber had not contributed to the programmatic work of the circle . He had not· played a ro le in the preliminary

exaggeration to as sert that the 'Kre isau candidate ' for Min­ ister of Justice· was Fran z Riesert . I consider it possible that suggestions . of this sort were brought to us from Bavaria, but I don 't remember it- being discussed or a decision - being reached . In the Berlin resistance , including the Kreisau Circle , Josef Wirmer was considered to be the qualified man. for that position in tho se years . 11 · E. Gerstenmaier, "Der Kreisauer Kreis ," Vf Z, July 1967, p. 244. 31 Interviews with - Counte ss von Mo ltke , Bad Godesberg , January 16 , 19 70 , and Dr. Eugen Gerstenmaier , Oberwinter , June 3, 1970. That Yorck was later suggested by Stauffen­ berg for the post of Staats sekretar in the Re ich Ch ancellry did not result from negot1at1ons on the part of the circle ; th is will be discussed in the next ch apter. 32 christopher Sykes , Troubled Loyalty . � Biography of- Adam � Trott � Solz1 London , 1968 , p. 400.

33Ger van Roon , Neuordnung·, p. 259 . 7 8 3 4 dis cus s ions or the actual formulation of the Kreisau program .

Although Leber remained aloof from· the circle 's meetings , he was· kept informed of the circle 's wo rk through . his friends 35 Mierendorff and Haubach . Wh ile favorab ly inclined- toward the Kreisau drafts , he was- convinced th at one could not- fore- see what situation · X-Day would bring , and , therefore , he refused to commit himself to particulars . For Leber , the political activist, the first goal was the overthrow of the regime . "What follows ," he said, "will take care of itself if we accept the will to responsibility and to creation as 36 a compelling essential of life." Yet, like Moltke and the

Kre isaue� , he considered Goerdeler's politi cal concepts and 37 socioeconomic goals as insuffic iently constructive . •

Like Leber, Fritzi Schulenburg · had remained on the fringe of the circle . But Schulenburg had been among the 3 8 i Kreisauers much more often than Leber and had not. only fol­ lowed the developmen-t of the circle 's program , but had· also offered important suggestions for improvemen-t in certain

34 rnterviews with - Countess von Moltke , Bad Gode sberg , January 16 , 1970 , Dr . Eugen Gerstenmaier , Oberwin·ter, June 3, 1970 , and Dr . Harald Poelchau , Berlin, April 6 , 1970� 35 Julius Leber, Ein· Mann Geht Seinen· Weg, p. 285 . 36 37 Ibid. , p. 2 8 0. Ibid. , p. 2 84 . 38 rnterviews with Countess von- Moltke , Bad Godesberg , January 16 , 1970 , and Countess Yorck von Wartenburg , Berlin , April 7, 1970 . Also see E. Gerstenmaier , "Der Kreisauer Kreis ," VfZ , July , 1967, p. 228 . 79 areas . His plan for a . federalistic territori al reorgani za­ tion· of· the Lander had signi ficantly influenced the Kreisau ·

. 39 dl.S. CU S Sl.OnS• · Because of his ro le as mediator between the groups . and also his knowledge of administrative organization ,

Schulenburg had taken part in numerous Kre isau - meetings in

Berlin and , at times , seemed to be integrated into the cir�le , then-, at other times , to drift away . This was not the case wi th Leber·, who until December 1943 remained sympa-the tic but 40 maintained his aloo fness from the circle 's work . Only- in th e wake of tragedy and owing to the efforts of· the Kreisauers to draw him closer to the group did the gap be tween Leber and the circle begin to diminish .

Carlo Mierendorff, the circle 's leading socialist mem­ ber·, could come only in secret to Berlin , the Gestapo having sought to restrict his movements to Leipzig where he worked.

Mierendorff, who had spent three years in Nazi concentration ­ camps , was acute ly aware of the risks involved in his clan- de s tine visits · to his Berlin friends , and despite his· un fail- ing humor and courage , he was troubled by the nagging dre ad

39 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung , p. 396. Also Krebs , Fritz-Dietlof Graf von· der Schulenburg , pp . 269-278, and Ste!tzer , Sechzrg-J anre-zei tgenosse , p. 158. 40 rnterview - with Countess von Mo ltke , Bad· Go desberg , January 16 , 19 70 . 80 41 of ret�ng · to the nightmarish "KZ." In - the las t days of Novem6er 19 43, he once again dared a trip to Berlin and took part in a meeting at the Hortensienstrasse 50 along with

Mo ltke , Yorck , Husen , Haubach , Maass, and perhaps others .

The discussion lasted , as they often did, until the early morning - hours , and as it finally adj ourned, Marion Yorck peered from the front window to check the street • . In the entrance , the door still closed , Mierendorff waited quietly with the bicycle he used for transportation in· Berlin . As

Countess Yorck prepared to open· the door, the street empty , he turned to her and said in a tired and somber tone , "a strange life always on the run . Somehow it is menacing for me just· now. " He paused for a moment and then stepped

41 Interview with Countess Yorck von Wartenburg , Berlin , July 16 ; 19 70 . Mierendorff, who was always anxious to take some definite action agains t the regime , was also very aw are of security precautions • . He remained aw ay from the meeting with Goerdeler in January 19 4 3, "aus po lizeilichen· ·Grunden ." See U. von Hassell , Vom anderen . Deuts Chland, Le tter from E. Gerstenmaier, p. 33l�Frau Or . von Trott al so re calls a situation from. the fall of 1943 which not only illustrates Mierendorff 's cautiousness but also provides a revealing glimpse into the tension-ridden atmosphere wh.i·ch often shrouded the clandestine meetings· in the Hortens iens trasse . The Trotts had come to the Yorcks ' house on a Sunday afternoon . to parti cipate in a meeting of the circle . As us ual all gues ts arrived at different times , an d aside from Peter and· Marion Yorck , Moltke , Haubach , and Mi erendorff were present. Despite a lively discuss ion of the question of the Betriebs e­ werkschaften , "Adam later said that Mierendorff had not spo� en freely be cause no one had· to ld him beforehand that I would be there and because he had never· me t me before ." Clarita von Trott· zu Solz, Materialsammlung , p. 230 . 8 1 into the darkened Hortensienstrasse . Two weeks late r he was 42 de ad , the victim of an all ied air raid on Leipzig.

In both a political and personal sense Mierendorff 's sudden death was a grievous setback for the Kreisauers , for his vi tality , his incorrigible optimism and warm , vib rant ch arm had eased many long and heated po litical discus sions , and his irre pressible humor had· re lieved the intense· press ure wh ich hung over the small circ le of fri ends . Th e. loss of the energetic Mierendorff was , of course , also deeply felt in the circle 's po li tical work . It was indeed a tragic irony that

Mierendorff was torn aw ay from his friends . at the point when the circle was becoming increas ingly involved with · prob lems of a practical nature . Never comple tely satisfied wi th the programmatic work , Mierendorff had hoped that an unde rground re sistance net of small group s could. be organized , in part using the "snowball" me thod : each . member of an initi ally small group would th en · contact one or tw o mo re peop le , who 43 wo uld then· do the same . He also considered the idea of deve loping a symbol or flag whi ch would be easily recogniz-· able and could be drawn or painted on streets or walls and wou·ld become a ral lying sign · for all re sis tance forces in

42 Interview with Coun tess Yorck von. wartenburg , Berlin , July 16, 197 0. 43 Interviews with Dr . E. Gers tenmaier , Ob erwin.ter , June 3, 19 70, and Dr . P. van Hus en , Muns ter , Ap ri l 16 , 19 7 0. 82 44 Germany . Many such symbols were apparently di scussed, but one in particular, a - ring surrounding a· cross , seems to have · been accepted by at leas t the socialist members of the cir­ 45 cle . Mierendorff hoped that a wide people-'s movement could thus be developed- which wou·ld rise at · the appropriate , moment to help rid Germany of the Nazis . To this end several proc-. lamations or s ummons to the German- people were drawn up with­ 46 in socialist circles, and Mierendorff's "Summons to 47 Socialis t - Actj.on ," composed in 1943, was kept by - Moltke

44 Interview with Dr . P. van Husen , Munster , Ap ril 16 , 1970. Husen recalls that many different symbols , flags , etc . were discussed , with a cross being the central feature . Ye t he does not remember that any one was ever- accepted by the circle , and the topic faded quickly after Mi erendorff's death . 45 Ger van- Roon , Neuordnun9·, p. 260 ·. Mierendorff. informed Harro Siegel, who had actually drawn the symbol , that "all parties concerned" (� Beteili ten) had accepted the symbol . However, based on statements y Dr . Gerstenmaier , Dr. van· Husen, Countess von- Mo ltke , and CountS ess Yorck , it seems certain that Mierendorff was- referring only to the socialist members . Gerstenmaier recalls receiving pos tcards from Mierendorff wi� this instead of a signature . 46 spiegelbild einer Vers chworun2 , p. 501. According to the Ges tapo reports , not only Mierendorff but also Leber and· Re ichwein composed similar calls to the German people . Haubach acknowledged before the so-called Peoples ' Court that Reichwein , Leber, and Mierendorff together had drafted a "Volksaufruf ," Volks erichtshof rozesse zum 20. • Juli 1944, Lautarchiv des Deutscg en Rundfun� s, April�9br. · 47 Th is is often re ferred to simply as Mierendorff's "Call to the German People ." The later Landeshauptmann . of Upper Austria Dr . Heinrich Gleissner reports that Mierendorff read this to him in Gleissner 's- apartment during Mierendorff 's last vis it to Berlin in· late November 194 3 . Letter from Dr . Heinrich Gleissner , June 11 , 19 70 . 83 along with the Kreisau documents . The Socialist Action ·, as envisioned by Mierendorff 's proclamation was to be :

•••a people 's movement above all ·political parties for the salvation - of Germany . It is fighting for the emancipation· of the German people · from · the Hitler dictatorship , for the. re s toration· of Ge rmany 's nonor so trampled down by the crimes of Nazism, and, for. freedom within· a soci·alist order . Representatives of the Christian elements , of the socialist and com­ munist movements , and of liberal forces form the Action Committee . The struggle is led under the ban­ ner of Socialist Action , under the red flag with the symbol of freedom : the cross uni ted with a socialist ring as a sign of the steadfast uni ty of. the working people. 48

Though this- particular summons was discussed among the 49 socialists within· the circle and while mo st of its major points are no t incompatible with the Kreisau texts , Countess von Moltke maintains that thi s summons to Socialist Action 5° played· no signi ficant ro le in the Kreisau discus s ions .

Gers tenmaier and Husen, too , are certain tha t· th is proclama­ tion · was not discus sed within the circle in conj unction with the circle 's program , though Mierendorff was. continually seeking to win· support for the sort of action · outlined. in his do cument. It should be stressed , however , th at th e

4 8 Mierendorff 's "Aufruf ," in van Roon , Neuordnung , pp • 589 -59 0 • 49 Letter from Dr . Heinrich - Gleissner , June 11, 1970 . Also see van- Roon , Neuordnung , p. 260 . 50 Interview with Countess von Mo ltke , Bad Gode sberg , January 16 , 19 70 . 84 skepticism these plans met wi thin the circle was. not di re cted at the political principles as presente d in Mierendorff 's proclama ti on ·, but at the possibility of organizing any wide movement in National Socialist Germany without immedi ate 51 discovery by the Gestapo . Thus , while · th e chances of such a wide underground people 's movement we re discussed occasion- ally , it is re asonably clear that Mierendorff's do cument was not considered part of the Kre isau program .

Aside from his great vitalit¥ and perpetual re adiness to undertake active steps agains t the re gime , Mierendorff had made considerable contributions to the drafting of the circle 's program . He had been especially close to Mo ltke 52 since 1941, and much of the cons iderab le socialist inf lu- ence in the circle 's work is due to Mierendorff . Thus , in early De cember 1943 the Kreisauers looked for someone to fill the gap left by his sudden death . They turned to Julius

Leber.

5 1 Interviews wi th · Dr. P. van Husen , Muns ter, Ap ri l 16 , 19 7 0, and Dr. E. Gerstenmaier , Oberwinter , June· 3, 19 70 . For points of divergence between Mierendorff's "Aufruf" · and the Kreisau program. see Gunter Schmolders , Personalistischer Sozialismus,, pp . 54-56·� Al so see E. Gerstenmaier , 11De r Krei­ sauer Kreis ," Vf Z, July , 1967, p. 229. 52 Ger van Roon , Neuordnun , pp . 130 and 233o "For Mierendorff:, the man· of action , t ! was. hard to be ab le to do nothing and simply wait un ti l the generals found the courage to act. " Also see Leithauser, Wilhelm Leus chner·, p. 231. 85

Mo ltke particularly- hoped to draw Leber closer to the

circle , and as the new year began his efforts were already

underway . "He is a decidedly good man," Moltke wrote in . the

firs t week of 1944 , "especially now- with - Carlo gone . Yet he

is very one-sided in practical things and places much. less 53 value on - intellectual considerations than I do . " But by

January 1944 the Kreisauers were themselves increasingly

occupied with - questions of an immediate and practical nature .

The composition of the future cab inet, the ro le of Goerdeler,

the very pressing issue of Hitler 's. assassination . and the

overtnrow of the regime were problems which dominated the-

conversations within the re sistance groups in the winter of 4 1943-44 . The Kre isauers were no exception . 5 The circle ,

therefore , turneq to Leber at· a time when· these prob lems we re

becoming �ncreas ingl,y acute . His response, wh ile still " , reserved �· was positive .

The group 's aotivities had become even more concen-

trated around Yorck 's house in the Hortens ienstrasse since

Moltke and Gerstenmaier had moved· there after both their

apartments we re des troyed during the same air raid earlier

in the winter . The Hortensienstrasse SO , an unpretentious

row house of gray ...br own stucco who-se small garden in· the

53 Moltke 's letter to his wi fe , January 2, 1944 , in van Roon , Neuordnung , p. 2 34. 54 �.' p. 233. 86 rear stretched toward the adj acent S-Bahn station , had 55 become the headquarters of the circle . Here , against the periodic clamor of the S -Bahn trains as they shrieked· to a halt , depositing and collecting passengers at the Botanical

Gardens station , the meetings of the circle continued , and it was here that several meetings with Leber took place in 5 6 the winter of 1943-44. Even Marion Yorck occas ionally acted as a courier , carrying messages to Leber in his small 57 coal yard . By early January Moltke was full of hope for 58 Leber 's integration into the circle .

At the same time Mo ltke hoped th at Heinri ch · Gleissner , the former governor of Upper Austria . with whom Haub ach res ided in Berlin-GrUnewald , would also contribute to the circle 's work . Gleissne r had come into contact with the cir- cle through Mierendorff and aside from him had become ac­ quainted with Reichwe in , Haubach , Mo ltke , and Yorck . He had taken part in many discuss ions with the socialist members of

55 According to Frau von . T�ott , the Hortensiens trasse 5 0 was "eine Art Haupt uartier ," Clarita von Trott, Matieralsamffil , p. 2t 7. Gerstenmaier also re fers to the Yorcks 1 smallung ho use in Berlin as the "real home. of the circle ." , E. Gerstenmaier ; "Helmuth von· Moltke ," Reden und--· Aufsatze v. II, p. 234. 5 6 Interview with Countess von Mo ltke , Bad Gode sberg , January 16 , 1970 . Countess von Mo ltke was present at one such meeting with Leber in the Hortensienstrasse at that· time . 57 Interview with Counte ss Yorck von Wartenburg ·, Berlin , Ap ril 7, 19 70. 5 8 Le tter from Mo ltke to his wi fe , January 9, 19 44, in van Roon , Neuordnung , p. 234. 87

the circle , and through him , the Kreisauers we re ab le to

establish. contact with other Austrians active in the re sis-

tance in Berlin . In mid-January Mo ltke wrote to his wife

that- he had asked· Gleissner to continue · the work with th e 59 c�. rc 1 e. Then· on · January 19 , the Kreisau Circle was .. stunned·

by yet· another staggering blow, and in its wake the very

existence of the circle stood imperi led .

At just after 10 p.m. on January 20 the doorbell rang

suddenly at the home of Paulus van Husen in. Berlin-�runewald .

No one was expected that evening , an d, in Hitler 's. Germany ,

an unexpected ring or knock at the door was· always to be

feared . Husen moved· warily to the door and , opening it ,

found his friend Peter Yorck. standin9 before him on. the steps .

For an instant Yorck stood silent in the chilly Berlin night,

and · then· leaning slowly fo rward he whispered almost. inaudibly,

"They 've taken · Helmuth ." Once again there was silence . Then

the two men moved quickly into the house wh ere they painstak­

ingly gathered- all papers dealing with . the Kreisau work and

lo aded them into the furnace . The blaze lasted almost two 60 hours .

On the morning of the previous day Helmuth. von· Mo ltke ,

an extremely punctual man, indicated to Peter Yorck as they

59 Letter from Moltke to his· wife , January 13, 19 44 , Ibid. , p. 342 . 60 Interview with Dr. P. van· Husen , Munster, April 16 , 1 970 . 88 prepared to leave the. Hortensienstrasse 50 for th eir respective offices , that he would· meet that evening with

Leber. He would·, he said , return no later than ten o'clock .

For the three men living in the Yorcks ' small house it had become a common practice to inform one another· when an important meeting was planned· by any one of them , and the meetings wi.th Leber warranted special men·tion at· that time .

Th at· evening Yorck and Gerstenmaier returned from their offices , and although Moltke had not yet arrived ,

Abendbrot was eaten . Ten o'clock passed , and Mol tke did not appear . After another hour slipped by the Yorcks and Gersten­ maier retired uneas ily to the ir rooms , but no one slept .

Moltke was· rarely late . From his window which looked down onto tQe silent Hortensiens trasse , Gers tenmaier 's attention . was· arrested after a time by the presence · of a car , its lights burn ing , stopped a short dis tance from the house. After sev­ eral moments· he summoned Peter and Marion Yorck , and they too peered through the window at the car . An instant later their hushed conversation was interrupted by the shrill ringing of the doorbell , and the Yo rcks , clad in robes , went below and opened the door . Before them in the doorway stood two men .

The Gestapo had come .

While one of the two me� slipped- bruskly past Peter and Marion Yorck into the adj�ining· dining room where he began randomly inspecting the books and papers he found there , 89 the other stiffly handed Marion Yorck a small slip of paper on which Helmuth Mo ltke had written a short message . He was de tained, it re ad . Pack his shaving utensils , etc . into a certain suitcase . Let Freya know that all was well so far.

But where then , inquired Countess Yorck , was the Count von

Mo ltke? Glancing into the dining room whose bomb -torn ceil­ ing hung ragged and threateningly low over the tab le at wh ich . his comrad was leafing intently through several volumes , the

Gestapo official snapped in contemptuous amusemen.t , "He has· at least better accommodations than here." To which the lounging man· from the dining room. scornfully echoed, "Two counts live in th is? !" Marion · Yorck , maintaining her com­ posure·, then climbed the stairs followed by the Ge s tapo official , · to Moltke 's room.. As she hurriedly packed several things· into a sui tcase , her escort glanced sharply_ around the room . "Count von Mo ltke has· been arrested ," he blurted quite suddenly , but, despite Countess Yorck 's cautious inquiry as. to why· , he would no t elaborate . The bag was quickly packed·, and the two intruders stood. once again in· the doorway.. "You will hear from us ," one said, and the door. closed .

Almost immediately Gerstenmaier and Peter and Marion .

Yorck began to comb the house fo r any sort of incriminating papers . The search · lasted several hours , and the furnace ,

filled with assorted papers , burned into the early mo rning . ·

Only the most vital documen.ts were kept and hidden secure ly . 90

A warning to the other friends that night was out of the ques ti on--the ho use might be watched , the phone tapped . Dur- 61 ing· the following day the word was passed .

For the Kreisau Circle the end had come , or so it seemed . He lmuth von- Moltke had been arrested , and the g�ounds for his arrest, so reasoned his friends ., could only have been his- Kreisau activities . · It wo uld now· only be· a matter of time before each of them uldwo be visited by the Gestapo .

Aside from des troying or concealing all pos sible incriminat- ing evidence , the Kre isauers could now only wait. In the

Hortensiens trasse 50 , as in the homes of the other friends . of Helmuth Mo ltke , preparations were made for the Ges tapo 's inevi table visit. But the Ges tapo did not come .

Mo ltke 's arres t was not at all . connected with the

Kreisau Circle , but was· the result of his involvement in the

"Solf, Tea Party affair ." On September 10, 1943 , Anna Solf , the widow of the former German. foreign minister and ambassa- dor to Japan , had invited to tea several friends , who , like herself , were opponents of the reg ime . Thi s group of· friend� ·, which often me t for tea at the Solf residence·, ma intained contacts with several officials in the For e ign Office , one of whom was the former German· Consul General in New York , Otto

61 Th is account was pieced together from interviews with Countess Yorck von Wartenburg., Berlin ·, July· 16 , 19 7 0, and Dr . E. Ge rstenmaier, Oberwinter , June 3, l970 . 9 1

Kiep . Kiep was· among the Solf guests on September 10 �s was·

Elizabeth von . Thadden , also a convinced anti-Nazi . However-,

accompanying the unsuspecting Fraule in von Thadden was· a

Swiss· do ctor named Re ckzeh , who was·, in fact, a Ges tapo agent .

Or . Reckzeh offered. to smuggle letters to German emigrant.s in , and soon accumulated incriminating· evidence on

all the tea party guests . The Ge s tapo did not act , however , 62 until January .

Since 19 39 Mo ltke had been an- advisor on international

law to the German. Supreme Command (OKW ) and · had· been attached

to the Counte r Intelligence Organization (Abwehr-Ausland)

under Admiral Canaris. Under Canaris the Abwehr had become 6 3 an important center of resis tance activi ty , and through his po sition Moltke had been ab le to attain important informa-

tion · and , on occas ion , had been ab le· to warn intended victims of Nazi treachery . On one occasion he had been ab le to in-

form resis tance sources in Norway and Denmark of the anti­ 64 Jewish measures planned by the Nazis in those countries .

62 Lagi Countess Ballestrem-Solf., "Tea Party," in Eric Boehm , We Survived , Fourteen Histories of th e Hidden and Hunted Of Nazi Germany , Santa Barbara, �6�p. 135 . 6 3 see Roger Manvel! and Heinrich Fraenkel, The Canaris Conspiracy . The Secret Resistance to Hitler in the-German. -- --- Army, New Yorx;-1969 . 64 Ger van - Roon , Neuordnung·, p. 73. For a more . detailed account of Moltke 's servic e as an advisor on. international law to the OKW see van Roon , "Graf von Mol�e als Vo lkerrechtler im OKW ,11Vf Z , v. 9, January , 19 70 . l 92

Thus ·, when some time after the Self. tea party of September

10 Moltke stumbled across Ges tapo plans to arrest all par­

ticipants , he warned Otto Kiep . The warning was- dis covered

by the Gestapo , and in January 1944 as the Self. guests were 65 being rounded up , Mo ltke was arrested. In itself� the

warning of. Kiep was· not a serious offense, and there is rea-

son to suspect th at· Moltke 's . arrest may have been on ly one

part of a Ge s tapo action ·against the Abweh.r . Mo ltke 's

repeated ob jections agains t the cons tant infractions of

international law had also become extremely annoying , . and

this alone could have jus tified his removal in· the eyes of 66 the Party.

The details surrounding Moltke 's· arrest were dis cov-

ered. by his friends after a re lative ly short though· agoniz­

ing period in wh ich the political work of the circle had come

to an uneasy standstill . 6·7 They soon realized that the warn-

ing of Kiep was not an . overly serious affair, a "political

traffic accident , " and his friends hoped to see Mo ltke

65 Gerhard Webersinn ·, "Helmuth· James Graf von Moltke ," in Helmuth. Neubach and Ludwig· Petry , Schlesische Lebensbilder , Schlesier des 15 , bis 20 , Jahrhunderts , v. 5, wUr zburg , 1968 , p. 280 . Frau Solf�er-daughter, and sister were arres ted on January 12·, and Otto Kiep 's arrest fol lowed four. days later . .i 66 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung , pp . 74-75 . 67 Interviews with Dr . E. Gerstenmaier , Oberwinter, June 3, 19 70, and Dr . P. van- Husen , Mllnster, Ap ril 16 , 1970 . 9 3 6� released in the near future . Though imp risoned, Moltke was , in fact, placed under a form of protective custody . and allowed to continue his advi sory work on· several cases for the military . While it was thus possible for Moltke to main­ tain - indirect contact with· the - world outs ide his cell in

Ravensbriick-, it was , of course , impossible to inform- him· of deve lopments within the resistance . Counte ss von Moltke was allowed an occasional visit with her husband and permitted to exchange letters with him , but· no attempt was made to inform him of the activitie s of . his friends " Although Count­ . · ess von Moltke was frequently a guest of the Yorcks . in· Berltn and- at Kauern after January 19·, Peter Yorck made . a conscious effort never to mention the circle 's activities , and Countess von Moltke never inquired about them . It was· simply too 69 dangerous for all concerned .

Thus , Helmuth. von Mo ltke , who along wi th · Yorck had founded and guided the Kreisau Circle , who had "torn its mem­ bers from resignation through systematic planning and work,"70 was lost to the circle . Within· a short span- of time the

68 Interview- with Dr . E. Gerstenmaier, Oberwinter, June 3, 1970 . 6 9 Interview with Countess von- Mo ltke , Bad· Godesberg , January 16 , 19 70 . 70 or . E. Gerstenmaier , "Pat$r Alfred- Delp SJ, Geden­ krede am 20-. Jahre stag seiner Hinrichtung , !' quoted in van Roan , Neuordnung , p. 287. 9 4

Kreisauers had taken two severe shocks and in the las t bleak days of January 1944 found themselves confronted by a greatly altered political environment . For Mierendorff 1s death in· his aunt 1 s Leipzig cellar , which had triggered Moltke 1 s· efforts to draw Leber and Gleissner closer to the. circle , had 71 set in motion· a regrouping , an Umgru2pierung, of the Kre i- ,J sau Circle , and the sudden arrest of Moltke provided a second ab rupt jolt in th is transformation . The circle had·, in fact , been undergoing a change· since the previous fall, a metamor- phosis generated in part by the shift from · prograrnmatic to more concrete , organization planning for X-Day , and in part by the sudden infusion of a vital new. force wi thin the German. resis tanqe movement.

On January 19 , Peter Yorck was- vi sited by his cousin 72 Colonel Graf Claus Schenk von-- Stauffenberg . Coming on the day of Moltke 's arrest, Yorck 's meeting wi th · Stauffe!lPerg , who was to exert a crucial influence on the deve lopment of the circle in 1944 , was , indeed, symbolic . Stauffenberg had· come to Berlin in- September, �nd his arrival. was· inextricably . linked with the increased activity throughout the entire

. 71 countess Freya von Mo ltke , "Helmuth James Graf von Mo ltke . Lebensbericht," unpublishe d composition . 72 Helmuth. James von Moltke , Last Letters , ed. Lionel Curtis , p. 48 . Mo ltke men.tions a visit by Stauffenberg to Yorck on the evening of January 19 . Counte ss Yorck , who was at home with her husband that evening , does not remember such a vi sit . Stauffenberg usually met .Yorck during the day , ostensibly in an official military capacity , and the mee·ting on the 19th probab ly took place in Yorck 's· office . 95 resistance movement in the autumn of 1943 . Severe ly wounded 7 3 in North Afri ca in April 1943, Stauffenberg was- summoned to Berlin in Augus t by his- new. commander, General Friedrich ­

Olbricht, ostensib ly for briefings concerning his· new post as Olbricht's chie f of staff in the General Army Office .

Instead Olbricht, who had long been active in �e mi litary 74 conspiracy , immediately initiated the young and wi l ling colonel into the resistance . During the Augus t visit Stauf- fenberg also met· General Henning von Treskow , who was on leave from his· post on the Russian front and w�o, along, with

Olbricht, was . at work on the te chnical plan to elimin-ate

Hitler and topple the Nazi regime : "Operation , Wa lkure ."

·"Walkiire " was no t a secret code word , for on. the surface it was a plan to be put· into effect by the Ar.my in. the entev of an uprising of the mi llions of foreign slave laborers in Ger­ many. The plan could, however, be turned against the SS and

I I 75 the az1N reg1me . .

After a visit to family and friends in Bamberg and

Lautingen, Stauffenberg decided to forego an operation fo r

73 Joachim Kramarz ·, Stauffenber , 15. November · 1907-20. Juli 1944 . Das Leben· eines 5ffiiiers , Frankfurt , �,-p. � :ae-1ostlhis left eye , his right fore arm , and two fingers on his· left hand . 7 4 see Harald Deutsch , Ve rschworung gegen den Krieg , p. 216 . 75 Joachim Kramarz, Stauffenber , p. 135. The techni­ cal plans for Operation WaikUre are e! aborated in considerable· detail in Hoffmann , Widerstand, Staatss treich , pp . 355-370 . 96 an · artificial hand , and , early in- September , he returned- to

Berlin·, moving in wi th his brother Berthold in Berlin-Wanns ee .

In the remaining we eks before his offici�! re turn to active duty on. Octob er 1, Stauffenberg vigorous ly joined in the work on "Opera tion · Walkure '· " but h.is activi ties were by no means limited to the military sector , for he very qu-ickly estab ­ lished contacts with the leading figures of the civilian

I 76 cJ.rc1 es .

Already in. August Treskow had introduced Stauffenberg to Goerdeler , and in November he met with - Ulri ch von Hassel, 77 Johannes Popitz , and Jens Jessen . A much closer wo rking · relation ship developed , however, with Fritzi Schulenburg , who was ab le to provide the colonel with · many important con- , tacts within re sis tance circles. Through Schulenburg , Stauf­ 78 fenberg was firs t introduced to Julius Leber. The re lationship betwe en these two very ac-tive men quickly deve loped· into one of mutual respect and friendsh ip , Stauffen-

,.-"' berg being attracted to Leber 's experienced political judg- ment and his re adiness for action , whi le Leber , mistrustful of the military , discovered to his surp rise the same stead­ fas t will and de cisiveness in Olbricht's new· chief of staff .

76 Joachim Kramarz , Stau f fenberg , pp . 135 -143. 77 Ibid . , p. 143. 78 Ibid. , p. 136 . 9 7

Neither wanted to see a "revolution of- old men-," and the firs t- cabinet lists and set political programs occupied a secondary pos ition in· their list of priori ties . For them th e crucial task was to overthrow . the Nazi regime and to seize power with the mo st capable poli tical forces avai lable .

Thus·; by early winter the political combination of Leber and

Stauffenberg , wh ich wa s to play such. a central role in the complex deve lopments within the German- re sis tance in 1 9 44 , 79 had begun to take form .

In November Werner von Hae ften , whose brother Hans was a Kreisau member active in the Foreign Office , was assigned to Olbricht's command as Stauffenberg 's ordinan ce officer .

Through Werner , Hans von Haeften soon learned of the dynamic colonel and in t�rn brought Ad am von- Trott into contact with ­ 80 Stauffenberg . As with Leber , a close relationship very quickly de ve loped with Tro tt , who advised Stauffenberg in · 8 1 matters of foreign policy . Frau von Tro tt later wrote of

Stauffenberg and her husband :

It is quite poss ib le that for Adam th is friendship was the fulfillment of some thing which he had been seeking all his life in spite of the fact that he had so many friends to whom he was- united by affec­ tion , respect , and by task and , responsibilities

7 9 Eberhard Zeller, Geis t de r Freiheit, p. 2 97 . 80 Joachim Kramarz , Stauffenberg , p. 1 38.

8 1 Eberhard Zeller , Ge ist ' der Freiheit, p. 15 1. 9 8

shared. in common . He said to Mrs·. Brau-Vogelstein in 19 39 , "I share on ly bits of my self an d fragments of things with others " but now , after meeting Stauffenberg at . a late stage · in his life , th is was no longer true . 82

Shortly after his arrival in Berlin Stau ffenberg also began to visit his cousin Peter Yorck von Wartenburg , and it was primarily through Yorck th at he. developed contact with the Kreisau Circle � Through his occasional visits to the

Hortens ienstrasse 5 0 and · his mo re frequent trips to Yorck 's· office , Stauffenberg soon acquired a re spect and trust in his cousin 's po litical views which led to their intimate ··- wo rking re lationship· in . the last hectic months before the · 8 3 2 0th of July . Th e extent of Stauffenberg 's familiarity with the Kreisau drafts in the period before Mo ltke 's arrest is un clear, but he did take part in a dis cus sion · of Soh­ molders ' paper on the ma s te ring of economic problems fol low­ 8 4 ing the collapse of the Third Reich . Furthermore , his dis cus s ions with Yorck dealt almost exclusively witn politi- cal themes as opposed to military or technical aspects of 8 5 the conspiracy .

8 2 christopher· Sykes , Troubled Loyalty , pp . 409 -410 . 8 3 Joachim Kramarz; Stauf fenberg , pp . 137 and 139 . Also see E. Zeller , Geis t de r Freiheit, p. 293. 8 4 Ger van· Roon , Neuordnung , p. 286. 85 rnterview with Counte ss Yorck von Wartenburg , Ber­ lin , Ap ril 7, 19 70 . 99

Although Stau ffenberg and Mo ltke had been to gether several times in the Hortensienstrasse , an intimate re lation- ship between the two had not matured before Mo ltke 's arrest.

From· th eir few encounters , Stauffenberg had apparently mis- taken Mo ltke 's rather British. re serve for arrogance and was , like Fritzi Schulenburg-, uneasy ab out Mo ltke 's predi lection 8 6 for ab straction in poli ti cal matters . But van- Roon 's· opinion · th at on ly a loose contact existed between Stauffen- berg , Yorck , and Mo ltke is accurate only in regard to the 87 relationship between Mo ltke and Stauffenberg .

Although Stauffenberg 's impact on the de velopment of the circle became manifest only in. the months after Mo ltke 's arres t, the seeds of his· influence had been sown be fore Jan- uary 19 . His· initiation into the resistance had given fresh impetus to the plans for the assassination of Hitler and a coup � · �, and his influence was· certainly evident . in the circle 's discuss ions of these ques tions in the autumn· of 1943.

Among the Berlin Kre isauers , Trott an a. Ge rstenmaier were the foremost advocates of taking any measures , including the assassination of the "FUhrer," necessary to eliminate the

Hitler regime , wh ile Moltke , Yorck , and Hae ften- retained grave moral misgivings about political murder . Moltke on ce

8 6 Interview with Coun tess Yorck von- Wartenburg , Berlin , July 15 , 19 70 . 8 7 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung , p. 2 8 6. 100

exclaimed , "why· are we against the Th ird Reich? Why are we

against National Sociali sm? Precisely because it is a system of· inj us tice , and one . mus t never begin something new , a· 88 renewal , with a fresh injustice . Murder remains a crime ."

The circle 's position re garding the Attentat will be de al t with - in more depth- in the di scus s ion · of the final phase of

the circle 's activity in- 1944, but Stauffenberg 's influence on the Kreisauers ' de liberations on the ques ti on was· percep- tible by November 1943 . Plans for the assassination of· Hi tler 8 9 in November and then a mon-th later we re not· cax-ried out , but the impact of Stauffenbe�g 's plans on the ci�cle is clear­ ly re flected in Trott 's letters to his wife from� th is· period.

During a we ekend vis it by her· husband to the Trott. es tate in

Emshausen in· early November , Clarita von Trott sugges ted a code they might use to di scuss po litical deve lopments. in th eir correspondence . It was based on the human an atomy --Moltke was ·

the ."head," Yorck the "shoulders ," Haeften the "heart ," and

Gerstenmaier the "stomach ." Thus , as talk of an Attentat grew ri fe · in res istance circles later in . the month , the course

of the deb ate within the circle was cautiously revealed in

Trott 's report to his wife on his health :

8 8 Ibid • • .P • 2 8 5 • 89 Joacbim· Kramarz , Stauffenberg , pp . 1 54-156 . See also Hoffmann , Widers tand , Staatss treich , pp . 378-392. The months of November, December , and January were filled with as sassina­ tion plans wh ich never came to frui tion · due to an assortmen-t of un con tro llable circums tances . 101

• • • Head and shoulders are still causing me some pain--it looks like almo st a chronic co ld .

Less than a week later , on November 22 , further di fficulties were des cribed :

Last evening I had a long intensive conversation in· which I became clearer myself. about a great deal . Shoulders and stomach , however , feel neither in agree­

men t with one another nor with me • • • how long mus t it last until one has a complete organism, inte�ra ted and at one with itself and with the environmen-t which is still to be shaped . We nt ten times- better with the

heart today • • . •

Then , in an incautious letter wh ich Frau von Trott later de s troyed :

At the conclusion , . di fferences of op1n1on were pro- · voked on th e ques tion of whether one could "make we ather " (ob man· We tter machen konn te ) , whereby I

represented •••a positive point of view .

Finally , on De cember 1, his condi tion showed· some . improvement :

•••aft er- an acute an d painful attack , which I actively withs tood, it is suddenly go ing much bet­ ter with the head and shoulders , beyon� my expec­ 0 tations , even good and co rrect .•••

The imprudent comment on th e ques tion of "mak ing_ weather " is an obvious re ference to the Attentat and subse- quent action to be taken , and Tro tt , who was alre ady acquainted with Stauffenberg , had represented th e activist position . Fur­ thermo re , aside from Stauffenberg 's genuine friendship with

Trott and · Yorck , the de ath of Mierendorff and the re sulting efforts to integrate Leber into the circle also ultimately

9 ° Frau Dr . Clarita von · Trott zu Solz , Materialsammlung , unpublished , pp . 2 30-232 . 102 · established another- vital link with · Stauffenberg . In early

January , when- Werner von-· Haeften took up quarters with his brother nsHa , yet another tie with the military conspiracy was- gained . Fo r from that· time on , Hans von Haeften was well 91 informed of Stauffenberg !s activities .

Thus , by mid-January 1944, the circle of friends had experienced a painful and convuls ive stage in its evolution .

Since completion of the programmatic work in· Augus t, the circle had gradually drawn closer to the mi litary conspiracy and become an . integral · part of the endeavors of the civilian · resistance to locate po litical representatives- for X-Day .

The shift from programmatic to more concre te political activ­ ity · in· preparation for X-Day also had profound repercussions in the organi zation of· the circle . For the center of the civilian and military resistance was Berlin , and discussion of the future cabinet, the role of the respective groups-, and. the Attentat proceeded on a day-to-day basis . While it was- occasionally possible to inform those members who· did not visit regularly or live in Berlin , they could not possibly stay abreas t of po litical currents and events within the resistance . There fore , Kreisauers like Steltzer and Delp , who had contributed so greatly to the formulation of the

Kreisau program·, had begun . a gradual dri ft aw ay from - the

91 Interview with Frau Barbara von- Haeften , Heidelberg ,

May 2 7, 19 70 • Also see van· Roon ., Neuordnung , p. 15 8 � 103

active cente r of the circle . The circle 's activi ties were progressively constricting around the city of- Berlin , and after Augus t 19 43 , only the active members close to the

Hortensienstrasse 50 remained· in the mainstream of the group's operations . The loss of Mi erendorff and. Moltke , blows of severe personal and political consequence· to the ir

friends , had· threatened the existence· of the circle , but the

intensi fied contact with Leber and the gradual emergence· of

intimate · ties with Stauffenberg lent the circle new direction

- and purpose . The Kre isau Circle had , in fact, passed through

a difficult· trans itional phase , and by the end of January had not only a trans formed operational structure , but stood on

the brink of the final stage · of its · development--the integra­

tion · into the active military conspiracy . CHAPTER IV

THE PLOT : THE CIRCLE AFTER JANUARY 19 , 1944

Despite · the loss of Helmuth von Moltke , the Kreisau

Circle did not dissolve in January 1944 . In fact , the fre­ quency of the circle 's me etings in Berl in incre ased rather 1 than diminished in the early mon·ths of the new· year·, · and the Hortensienstrasse 50 emerged from the transitional phase · of the circle 's development as the headquarters for the cir­ cle . In Yorck 's small house the active Berlin Kreis auers continued to meet , and it was to the Hortensienstrasse . SO that· those Kreisauers removed geographically from Berlin 2 turned· periodically for the lates t information . ·

Th at the circle 's highly diversified membership found itself deprived- of its common- center after January 19 , 19 44 , 3 is an assertion �ncompatib le with the facts . With - Mo ltke gone , the ro le of· "Geschafts fiihrer ," or business manager , was

1 rnterviews with Dr . Paulus van Husen , Munster , April· 16 , 19 70 , and Dr . Eugen Gerstenmaier, Oberwinter, June 3, 1970 . 2 This is evident from comments in Hans Lukaschek, "Was war und wollte der Kreisauer Kreis?," unpublished· speech , and Theodor Steltzer, Von· Deutscher Politik , p. 78, Sechzig Jahre · Zeitgenosse , p. 15� . 3 Ger van Roan , Neuordnung , p. 2 87• For Gers tenmaier's· response see E • Gers tenmaier, 11 Der Kreis auer Kreis , " Vf.Z·, p. 232 .

104 · lOS

as sumed by Peter Yorck , and · unti l July· 20 , he remained. at 4 the center of the circle 's activities . Re ichwe in and Haub ach maintained· close contact with Yorck after January 19 ; as did

Trott-, Hae ften , Gers tenmaier , Hus en , as we ll as Leber . · Hein- rich . Gleissner-, who had close ties wi th Reichwe in and Haubach , reports that his two socialist friends · me t very oft�n with S Yorck , "especially after the arrest of . co un t von .. Moltke � "

Trott 's letters to his wife from· this period also attest to 6 a very �lose relationship with Yorck , - as do those of Hans 7 von Haeften . Gers tenmaier , of course , lived in the Horten- sienstrasse S O, and Husen was in almost daily contact wi th

4 · 1 ntervJ.ews. Wl.. th Or . Pau 1 us van- H usen , Mu•• ns ter , Apr1 . 1 16 , 19 70 , and Dr . Eugen . Gers te nmaier , Oberwin·ter , �une· 3, 197 0. 5 Letter from Dr . Heinrich · Gleissner , June 11 , 1970. Haubach moved into Dr . Gleissner 's· apartment after h�s had been de s troyed in an - air raid ,. His apartment was the scene of numerous meetings· of the· socialist members of the Kreisau · Circle . 6 Between January and July · 19 44 Trott ' s . letters to his wife indicate , as Frau· Dr . von - Trott comments , th at "they were continuously to gether " ("d�ss sie dauernd zusammen sind " ). Trott 's lette�s from February 2, 1944, February 14, 1944 , March 3, 1944 , and April 30 , 1 944 , for example , all make men­ tion · of discussions with Yorck . 7 Haeften 's letters th roughout the first months of 1944 make repeated reference to vis its , me als , etc. with · "Peter and Marion ," and several le tters mention bicycling to the Hortensienstrasse 5 0. Frau· von Haeften states th at the con­ tacts between Yo rck , Trott , her husband , and the other Berlin Kreisaue rs became mo re intensive after Mo ltke 's arrest because of, the changing political situation , Interview with Frau · Barb ara von- Haeften , Heide lberg , May 27., 19 70 . 106 8 Yorck until shortly before July 20 . Leber 's role within· the circle , despite his rather infrequent attendance at th e meetings in the Hortens ienstrasse , also grew considerab ly 9 after January .

Furthe rmore , Yorck 's increasingly close relationship with his cous in Claus von Stauffenberg , who by early 1944 was clearly emerging as the real "motor" of the German resis- tance , made him an· important link between the mi litary con­ spirators and his Kreisauer friends and contributed greatly to· his central role in the circle 's development after Jan- . uary 1944 . Stauffenberg 's efforts to convin ce Yorck of the necessity for action agains t the regime proved successful , and Yorck 's conversion in· early 1944 heralded a new co urse for th e Kreisau Circle.

As before , the meetings in this period were not· con- duc ted on a regular basis . When an · important issue arose. or an event occurred which required consultation , the wo rd was 10 passed , and a meeting was held. This operating procedure is perhaps illus trated best by the circle 's de liberations

8 rnterview with Dr . Paulus van Husen , Miinster , April 16 , 1970 . Confirmed by Counte ss Yorck von· Wartenburg , July 15-, 1970 . 9 aans Lukaschek, "Was war und wo llte der Kreisauer· Kreis? ," unpublished speech . Interview with Countess Yorck­ von Wartenburg , Berlin , April 7, 1970 . 10 rnte rviews with Dr . Eugen Gerstenmaier , Ob erwinter, June 3, 19 70 , and Dr . Paulus van Husen , MUnster , April 16 , 1970 . Often Yorck would telephone the members to inform them of the meetings . 107 on the intention of· Leber and Re i chwein to contact the Central

Conunittee of the underground Communist P arty . Re ichwe in , acting independently , had gotten in· touch. with Communist functionaries early in 1944, but before entering· talks · with the Central Committee , he sough.t. the sQpport of the circle 11 during a meeting in the Hortensienstrasse 50 in late June .

Although the circle 's meetings · in th is period were held at different places , including· the apartrnen.ts · of Trott,

Husen, and Haeften , Hortens ienstrasse 50 was mos t frequently 12 the scene of the circle 's deliberations . Attendance also varied slightly from meeting to mee.tinq , as , inde ed , it always had·. The participants , however, were drawn almost exclus ively from· the active core of Berlin Kreisauers--Yorck , Trott·,

Gers tenmaier , Haeften , . Husen , Reichwein , Haubach, and , . increasingly , Leber. On ly during the ir rare visits to Berlin could Steltzer, Lukaschek , or Father Konig , the usual · repre- sen tative of the Bavarian Kreis auers , participate · in. the cir- ole 's activities·, and thus their contribution to and· knowledge of day-to-day developments grew progressively meagre . Stelt­ zer 's· contention · that the circle 's work came to a halt in·

11 This meeting wil·l be de alt with in more detail below . 12 Eugen Gerstenmaier, "Der Kreis auer Kreis ,"· VfZ , p. 227. Interview with. Countess Yorck von· Wartenburg , Berlin , April 7, 19 70 . Trott 's letter to his wife , March 30 , 1944, men·tions a · meeting at his· apartment by Haeften , Yorck , and Gerstenmaier . 108 ·

January 1944 is perhaps unders tandable , but certainly mis­

13 le ading . On ly when viewed against the backdrop of. the con-:­ tinuing meetings and mutual consultation - between the Berlin

Kreisauers from January through July 2 0 , do th e actions of the indivi dual Kreisauers , which might otherwi se seem dis- connected or isolated , acquire their proper perspective .

The increased frequency of the circle 's meetings in

19 44 was- a re f lection of· changing po litical currents wi thin the resistance and renewed· activity within the military sec­ tor . The catalyst un leashing these permutations w�s Claus von Stauffenb erg . Until then Carl Goe rdeler, with Beck's

13 Theodor Steltzer , Von· Deutscher Politik , pp . 77-78 . Steltzer ' s lack of first-han--a-Jtnowledge of the continued an d intensified meetings of the circle in Berl in is re flected in his appraisal of the effects of Mo ltke 's arrest: "With his arrest, our political work ceased . What happened later was· the responsibility of- different individua ls and cannot be evaluated as favorable or de trimental to the I

Stauffenberg on the seen� in the. fall of 19 43 , however , soon weakened· Goerdeler ' s posi ti on ·. Unlike mos t of his mi l! tary colleagues , Stauffenberg was unwilling to res trict hims el f exclus ively to the military aspects of the conspiracy , and , at one of his · first encounters with Goerdeler , he demanded to take part in the political dis cuss ions as we ll . Goerdeler 's pro te sts were overcome only through medi ations by Beck , and although he at las t relented , it was wi th considerable reser­

14 vations . Goerde ler 's irri tation was further exacerbated by Stauffenberg !s inclination toward the political concepts of Goerde ler 's younger rivals . Stauffepberg 's relationships with Yorck , Trott, and Leber, which matured into close polit- · ical cooperation in the early months of 1944 , gave ·clear - 15 indi cations of his political pre ferences . Like hi s ·

14 Joachim Kramarz , Stauffenberg , p. 171. . . 1 5 Max Braubach , Der We zum· 20 . Juli 19 44 . Ein · Forschungsbericht , Cologne an a Opladen,�3;-p7 3 2 :--Accord­ ing to Gerhard Ritter, Stauffenberg was "pl ainly more inclined· toward the rom antic 'socialism ' of the Kreisauer · counts. , mem­ bers of his own generation · than· to the bourgeois liberalism of Goerde ler •••• " Ritter , Carl Goe rdeler, pp . 3 66-3 67. Kramarz goes so far as to claim-wrl not 1n a proper sense a 'member of the Kre isau Circle, ' he beloQged , nonethele ss , to its inte lle ctual domain.· " Kramarz , Stauffenberg., p. 139 . Chri.s ti an Muller , Stauffenberg ' s mo st re cent biographer, 110

Kreis auer friends , Stauffenberg feared that Goerdeler would be unab le to evoke the neces s ary mas s support of · the German ·

people , and, in a convers ation . wi th Jakob Kaiser , Stauffen- berg remarked in ob vious re ference to Goerdeler : 11 Herr

Kaiser , it mus t not come to a res toration . .. �6 Stauf fenberg

felt that the new chance llor should be a representative o·f

the working class , and Julius Leber was , there fore , his· 17 Ch Ol.Ce . .

The ultimate success of the resistance forces had always been dependent upon. the mi litary , and since 1938 the efforts of its major partic �pants · had been directed toward inducing military commanders to take de cisive action . agains t the regime . The driving force behind these ende avors had been Goerdeler , and his re sentment of Stauf fenberg 's ri s ing inf luence in political affairs was not without some

believes that Kramarz go es too far in thi s· regard . Muller, Ob er st �- �· Stauffenberg Eine Biographie , Dus sel orf , 19 70 , ! � pp . 367 and 575 . His opl.nron-colncides to a consJ.derable degree with Hans Mommsen , who feel s that wh ile Stauffenberg shared Kreisau 's political views in many ways , he was pursu­ ing his own somewh at un cle ar po litical ide as . Hans Mommsen ,

"Ges ells chaftsbild un d Ve rfas sungsplane ," ---Der deuts che Widers- tand gegen Hitler , p. 15 7 16 Elfriede Nebgen , Jakob Kaiser , p. 174 . 17 Jo achim Kramarz , Stauffenberg , p. 173 , and J. Leber , �: � : Geht Seinen We , p. 291 . See also c. Muller , Obers t �.G. Stauffenberg , pp . 175- 3 7 8 . 111

jus tification . Yet, the po litical fortunes of the resistance· rested upon the presupposition · of a successful Staatss treich , and in Stauffenberg an of�icer had at last been found who was. determined to act . Already by mid-February S tauffenberg had been behind at least three attempts on Hitler 's life , all of 1 8 which had· come to naught for a variety of· reasons . Because · of his readiness to undertake bold action , Stauffenberg . had replaced Go erdeler as the re al driving· force of the resis­ tance by early 1944 , and between January and July 20 his 19 political influence with the civilian groups mushroomed .

But· whereas Goerde ler found himself being edged. gradually away. from the cen ter of the re sis tan ce , the Kreisau Circle was· being drawn into the very eye of the storm.

The Kreisauers were never me rely pass ive obs ervers or lo fty idealists disdaining action while plann ing for a post-

Nazi era , as they are so often portrayed . J. Wheeler-Bennett 's characteriz ation of the Kre isauers as the "con scientious 20 ob jectors of the resis tance " and its implication · of an exclu­ sive pre ference for pass ive resistance is erroneous in light

1 8 Peter Ho ffmann , Widerstand , Staatss treich , pp . 378- 3 88 . 19 christian Muller, Obers t i.G. Stauffenberg , pp . 408 and 420 . Mu ller emphas izes , however; that Stauffenberg · had by no means assumed a po sition of- political dominance within the re sistance . 20 J. w . Wheeler-Bennett , Nemesis , p. 5 45 . f '

112 of the circle 's activities both . be fore and after Moltke 's arrest. Although the Kreisauers were divided on the issue of the Attentat , the years 1941-43 were witness to numerous attempts on th eir part . to persuade influential military fig­ ure s to overthrow the regime . Mo l tke and Yorck were particu­ larly active in th is regard , de spite their di s avowal of

2 1 political murder . Trott 's di scuss ions with B riti sh and

American diplomatic contacts in Sweden and Switzerland , wh ich · wi ll be dealt with be low , were also intended to contribute- to 22 the bringing · about of a coup � · �. Wh ile re ligious and ethical considerations led Mol tke , Yorck , Stel tze.r, and Haef­ ten to question an assassination of Hitler , fear of a new

"stab in the back " legend also created misgivings in th e cir­ 2 3 cle . Moreover , the continued· procras tination by the g�n­ erals eventually · drove. Moltke to the conclus ion that· rio action ­ could be expected from them at al l, and hi s disgus t with their

2 1 countess von- Mo ltke and Countess Yore� yon Warten- ­ burg , unpublished composition , 1 9 45 , "Since 1942 attempts were re peatedly made to establish contacts , usually through personalities like Friedrich von- der Schulenburg and Ulrich Wilhelm von- Schwe rin , wi th officers who were re ady to - execute a Staatss tre ich ." For de tai ls of th eir efforts in th is· regard seT van �oon , Neuordnung , pp . 278 -28 6. 22 Peter Hoffmann , Widers tand , Staatss treich , p . 42 8 . Mo l tke 's trips to Turkey and Sweden should also be viewed in th is light. See van Roan , Neuordnung , pp . 312 - 3 2 2. 2 3 van Roan , Neuordnung , p. 2 8 5. 113· 24 indecision · mounted with each pass ing mon th . · These doub ts· concern ing the Attentat did not , however , lead the Kreisauers to espouse a political philosophy of nonviolence A la Gh andi 25 or to re ject . assassination under any an d al l circums tan ces .

Even Moltke , wh ose praise of purely spiri tual-intellectual re sis tance in his last letters from· pri son has given a super- ficial credence to th is · interpretation , did not dismiss the 2 6 Attentat as "not allowed ."

Mo ltke , however , was· arrested just as Stauffenberg was emerging as the driving force of the conspiracy , and the ques- tion . of what role he mi ght have played in the· tens ion-filled mon·ths before July 20 is , of course , a matter fo r speculation .

24 countess von Moltke , "Helmuth James Gr af von Mo ltke , Lebensberi cht, " unpublished . 25 oie ther Ehlers , Technik und Mo ral eine r Vers chworun9 . 20 Juli !!!.!' Frank furt ..Bonn , 196-.r;-pp . !02 -!03 . 2 6 In his las t le tters from pri son , in January 1945 , Moltke wrote :

It is estab lished that we did not wish to use force ; it is further established that we did not take a single step towards setting up any organi zation , nor ques tion · anyone as to his· readiness to take over any

• • • • • • particular pos t. We mere ly thought . we are

to be hanged for th inking together ••••I am· all in favor of our dy ing on this· issue .

Las t Letters , pp . 39-40 . Van Roon adds , though , in a footnote , that· after serious de liberation Mo ltke did not re ject. the Attentat as "nicht erlaubt," van Roon , Neuordnung , p. 2 8 5 . 114

But the activities of his Kreisauer friends in Berlin , even­ those who held grave reservations about the Attentat , give overwhelming evidence of . their int egration into Stauffenberg 's plans and their acceptance , if not unreserved support , of the 27 Attentat .

Yorck , who was in increasingly close contact wi th - his­ cous in in early 1944, became one of Stauffenberg 's closest friends and mos t trus te d political advisors in - matters of 28 administrative , social , and cultural re form. Stauffenberg agreed with Yorck and the Kreis auers on th e crucial ro le of

Chris tianity in a revived Ge rman society , and their dis cus ­ 29 sions of internal re form continued into June . Along with

Fri tzi Schulenburg and Ulrich - Schwerin - von · Schwanenfeld ,

Yorck concentrated on plans to as sure communication an d cooperation betwe en the mili tary and the civilian political appointees on X-Day . Yorck and - Schulenb urg helped select

27 Bas ing his conclus ions on van Roon 1 Mu ller claims that the Kreisau Circle "as such " played a small ro le in Stauffenberg 's activi ties because Mo ltke 's arrest me ant the end of the circle 's work and. because of the circle 's "basic conviction" that action should- be taken on ly· after Hitler 's collapse . Like van Ro on , Muller 's tre atment of the Kreisau Circle suffers from the common error of over-emphas izing the role of Moltke and equa ting his · person al convictions fo r those of the entire circle . Mu ller , Oberst --i.G. Stau ffen- berg , pp . 366-369 . 28 Eberhard Zeller, Ge ist de r Freiheit, p. 29 3, and

Kramarz, Stauffenb erg , p. 137 . --- 2 9 spiegelbild· einer Ve rschworung , p. 167 . 115 30 persons to fill admin is trative posts in the new government·, further· demonstra ting the Kreisau infl uence · on the ve ry impor­ tant selection of personne l for X-Day .

Trott also was· include d in th at small group o·f friends to whom Stauffenberg turned for advice and consul tation - in - political affairs . His trips to Sweden and Switzerland , where he had cul tivated contacts with Al lied diplomatic cir- cles , made him an invaluable source of information and he became Stauffenb erg ' s most trus ted advi sor in- fore ign 31 affairs . During · 19 44 Trott made another· visit to Switzer­ land and two to Sweden , where his di s cussions with British and American diplomats revolved around the question wh ich - had dominated his contacts with them since 19 42--what pol icy would the Allies · adopt in regard to a new German· government follow- inq the overthrow of th e Nazi regime? Since the Allied adop- tion · of the doctrine of "unconditional surrender" at the Cas a- blanca Conference , Trott had used the opportuni ty of these discuss ions in a futi le effort to convince the Allies of the near-paraly zing effect of th is policy on the German resistance.

Wh ile underscoring the willingness of re sistance elements to act agains t Hitler , he repeatedly stre ssed that they ,

30 Ibid. , p. 110 • See also Yorck 's te stimony before . the Peoplesr-court in E . Budde and P. Lutschess , Die Wahrheit iiber den 2 0, Juli , p. 8 6. 31 Eberhard Zeller , Geist de r Freiheit, pp . 293 and 151. l l6

• • • are naturally unwilling to shoulder the burden and blame of Hitler 's de feat un less they can hope. to offer the people some improvement or advantage in their situation · compared to wh at would fo l low Hi tler 's own de feat . Accepting unconditional surrender now , they wo uld feel unable later on to counteract the mass slogan of· having "stabbed in the back " our fighting fo rces--a slogan . which is · bound· to re cur even more violently and · irranedi ately than · it· di d after 19 1 8 . 3 2

It was· di fficult enough to persuade vascillating generals to

take action . against their commander-in-chief , but without

being able to as s ure them that a new anti -N azi government would receive any better treatment from the Allies , it was

nearly . impossible .

In spite · of his failure to gain conces s ions on this

issue during me e·tings with British diplomats in Stockholm . in.

November 194 3 , Trott was able to return to Sweden again in

March · of th e fo llowing year . On this occasion Tro tt did not ·

deal with · the "unconditional surrender" policy but , . through

Swedish intermediaries , attempted to gain British agreement

to a bombing halt on Berlin in· the event . of a success ful coup

d'etat . Trott felt that th is step would have been without

mi litary sign ificance because of its geographic res triction ·

and could have been presented as a humanitarian · ra ther than

2 3 Adam von Tro tt 's Memorandum of· June· 1944 , printed in its entire ty in Henrik Lendgren , "Adam von Tro tts Re isen nach Schweden 19 42-1944. Ein ·Beitrag zur Frage de r Aus lands­ ve rbindungen de s deutschen· Widers tandes ," VfZ ·, v. 1 8 , no . , --- 3 July 19 7 0, pp . 2 89-2 91. 117 33 political ges ture . Were the British to continue these raids on an· anti-Hitler government in its ini tial period of consoli - dation ., it would be taken · by the German. people as a clear indication that the Engl ish were fighting not only· to remove

3 4 Hi tler but to de s troy Germany as such . Ivar Anderson , one of Trott.' s Swedish contacts , transmi tted Trott 's conunents to the British Legation as planned , but the re action there was completely negative . The Al lies were unwi l ling to make any ge s tures of support for a political movemen t in Ge rmany which was· not ready to accept the · Allied formula of to tal German 35 mi litary de feat .

In Apri l 19 44 , Trott renewed his efforts in Swi tzer­ land , where he was in indi rect contact with · Al len Dulles , the leading figure of the American os s in Bern . During a previous visit, in January 1943 , Trott had comp lained to Du lles , via

Mo ltke 's friend Gero von s. Gaevernitz , that, in contras t to the Russians , the Wes tern Allies seemed· unwilling to take a pos i tive attitude toward the German re sis tance and. had spoken·, there fore , of a "strong temptation to turn East. " During his

33 From the memoirs of Alb recht von .. Kessel , quoted in Hans Rothfels, "Trott und die Aus senpolitik des Widerstandes ," VfZ, v. 1 2 , no . 3 , July 1 9 64, p. 3 2 1. 3 4 ouoted from Ivar Anderson 's unpub lished di ary in Landgren , "Adam von· Trotts Re isen," Vf Z, p. 2 80 . JS ibid. , pp . 2 80-2 8 1. 118

April visit he resumed his argument against Western intransi- gence concerning the "unconditional surrender" issue - and renewe d his warn ing with even· greater emphasis that "in spite of military victory. the democracies may- lose the peace , and the present dictatorship in Central Europe [may ] be exchanged for a new one." He drew Dulles ' attention to the dangers of a Bolshevized Germany and urged the Allies to give some indi- cation of support to the Western oriented groups . Once again , however-, he returned to Berlin · without even the . hint of a . 3 6 positive response.

Near the end of May or- early June , however , Trott received- word from Inga Kempe , one of his contacts in Sweden , that the British wished to re sume dis cus sion of certain impo r- tant affairs with him. Because an indiscretion - in· the Swedish. press concerning hi s last visit had endangered his own stand- ing , Trott felt compe lled to send his friend and Fore ign

Office colleague Alexander Werth· in his stead . The talks ·, conducted under difficult circumstances , produced no positive results since- the British demanded that the German· negotiator

3 6 Al len Welsh Dulles , Germany•s- Underground , New York , 19 47, pp . 137-138 . The estab lishment of the National Commit­ tee for a Free Germany in· the and statements in the Soviet press and radio broadcasts seemed to some to indi­ cate that the Soviet Union - might be more willing to de al with the German resistance than the West. For detai ls see Bodo Scheurig , Freies Deutschland: Das Nationalkommitee und· der Bund DeutsCher Offiziere in der:&Owjetunion 1943-194�Mun1ch , ------rrrr. 119 37 be Trott an d no one else . Trott , therefore , arranged yet ano ther pretext for a journey to Sweden and arrived in Stock- ho lm on June 19 . Before his departure Stauffenberg had asked him to ascertain · what reaction · could· be expected from the

British and American governments to a German· peace initiative .

"I must know·, " he emphasized to Trott , "how England and the

U. S. A. will behave if Germany should be obliged to a prompt. 3 8 opening of negotiations ." Once again , however., the talks reached an impasse due to the "unconditional surrender" issue .

At the request of the British Legation , Trott composed a memo­ randum des crib ing the composition of· the re sistance , without giving specific names , and the chances of removing the Nazi regime . Cooperation . with the Western Allies was· desired but could be reali zed only if the "unconditional surrender" formula were either dropped or at least clarified .

As long as it seems ne cessary for the Western powers to confine . their war policy exclus ively to· the military aspe ct of un conditional surrender th is group feels that· the only alternative to further · immense sacrifices of life and to the risk of a . co�ete ly unmanageab le .chaos in Europe depends primarily on · their already advanced preparations to establish an effective and re liable political sy s tem , before or at leas t during the break down of- Hitler 's military and po litical machine . They know this cannot be achieved by a military dictator­

ship • •.•It is impossible to give a concre te estimate of the chan ce s of success since th is de ­ pends on many different and precarious circums tances

37 christopher Sykes , Troubled Loyalty , pp . 423-424 . 3 8 spieielbild einer Verschworunq , p. 174 . · 120

which . it is difficult or impossible to unders tand from abroad . It is recogni zed , however, that the opposition must first act and establish itself and then cope with the practical political possibilities on all sides , provided that some qualification of· the term "unconditional surrender" is forthcoming . 39

During this final vi sit in Sweden Trott also attempted to arrange a meeting with the Soviet Amb ass adress Madame

Alexandra Kollontay . Wh ile this meeting did not take place ,

Trott did have in tensive discus sions with Sverker Astrom , attache at the Swedish Emb assy in Moscow . The theme of their conversations undoubtedly centered on the probab le position of· the Soviet · regime toward a new· German. go vernment , a topic 40 which Tro tt had discus sed with Ivar Anderson in April.

Still , when Trott returned to Berlin on July 3, it was again without any de finite commitment of support from the Allies .

Thus · a downcast Trott had to report the negative 41 results to his Kreis auer friends , and to Stauffenberg . Yet despite · Trott's pessimis tic repo rts of Wes tern inflexibility ,

Stauffenberg seemed to cling to the conviction that a settle­ ment with the English and Americans could be attained through 42 negotiations "� Militar zu· Militar ." Based on his experi­ ences with American and Bri tish diplomats , Trott pers is ted in

39 Henrik Landgren, "Adam von Trotts Reisen ," VfZ , p. 291.

40Ib id·., p. 2 8 2. 41 rnterview with Dr . Eugen Gerstenmaier , Oberwinter , June 3, 19 70 , and Spiegelbild einer Verschworung·, p. 49 3. 42 Joachim Kramarz , Stauffenberg , p. 1 80. Also see Muller, Oberst i.G. Staufferiberg , pp . 453-454. 12 1 · his opinion that no separate peace could be expected and that the terms of surrender would- be harsh indeed . Negotiations should, therefore , be conduc te d with both the Anglo-Saxons and , the Soviets . Both Yorck and · Leber , who had· few illusions

concerning Germany 1 s impending · fate , supported Trott 1 s ass·ess­ 43 ment of the situation . This view of Germany 's position and

Trott 's concept of Germany 's future. role in Europe were expressed in a memorandum , "Germany between East and West,11 wh ich he composed during the early .summer of 19 44 . He hoped to see Germany , once purged of Hitler 's regime , assume a mid- dle role between East and West consistent with her geographi­ cal pos ition in the center of the continent . Th is memorandum , wh ich he felt to be his best and which was dis cus sed in resis- tance circles , unfortunate ly was· los t. during the collapse of 44 the Third Re ich .

While Trott was· absorbed in questions of foreign po licy , his close fri end Hans van Haeften also accepte d a more . active ro le . Although Haeften continued to be plagued by a delicate physical condition · and deep re ligious mi sgivings against political murder, he accepted the responsibility for the

43 spiegelbild einer Verschworung·, p. 493 , and Ein � Geht Seinen Weg , p. 285. 44 christopher Sykes·, Troub led Loyalty, pp . 424-425 . Because of fear of dis covery by . the Ges tapo only several copies were made . After July 20 the Gestapo seems to have actually been in po ssession- of a copy , but it could not be found after the war . 122· reorganization of the Foreign Office and was· to secure its control on X-Day . Th is me ant selecting reliable officials to function in the Foreign Office during the transitional phase. He was also to assume the position · of a state secre- _ 45 tary in· the new government . Through his · brother Werner , with . whom he· shared an apartment , he was well informed of 46 Stauffenberg 's activities . In January , before Mo ltke 's· arrest, Haeften had de scribed his· position . by paraphras ing a quote from Bismarck in a letter to his wife Barbara:

We ourselves can do nothing . We can only remain silent and wait until we hear the tread of God re sounding through History . Then , however , we mus t spri�� forward and seek to grasp an- edge of his coat.

Now , with his active participation · in· the preparations for the coup � · � after January 19 44 , Hae ften demonstrated th at he was- no longer wa�ting .

Eugen Gerstenmaier had not been subject to the do ubts that troubled Hans ·VOn- Haeften . He had long advocated taking any me asure s neces s ary to remove Hitler an d his regime and, in 1943, had as sured Fritzi Schulenburg th at he could· be

45 Interview wi th Frau. Barbara von Hae ften , Heidelberg , May 27, 19 70, and van Roan , Neuordnung, p. 158• 46 Ibid . 47 Letter from Hans von Haeften to his wi fe , January 5 , 1944 . 123 4 8 counted on if needed on X-Day . During the circle 's long and difficult debates concerning the Attentat , he had per­ sistently sought to convince- his friends · of its necessity.

Although no t slated for an official position in the . new governmen.t, he gave his full support to Stauffenberg •s efforts , as his actions on - July 20 were to testify .

Paulus van Husen , a cloae friend of Yorck , remained an active member of the circle after January 19 and th ere- ­ fore was also invo lved in the plans th at culminated in the events of July. 20 . Through his position . as· an officer in · the offices of the WehrmachtfUhrungs stab, he stood at an important focal point of the Wehrmacht's vast communications . network . It was through - Husen , th ere fore , that the Berlin ·

Kreisauers were ab le to maintain contact with the circle's members in Bavaria. The command headquarters of the Defense

Dis trict-Munich was located in the large monastery in Pullach , by coincidence , the monastery in which Fath ers Ros ch and Konig· worked and re sided. Father Konig was in charge of the adminis- tration of the large central building , and because of his· administrative duties wi thin the monastery , the military had· placed a telephone on the Wehrmach t line at his disposal . In

Berlin Husen needed only. to pick up the Wehrmacht te lephone and request Wehrkreiskommando-Munich . In an· official tone he

48 Fabian von Schlabrendorff , Eugen Gerstenmaier � Dritten Re ich , p. 31 . Con firmed by Dr . Eugen Ge rstenma1er , June 3, 1970 . 124 would then· demand , "Dr . Konig zum Apparat ! ," and within . 49 moments Father- Konig was on the line . In this manner it was possible to pa ss along limited information to the Jesuits , though obvious ly in highly guarded terms .

As · the ye ar progressed, the me ssages from Berlin grew less and less frequent . This , howe ver, is hardly surprising considering the estab lished operating procedure of . the circle .

On ly those members ab le to contribute directly to th e project currently under way we re informed , and t�e Jesuits in the

Pullach monaste ry were in no posi tion to participate in either the preparations for or the execution of th e expected coup. � ' ­ etat . Konig did , however-, undertake one last journey to Ber­ lin in June and was present in the Hortensienstras se 50 for the discuss ion - of the question of· entering talks with the

Ge rman- Communists . It is quite probable that he was summoned to Berl in by Yorck , via the Wehrmacht line , to represent 5° Jesuit opinion on that- important issue .

Father De lp was- no t in the Pullach monastery , and his­ contacts with Berlin · were even. fewer than tho se of Father

Ro sch and Konig. He was aw are that action was afoot in Berlin

49 Interview with Dr . Paulus van Husen , Munster , Ap ril 16 , 197 0.

5 0 Yorck , for example , informed Husen of the meeting and s ummoned Lukaschek from Breslau for the meeting . Hans Lukaschek , "Widers tandsbewegung im Dritten Reich ," Erziehung und Beruf , v. 9, 1959 , pp . 94-96 . 1 2 5 · but lacked any de finite knowledge of de velopments there .

Although the question of how his attention was drawn to Claus

Stauffenberg remains unanswered . De lp did arrive at Stauffen- berg 's home in Bamberg . late one evening in early · June . Stauf-· fenberg was visiting his family , and a· dis cus s ion of the planned obligations of Jesuits released from ac tive military service was given as the ostensible purpose of. De lp 's visit .

During their convers ation Delp expressed "the wish •••of many for immediate action " against the re gime , and although he was impressed wi th the · colonel 's personality , Stauffenberg appears to have been vague and noncommital in his comments ·.

Upon his· return to Berl in , Stauffenberg complained bi tterly about th is highly· incautious visit, and Yorck in· turn· relayed th is mess age to Pullach . When , on July 2 1, De lp learned · of the un successful Putsch attempt , he seemed dis appointed and 51 irri ta ted that· he had· not· been informed .

Wh ile the ro le of the Bavarian Jesuits diminished· in the early months of 19 44 , Julius Leber , who had followed the

Kreisau programmatic wo rk with reserved skepticism , was drawn ever closer to the circle . Though he had always been in close contact with Reichwe in and Haub ach , he became more intimately

5 1 Franz von Tattenbach SJ, "Das ents cheidende Gesprach , Zum 10 . Todestag P. Al fred Delps SJ ," Siiddeutsche Zeitun , v. 1 55, 1954-55 , p. 323. Also Kramarz, Stauffenberg , p. y82. Letter from Pate r Tattenbach (July 9, 1970) confirms th at Ro sch and · the Jesuits were informed of Stauffenberg 's di spleas ­ ure· over De lp's visit through the Wehrmacht te lephone . 126 acquainted with Yorck and Trott during this period . In April, as Hans Lukaschek visited Yorck at his estate in Silesia ,

Yorck reported that "in our circle Leber is stepping very much 52 into the foreground ." Moreover , along with Yorck and Trott ,

Leber became one of Stauffenberg 's closest civilian - collabo­ rators and , eventually , Stauffenberg 's cho ice for chance llor or the new government . Nor was Beck adverse to Leber 's assurnp- tion of that post. Leber, however , re fused to be cons ide red for the position , primarily because he felt that the cabinet would represent only an interim government . Its - principal· task would be to end the war , and due to the experiences of

1918, he believed that the Socialists should. not· be burdened with the main re sponsibility of Germany 's surrender. He was-, however , willing to accept the position of Minist�r of Interior in the new government and gave his support to his fellow

Socialist colleague Wilhelm Leus chner for Vice Chance llor.

He was convinced that Goerdeler •s cab ine t would be short- lived-, and that a second wave would carry to power- a Leus chner 53 cabinet with heavy Socialist representation .

Leber 's disaffection with Goerdeler 's political con­ cepts and Stauffenberg 's preference for his younger Kreisau

5 2 Hans Lukas c hek , "Was war und wollte de r Kreisauer Kreis? ," unpublished speech . 53 J·. Leber , Ein Mann Geht Seinen eg, pp . 2 90-291. These opinions were-aKarea-by Peter Yore� , Spiegelb ild einer Verschworung , pp . 257 and 234 . 12 7 · friends soon threw the dif ferences wi thin the resistance into bold relief . In discussions in bo th - mid-May and mid­

June disagreements between Leber and Goerdeler reached con­ frontation proportions . The meetings· were held in the apartment of Joseph Wirmer and were attended by Leus chner ,

Jakob Kaiser, Schulenburg , Goerdeler, . Leber, an d, perhaps ,

Bernhard Letterhaus . Goerde ler 's plans for the internal reorgani z ation of the Reich and his views on foreign policy were subjected to sharp criti cism by Leber, who · accused

Goerde ler of being an illus ionist in regard to Germany .' s exte rnal situation and of being bound to outmoded social­ economic concepts . Trott had warned against optimism in· 5 4 evaluating Germany 's international op tions , and , clearly revealinq this influence·, Leber argued th at a total occupa­ tion of Germany could not be avoided regardle ss of a success­ ful Putsch . Goerde ler , however , pe.rsisted in his· be lief that through a prompt change of regimes and the continuation of military resistance , a total occupation of the Rei ch could· be prevented . Us ing the to tal military collapse of Germany as his point of departure , Leber also presented his plans for internal political reform., wh ich were subsequently character­ ized in the Gestapo reports as a "+adical social ist program ."

Leber 's highly criti cal attitude at these meetings provoked

54 Ibid·., p. 285 . 1 28·

Goerdeler to suspect that Stauffenberg was behind- him , and only after pains taking efforts at mediation by- Wirmer ,

Schwe rin , and Kaiser , was the widening rift between the two factions bridged . Still , relations between Goerdeler and 55 his younger rivals remained strained into July .

Leber 's socialist friends Theo Haub ach and Adolf

Re ichwein also played signi ficant roles in the last phase of the circle 's work . Both- were among tho se Kreisauers who participated regularly in the meetings in the Hortensien­ strasse 50 after the arrest of Moltke . Along with Gersten- maier, Haub ach continued- to take an interest in the re fining and editing of the Kreisau do cuments in an effort to keep them relevant to the current situation , although as the sum­ 56 mer progressed work on the documents dw indled. Through·

Leber and Yorck Haubach was aware of Stauffenberg 's plans 57 and . after July· 5 his contacts wi th. Stauffenberg intensified .

Haub ach was to assume the direction of the Information - Agency 58 in- the new- government.

55 spiegelbild einer Verschworung , pp . 179 , 211-212 . 56 rnterview with Dr . Eugen Gerstenmaier , Oberwinter, June 3 , 19 7 0 . . · 57 Letter from Dr . Heinrich Gleissner, June- 11, 1970 . 5 8 Eberhard Zeller, Geist · der Freiheit, p. 103 ; Peter Hoffmann , Widers tand , Staatss treiCn, p. 436 . 129

In a letter written during Easter, 194 4, Reichwein revealed his aw areness of the need to act .

Sometimes I envy those who retreat to their books and leave the daily struggle fo r the future to others . But their res ignation only strengthens my conviction that a - new era can only be achieved if one fights at each step along the way . The fewer the figh ters , the more the responsibility lies on the few . I· have dis­ covered in my life what this lack of fighting spirit means in terms of omissions and neglect : a horrib le field of unsuccessful attempts lies behind us . As for me , I don't want to share the guilt for these omis­ sions . 59

Reichwe in was· not· schedule d to play an- active . ro le on X-Day , but this did not prevent him from contributing to the politi- cal preparations for the Staatsstre ich . Throughout 1944 he had pressed relentlessly for the establishment of contacts with the unde rground Communist party and , in late June , his efforts proved successful .

On June 21 Yorck , Husen , Lukas chek , Father Konig·, Leber ,

Re ichwin , and · Haubach gathered in Husen 's apartment and then later in the hearby Hortensienstrasse 50 fo r a final discus- sion · of Leber 's intention of entering talks with the Central

Committee (ZK) of the underground Communist party . This issue had been debated with incre as ing frequency since Janu- ary , with Leber and Rei chwein co nsistently emphas izing th e desirability of Communist representation · within a broadly­ based Vo lksfront . Leber and especially Re ichwein were

59 James L. Henderson , Adol f Re ichwe in , p. 159 . 1 30 convinced that the viability of· a new German government in the crucial period following its assumption of powe r depended upon the solidarity of the political forces of the resistance .

Only a broad people 's movement , Leber argued , would be strong . enough to challenge the Nazis , and without the cooperation of the Communists , such a uni fied, popular front would be impos-. 60 sible . Moreover , both Leber and Reichwein hoped th at· Com- munist participation would create an effective counterweight 61 to the conservative influences within· the conspiracy . As ide from Goerdeler, who re jected Communist collaboration on· ideo- 6 2 logical grounds , Leuschner and Jakob Kaiser also· opposed efforts to establish more intimate contacts with the "ZK. "

However, th e anxiety which Leber 's plans evoked in these socialist leaders as well as in mo st members of the Kreisau

Circle stemmed more from their well-founded fear of Ges tapo infiltration of Communist circles than from ideological con­ 63 siderations . Nevertheless, while aw are of the possible dangers , Leber and Re ichwein persisted.

6 0 .Annadore Leber, "Dr. Leber und Stauffenberg ," Tele­ gr f, June 16 , 194 6 ; Interview with Frau Re ichwe in , Ber!In; iy 15 , 19 70 . 6 1 Franz Jo sef Furtwangler, Manner , die ich · sah und· kannte , Hamburg , 1951 , p. 215 , van Roan , N euoranurig;-p�75 . 6 2 Gerhard Ritter, � Goerdeler, p. 249. 63 Elfriede Nebgen , Jakob Kaiser, pp . 1 7�-176 : inter­ view with Dr . Paulus van Husen , Muns ter , Ap ril 16 , 1970 . 131

Through. friends in , Reichwein had established contact with the Communist organi zation led by Theodor Neu­ bauer and Magnus Poser , and since early 1944 occasional pre­ limin·ary discuss ion had taken· place in the home of Frau.

Reichwe in 's bro the r in Berlin-Wannsee . Re ichwein also sought to establish· contacts with members of the Berlin Central Com- mi ttee , and in this he was aided by Fritz. Berndt , Ferdinand

Thomas·, and Judith . Auer , all of whom were active in Communist

0 64 c1rc 1 es . Still, his proposals met determined oppos ition within the circle , and even Haub ach adamantly ob jected to 6 5 such a move . Leuschner . and Kaiser also attempted to di s- suade Leber from entering negotiations with the Communists, but after two fruitless convers ations in Kaiser 's apartment earlier in the summer, Leber remained committed to Re i chwein 's 66 plan . By late June , afte r much deb ate , the stage for a meeting betwe en Leber, Re ichwein , and members of the Berlin ·

Central Committee seemed set. But· the question · of whether they wou·ld meet their Conununist counterparts . as individuals or with the support of the circle remained to be settled.

Thus , at the meeti-ng on June 21, afte r dis cussing cultural­ political questions , Leber announced that he had been

64 Kurt Finker , Stauffenberg, pp . 175-1 76: Interview with Frau Reichwein , Berlin , July 15 , 1970. 65 rnterview with Frau · Re ichwein , Berlin , July 15 , 197 0. ! 66 Elfriede Nebgen , Jakob Kaiser , p. 1 7 6. 132 approached by two reliable Communists who requested a meeting .

The fami liar protestations concerning security were voiced , but Leber responded by stating that he had known the se men in· the concentration camp and that they could be trus ted. His· assurances finally assuaged the mi sgivings of those. present and at the close of the meeting Leber and Reichwein had 6 7 rece ived the support of the circle . Whether Stauffenberg 68 agreed with · th is move , however, remains unclear .

According to the arrangements made with Ferdinand

Thomas , Leber and Re ichwe in we re to meet with two members of the Central Committee at the home of Dr . Rudolf Schmid· on the following evening . When Thomas. arrived·, however , he was accompanied by three men : An ton Saefkow and Franz Jakob were indeed Conununist functionaries , but the third man , Hermann

Ramb ow , turned out to be a Ges tapo agent . With Leber seizing the initi ative in the discuss ion , the talks ranged over the most important social problems to be faced by a new German government and, to Leber 's genuine surprise , the Communists

6 7 Hans Lukaschek , "Widers tand im Dritten Re ich ," Erziehun� und Beruf , p. 95. Interview with Dr . Paulus · van Husen , Munster, April 16 , 19 70 . 68 Peter Hoffmann , Wi ders tand , Staatsstreich , p. 429 . Ho ffmann claims that Staufferiberg approved of the mee-ting , whi le· Muller is somewhat skeptical . Muller, Oberst i.G. Stauffenberg , pp . 419-420. Although Stauffenberg did no t participate in the meeting of the Kreisau Circle on June 21, it seems likely that he was at leas t informed of �eber 's intentions . 133 displayed an un usual amenabili ty to his ideas . They , in turn , advocated the establishment of a free democracy , ·reten­ tion of private property except for large concerns an d also proved open-minded 6n church questions . Finally Leber was asked· what he could do to bring about a Putsch , but he eschewed a de finite answer . Still, the meeting had· been conducted in a· cooperative , pos itive atmosphere , and it was 6 9 agreed. to meet again on. July· 4 .

Leber , however , was suspicious . The, alacrity with which. the Communists had responded to the proposals of their former Social Democratic adversaries and the mildness of· their own- position , though obviously tactical , had aroused in him a de finite sense of uneasiness . Furthermore , despite the prearranged procedure for the conduct of the meeting , whereby no name s wou-ld be used , he had been greeted at the .. outset by one of. the Communists with a cry of recognition :

"Ach , du Leber." Leber, the re fore , de cided no t to attend 70 the J u 1 y 4 mee t.1n g .

69 Ibid. , p. 430 . Hoffmann maintains that Bernard Bastlein took part in the meeting instead of Franz Jacob . East German literature on the question ·, however , is unanimous in naming Jacob as Saefkow's partner in· the discussion . Finker, Stauffenber , p. 176 , and Deutsche Widerstandskampfer 193 3-19 45, Berlin , l970 . 70 Annedore Leber, "Dr. Leber und Stauffenberg ," Tele­ graf; also see Finker, Stauffenberg, p. 219 . 134

Reichwein , however , who had originally established the contacts , was intent on continuing the talks . Despite the obvious risks invo lved , the rudimentary foundations for further discussions had· been laid with · surp ris ing har.mony , 71 and he was hesi tant to let the ta lks lapse . Thus , on the evening of. July 3, Reichwe in visited Peter Yorck in the

Hortens ienstrasse for a final di s cussion - before the meeting 7 2 with the Communists. Once again , before an important. step was to be taken , Yorck was· consulted . Not only Reichwein but also his wife Rosemarie were growing uneasy about the meeting . On the morning of July 4, as she left the apartment, her husb and was ob viously concerned, and she hoped. to talk with him about the impending· meeting later in. the day . But· 73 when she returned· in .the early afternoon , he was gone .

That· same afternoon , Gottfried von Nostitz , having just arrived in Berlin from his post in the German· Consul ate in Geneva , was invi ted to dine with his friends Adam von

Trott and Hans von· Haeften at the latter 's· apartment . On his last visit to Switzerland Trott had indicated to Nc;>stitz that a Putsch was in the making and had spoken enthusias tically

7 1 Gerhard N itzsche , Die Sae fkow-Jacob-Bastlein Gruppe , Berlin , 1 957, p. 89 . See also Antifas chis tische Lehrer lm Widerstandskampf , Berlin , 19 67, p. 90. 7 2 Interview . with · Frau Reichwein , Berlin , July· 1 5 , 197 0. 73 Ibid. 135 about a Colonel Stauffenberg . Trott had assured him that· at the appropri ate time some pretext would be arranged. to have him summoned to Berlin . In th e late afternoon of July 4

Trott-, Haeften·, and Nos ti tz· drove to Haeften ' s apartment. where they were joined by Peter Yorck . During dinner and afterwards as they· sat around· the tabl� , the imminence· of

X-Day was discus sed. Yorck seemed parti cularly well- informed and led the convers ation . Nos titz , who had long known Yorck and was familiar with his previous reservations concerning · the Attentat , was· as tounded by the trans formation . in Yorck 's atti tude . He seemed to have an air of a "mis sion"\ ("Sendunsr") about him . Haeften , too , had undergone a ch ange·, but still seemed· to harbor· doubts about the undertaking . Nowhere . were the moral issues surrounding the Attentat more acutely evident than in the personal strugg le of Hans von Hae ften , the man· whom Clarita von- Trott had so appropri ately designated as the

"heart" of the circle in her code .

Late in the evening the conversation of the three men· was interrupted by a ring at the door . A man was ushered into an adjoining room and Trott was s ummoned from th e table .

After about twen·ty minutes he re turned to the c;lining room , pale and obviously shaken·. Reichwe in , he said , had not

re turned· from the meeting with th e Communists. There was

reason to believe that he had been arrested. An animated.

discus s ion · followed in which Haeften , who only hours before . 136 had expressed misgivings about the. operation , was moved to utter : "If nothing is done from our side now·, they will pick us off one by one and our work will have been in vain ." The

Kreisauer who had most tenac-iously challenged. the Attentat , whose moral scruple s agains t · political murde r had· been the source. of such tormenting mental anguish , had at last been swayed into acceptance of action .

A tense conversation followed in wh ich the possible reactions of the Allies , especially England, were re viewed.

Nostitz , because of his position in· Geneva , reported that although the outlook was not �right, he bel ieved the Bri�ish would draw the proper conclus ions from the deed. It was growing late . Yorck left for the Hortensienstrasse , and.

Nostitz and Hae ften accompanied Trott to his ap artment.

Trott then decided that he should· see Stauffenberg �mmedi- ately . He took with him an important foreign policy memaran� dum , probab ly "Germany between East and. We st," wh ich he had only recently completed . Hae ften and, Nostitz awaited his return outside on. the terrace·, where the warmth· of the lan- guid s ummer night provided a stark contrast to the mounting tension they felt. Their vigil was a long one , for Trott did not return until very late . He had seen Stauffenberg .

Expecting the Gestapo at any momen-t , Trott hid his memorandum 74. and the three men tried to sleep.

74 Interview with Botschafter Gottfried von Nostitz , Munich , June 4, 19 70. 137

Early the next morning Ro semarie Reichwe�n arrived at the Hortensienstrasse SO . Peter Yorck tried to comfort her· and decided to phone Leber at his coal yard . The te rse reply

from the other end of the line· confirmed- his wors t fear . 75 Leber , too , had been arrested.

News of the arre sts traveled fast. Haub ach - phoned . 7 6 Stauffenberg that mo rning to inform him of Leber ' s arrest.

Haubach , quite probably, had· been the intruder at Hae ften 's apartment on the previous night, and on ce again he was the bearer of bad tidings . Re ichwe in had been seized at the

S-Bahn station on· the Heere.sstrasse along with Anton Sae fkow and Fran z - Jakob , wh ile Leber was· arrested the fol lowing morn­ 7 7 ing in his office . The situation was de sperate . Not only was Leber considered indispensable in Stauf fenberg 's politi- cal calculations , but the possibility loomed· large that under

Gestapo tortures in formation might be extorted from the pair which would endanger the enti re conspiracy . The situation demanded immediate action .

That evening Trott., Haeften , and Nostitz drove in

Trott 's small· car to Potsdam, where Schwerin had invi ted several guests ostens ibly to celebrate the birthday of. an

75 Interview with Frau - Rei chwe in , Berl in , July 15 , 1970. 7 6 Eberhard Zeller, Geist der Freiheit, p. 366. 77 Anti faschistische Lehrer, p. 90. ,

1 3 8 as sociate . Several cars , among them a number of the familiar grey automobiles o·f the military , were parked in front of

S chwerin 's house , and inside the newcomers we re greeted by

Berthold Stauffenberg , Yorck , Fritzi Schulenburg , Schwerin·, and others . Despite the travity of the situation , the atmo.s­ phere in the house was· remarkably· relax�d. Having finally decided on immediate action , they seemed to have been re leased from the terrib le burden that mon·thS , even.. years , of waiting had placed on them , and· their mood., Nostitz ob served, was calm , re l ieved , almost cheerful . The waiting was at last 78 over·. The next day Claus Stauffenberg flew to Berchtesc;aden for a conference with - Hitler . With him he· carried the explo-·

sives . •

On July 1 Stauffenberg had- been promoted to the post. of Chief of Staff to the Commander of the Re serve Army , a position · which provided him· access to the military con ferences in Hitler 's headquarters . From- his actions at the conference at the Obersalzberg on July· 6, it is not clear whe ther Stauffen- berg intended to activate the bomb himself or to entrust it to

General Stief£, a fellow conspirator who would have the oppor­ tunity to do so at a uniform display to be attended by Hitler on the fo llowing day . But· neither Himmler nor Goering were present at the conference , and Stauffenberg . originally hoped _

7 8 rnterview with - Botschafter Gottfried von ·. Nostitz, Mun ich , June 4, 1970 . 139 to eliminate them along with th eir Fiihrer with a single blow.

Whether he le ft the bomb with - Stieff or returned- with it to

Berlin · is- uncertain , but· July 7 passed wi thout the - alarm from- the Fi.ihrerhauptquartier. The waiting was· not over, for this· was the first of three frustrated attempts made, by Stauffen­ 79 berg before July 20 .

On July 10 Hans Lukaschek arrived in Berlin from Bres­ lau and visited his close friend Paulus van Husen that evening for dinner. There he me t· Peter Yorck , who· announced upon

entering th at· Count Stauffenberg could· be expected later • .

Around nine o'cloc� he arrived . With · the severe wounds he · had· suffered in Africa·, Stauffenberg made an extraordinary impression - on· Lukaschek . His manner was deadly serious , his youthful countenance subme rged in the gravi ty of the moment.

Asked· about the mi litary situation t he answered that the Rus ­ sians were on the verge of a breakthrough. on· the Vi stula- which could not· be stopped . De feat seemed· certain . nwhat now? ," asked. Lukaschek . Ri sing to leave , Stauffenberg . re_plied,

"Assassination is all that remains for me . . , . out of Chris­ tian responsibility ."�O

79 Peter Hoffmann , Widerstand , Staatss treich , p. 451. 80 Hans Lukaschek , 11Was war und· wo llte der Kreisauer Kreis?,.. unpublished speech . 140

On the followinq· day Stauffenberg again traveled to

Berchtesgaden . But again the Attentat was· pos tpon ed . Himm-

ler had failed to appear at the conference , and , since Field

Marshals Rommel and Kluge had· demanded the simultaneous remov­

al of the Re ichsfUhrer SS and GO ring as a prerequisite to 81 their vital participation in· the plot, Stauffenberg did no t 82 de tonate the bomb .

With each passing day the situation· in · Berlin grew· more tense . Each� delay , each pos tpo nemen·t, might. be critical .

Each knock at· the door might mean the Gestapo ; each phone ·

call might brinq the news of a friend 's arrest. On' July 13.

Haeften , whose brother Werner informed daily of. Stauffen- berg's activities , wrote to his wife in . Me cklenburg and, in

th eir own code , to ld of the events· of the past pressure­

fi lled days . Werner, he wrote , was looking for a house in . Potsdam . Twice in the last few days he had tried to find

one , but had been unsuccess ful . He would , however., try again 83 in· the next couple of days .

8 1 Hans· Bernd Gisevius , · Bis zum Bitteren · Ende . Vom 30 . Juni 1934 zum 20 . Juli 19 44 , p:-!4� Kluge was � Commanaer­ in-chrer-ortheGerman Army in th e West an d . Rommel the Com­ mander of Army Group B under him·. 82 Peter Hoffmann , Widers t�d, Staats s tre ich , pp. 451- 452. 8 3 Letter from Hans von Hae ften to his �ife , July 13 , 19 44. 1 41

· It was from Werner von· Hae ften th at Yo rck received word that Stauffenberg would attend . another conference · at

the FUhrerhauptquartier on July 15 . On th at date Yorck reported to Schwe rin 's office in . the Prinz Heinrich Strasse, where he was joined by Schulenbu�g and , perhaps , others .

Schulenburg brought wi th him the list of civ�lian · le aders to 8 4 be contacted after the successful Putsch . But once again they waited for the alarm th at did not come .

Hitler 's headquarters had been shifted to the secluded

Wolfschanze in . Again Stauffenberg was prepared to execute the assassination·, th is time regardless of the absence of Himmler and Goring . But once again his efforts were frustrated . Because of a change in the conference sched- ule he was unable to trans fer the bomb into his briefcase , 8 5 and another opportunity was thus lost.

In the meantime Thee Haub ach had left Berlin . The arrest of his friends Re ichwe in and Leber worried him greatly , and in several conversations with- Heinrich Gleissner· he expressed fears of far-reaching consequences . Since July· 5 · he had been in closer contact with Stauffenberg and was- con­ 86 vinced that· th e time for action · had arrived . Still , both

84 Yorck ' s tes timony before the Peoples ' Court � in Budde and Lutschess, Die Wahrheit Uber den 20 . Juli , pp . 86- 87. 85 Peter Hoffmann , Widerstand , Staatsstreich , pp . 453- 456 . 8 6 Letter from Dr. He inrich Gleissner·, June 11, 197 0. 142

Haub ach and his friend and employer Viktor Baus ch fe lt th at he should disappear from Berlin for several days , and arrange- ­ ments were made for him to visit his friend Emil Henk in the 8 7 Allgau Alps . On July 16 Leuschner-, one of the very few in

Berlin who knew Haubach ' s address in Bavaria, wro·te to inform 88 him that another attempt could be expected within the week .

Theodor Steltzer, though. stationed in Norway , also entered the drama that was· building in Berlin in· the early days of July . Several days before July 20- he dispatched

Mo ltke 's younger brother , assigned to his command in Norway , to Berlin to be briefed on the situation by Peter Yorck . He returned with · the report that· a coup �'etat was expected in 89 the next few days . Stelt zer , who remained· co nstant in his opposition · t� a violent overthrow of· the government , nonethe­ less compo sed a policy statement to be smuggled to the Western

Allies . In th is memorandum , entitled "the German- Opposition to National Socialism ," he outlined· the Kreisau program , 90 including its concept of fore ign policy . The intended recipients of the memorandum were Moltke 's friends. Lionel

8 7 viktor Baus ch , "Erinnerungen ," in Walter H ammer ed . , Theodor Haubach zum Gedachtnis , p. 56 . 8 8 wilhelm Lei thauser, Wilh� lm Leuschner, p. 256·. 89 Theodor Steltzer, Sechzig Jahre Zeitgenosse, p. 159 . 90 Theodor Steltzer, Von Deutscher Politik , pp . 8 1-96 . 143

Curtis and Michae l Balfour of the Ro und Tab le Circle in

London·. On July 1 6 Steltzer handed his composition to a

Norwegian · contact who transmitted it to its de stination in· 91 England . Though alienated from th e active center of the· circle by geography and opposed to its participation in· the plot, Steltzer •s individual action in Norway was· a logical extension - of the circle 's efforts in Berlin .

July 16. was a Sunday , but in. Berlin it was· no day of rest. In the afternoon Stauffenberg conferred with Beck , upon· whom the waiting and repeated postponements were taking the ir inevitable toll, and that· evening the Stauffenberg apartment in Wannsee was the scene of another conference .

The mee·ting , wh ich convened around· 7:00 p.m. , was attended by Claus and Berthold Stauffenberg , Fritzi Schulenburg ,

Yorck , Trott , Schwerin , Colonels Mertz von Quirnheim , Georg

Hansen , and Caesar von Hofacker, the latter three being mili­ tary conspirators who were to figure in the implemen.tation · of ·

Operation Walkure . Hofacker, . who was on . the staff. of General von Stulpnagel, the military governor of. , reported on the military situation in the West, relating the gloomy. fore­ casts of Rommel and Kluge that the front would be broken irreparably within six we eks . A discuss ion of . fore ign policy followed wh ich seems to have been led by Trott and during

91 Ger van Roan , Neuordnung , pp . 328-329 . 144· which three possible courses of action we re considered.

According to the so-called "Westlosung," German troops would cease all hostile action in· the We st and withdraw to the

German. frontier, thereby creating circums tance s favorable to a separate peace with the Western Allies . In light of

Hofacker 's· report , Stauffenberg seems to have been interested in this option . Another possible move invis ioned a seizure of the Wehrmacht communications apparatus for at least twen·ty­ four hours and the immediate ordering of all troops to fall back to the German· frontiers , thus confronting the Fuhrer­ hauptquartier with a fait accompli. Finally , the "Central

Solution " was di scussed, according to which an Attentat wo uld be followed· by simultaneous negotiations with both the

Wes tern Allies and the Soviet Union . Trott , supported by 92 Yorck , especially advocated this course of. action . From his contacts with Allied diplomats he realized th at a separate peace with the We st would never be accepted in London or Wash­ ington and that peace overtures would fall on deaf ears in those capitols if not accompanied by simultaneous offers to the Allies ' partner in the East. Trott suffered no illus ions as to the possible te rms Germany would. be handed, and like ·

Leber, considered a total military occupation of Germany unavoidable . After considerable debate this "Central

92 spiegelbild einer Ve rschworung , p. 497. 145

Solution" seems to have been agreed upon as the proper course

of action , and Trott was· to be included in the German· delega­ 93 tion · chosen to negotiate with the West.

Later th at same night Yorck and Husen met in the

Hortensienstrasse 50 for the last time . Both men were

extremely nervous and their conversation was interrupted

time and again to peer through the curtains onto the street .

They found it incredible· th at the Ges tapo had not· yet uncov-.

ered the conspiracy . The topic of their final meeting was

X-Day . Toward the end of June Stauffenberg had asked· his

cous in to accept a position within the new government, but 94 Yorck had demurred . The arrest of Leber and the · imminence

of X-Day , however, had made certain changes in personnel

necessary . Stauffenberg had·, th ere fore , renewed· his offer

and asked Yorck to accept the po sition of State Secre tary in l the Reich Chancellry . This time Yorck agreed . Hus en , too , was now to assume th e post of Staats sekretar in the Depart-

men·t . of the Interior . Although Husen ob jected , Yorck over-

came his re luctance with an appeal to the urgency of the

situation . A car , Yorck explained , would be sent to Husen 's

office on X-Day , which could be expected within the coming

93 rbid. , pp . 101 , 175 . 9 4 rbid. , p. 110 . Also see Yorck 's testimony be.fo re the Peoplesr-court· in Budde and Lutschess, Die Wahrheit. Uber den 20. Juli , pp . 85-8 6. 146

week , and he would join the other political appointees in

Count Schwerin 's office in the Prinz He inrich Strasse . The · 9 5 car , however , never came .

On July 18· Stauffenb erg and Goerde ler held . th eir final

conversation . Goerde ler still hoped that the Westlosung

could be implemented , but Stauf fenberg dismissed his offer �6 to visit Kluge again as impos sible . Th ere was no time .

Goerdeler , who had been enraged upon learning of Stauffen­ 9 7 berg 's independent appo in tment of Yorck , · thus received-

ano ther· rebuff . Repeatedly he complained to Jakob· Kaiser ,

"They are trying to exclude me . They don 't inform me. any­ 98 mo re ." His diminishing influence· on events and policies · within the resis tance were clearly visible .

Th at same afternoon Stauffenberg seems to have become

fairly certain that he would be summoned to anoth er confer- ·

ence in the Wolfschanze on July 20 . The inner circle of

conspirators. was on ce again informed·, Yorck re ceiving th e word from Schwe rin . Since Yorck planned to be in Weimar· on

the following day , Schwerin agreed to telegraph him there if

9 5 Paulus van Husen , "Report on my participation in· the enterprise of the 20. July 19 44 ," unpublished composi­ tion . 96 Pete r Hoffman , Wide rs tand , Staatss treich , p. 461. 97 H. B. Gisevius , Bis zum Bitteren Ende , p. 3 5 1. 98 Elfriede Nebgen , Jakob Kaiser, p. 174. 147

the Attentat was again postponed . Otherwi se Yorck would 99 return to Berlin early on. July 20 .

Trott , who had again discussed fore ign po licy with . 100 · Berthold Stauffenberg on the previous day , was· also among

those informed- of the new date on July 18 . After briefing

Wilhe lm Melchers , a trus ted official in the Fore ign Office ,

on the extent of the conspiracy , Trott told him· th at· nothing

would happen on · the next day , but that he should· be ready on­ 101 July 2 0.

' � On July· 18 Stauffenberg 's though ts were still with

Julius Leber, the man· he hoped to see as Ch ancellor of a new

government. His· ab sence from the political scene had been

keenly felt by Stau ffenberg , and it was Leber 's arrest that

pre cipitated action . In a conversation- with · Trott. sometime

after Leber 's arrest, Stauffenberg exclaimed with fervor :

"We need Leber. I'll get hi� out . I'll get him out. " On

July 18 a brief mes s age from Stauffenberg reached· Frau Leber : 102 "We are aw are of our. duty . "

On the morning of July 19 Peter and Marion · Yo rck

boarded the train for We imar . Th ere was to be a wedding in

99 Letter from Countess Yorck von Wartenburg , May 27, 1970 . 100 spiegelbild einer Verschworung , p. 57 . 101 Frau Dr. Clarita von Trott zu Solz , Materialsammlung , unpublished . 102 J. Leber, Ein Mann Geht Seinen Weg, pp . 292-293. 148 · the family on· the fol lowing day , and the traditional

Polterabend fes tivities were scheduled for the evening of the 19th. The Yorcks had· found an empty compartment for the journey , and, seated alone as the train sped aw ay from bomb-· torn Berlin , Peter Yorck explained that he mu st re turn early the next morning. Tomorrow , the 2 0th of Ju ly , he said, is 10 3 X - D ay .

As the train carrying Peter and Marion Yorck was approach ing Weimar , the phone at the Me cklenburg home of

Hans von- Haeften had begun. to ring . Haeften came · as often as pos sible to Me cklenb urg·, where his family had sought re fuge from the deadly re ign · of bombs wh ich fell relentlessly on Berlin . He had come on June 24 fo r the baptism of· his youngest daughter and had returned for a short. stay with his family . The phone call on July 19 , however , was from Berlin ·.

It was his brother Werner. The conversation·, such as · it was , was brief, and calmly· replacing the receiver , he turned to his wife Barb ara and in a mild yet firm voice said simply ,

"Now the film mus t roll ." Early the next morning he too left . 104 for Berlin • For Adam von Trott, at work in· Berlin , July· 19 passed - uneventfully . Preparations for the takeover of the Foreign ·

103 Letter from Counte ss Yorck von Wartenburg·, May 27, 19 70 . 104 rnterview with Frau . Barb ara von Haeften , Heidelberg , May 27 , 19 70 . 149

Office · continued , and Trott, in Haeften 's absence , summoned· a number of reliab le officials to the Wilhelmstrasse for the 10 5 next day . At some po int in the day he found time to com-. pose a poignant letter to his wife Clarita , which she kept after de s troying the compromising- portions (given- here in parentheses) :

(The reas on I have written to you· so little in the last days is not th at I have too little but too much to te ll you . During the next weeks and perhaps for longer , you- may not hear from me at all.) But- what remains is deep confidence in our life together, wh ich we live a·t two poles 1 far from eaCh other, but as part of a unity and under the same sign . I think very often and with great longing of you and the . sweet ch ildren , and also of the valley s and hills , their peace , and our. walks together on - the high ground·. Never de spair (in all the troubles that mus t certainly· come) . They give us opportuni ty to­ recognize in fullness the gravity , th e bre adth and the strength of life and the Cre ator of life , in a way th at has been denied to many generations . l06

In the evening , the Attentat only hours aw ay-, Claus von

Stauffenberg stopped at Trott.' s apartment in Dahlem· for_ a final conversation . During this meeting Stauffenberg appar­ ently vo iced fenewed hope in th e possibility of· entering negotiations with the Weste rn Allies on a commander-to-com- . mander basis after the elimination of- Hitler. Trott. was very skeptical , but Stauffenberg . repl'ied that Beck did not share

Trott 's opinion . Trott had the impression that Beck had very

105 Frau Dr . Clarita von- Trott zu Solz , Materialsammlung , unpublished. 106 chris topher Sykes , Troubled Loyal ty, p. 432 . 150 recently discovered new possibilities· for negotiations with the American High Command . Wh ile - Stauffenberg was no t wi ll­ ing to accept complete ly Trott 's sober appraisal of Germany 's options , he recognized th at Germany 's. military position . was impossible and that a military occupation of the Re ich was unavoidable . Th us , de spite certain illusions , Stauffenberg stood closer to Trott, Leber , than- to Goerdeler . At any rate , everything depended upon the removal of the Hitler regime , . 107 and this he was determined to accomplish . Trott and Stauf-· fenberg concluded their conversation , and Stauffenberg left for his apartment in Wannsee . On his way he stopped for sev- 108 era! moments at an empty church .

At about the same time Eugen Gerstenmaier an d his wife were boarding a train in. Stuttgart bound for Berlin . Several weeks had pas sed since he had· left the capitol on the pretense of conducting a youth retre at in the mountains in Aus tria.

His- rather sudden departure from· Berlin had been induced- by the arrest of his close friend and co l league Wilhelm Bachmann , secretary of the Evangelical Welfare Association for internees and prisoners of war in Germany . In searching his desk, the

Ge s tapo had dis covered seve ral papers composed by Gerstenmaier and intended for Dietrich Bonhoe ffer , already arrested.

107 christi an Muller, Oberst !.G. Stauffenberg , pp . 4 5 3-. 454 . 108 Eberhard Zeller, Geist der Freiheit, p. 377. 151

Expecting his own. arres t at any moment , Ge rstenmaier quickly ar ranged to spend several we eks in the Carinthian Alps .

There in a remote mountain vi l lage he had rece ived. pos tcards from Peter Yorck which , in coded form , hinted at events in

Berlin . "The wedding," their code for X-Day , had been repeat- edly postponed . Finally Yorck 's me ssage s indi cated tha t the

"wedding" would almost ce rtainly take place around July 20 , a convenient code , indeed , considering the wedding in We imar·.

So , after halting briefly in Stuttgart on July 19 , the Gers ten- maiers moved on toward Berlin and the Hortens iens trasse SO .

They arrived at Yorck 's house around 3:00 a.m. on the 20th, where , concealed between the pages of a cookbook , a short ciphered note from Peter Yorck info rmed them of· the arrest of

I I 109 L e b er an d R e1c hwe1n .

In Weimar· the Polterabend fes tivities had come . to an end . For Peter and Marion . Yorck , who throughout. the evening were aw are that it might be their last together, the evening 's gay exterior was· spread thinly over the tens ion they mus t have

109 compiled from interview with Dr . Eugen Gers tenmaier , Oberwinter, June 3, 19 70 ; E. Gers tenmaier, "The Church Con­ spiratorial," in Eric Boehm , ed . , We Survived , pp . 183-184 ; and Fabian · von Schlabrendorff, Eugen Gerstenrnaier im Dritten Re ich , pp . 30-33 . 152· known . At 2:00 a.m. Peter Yorck bade farewell to his wife and boarded the train for Berlin . They never saw one ano ther ' 110 aga1.n .

In the early mo rn ing hours of July 20 Claus von Stauf- ·. fenberg and Werner von Haeften climbed ab oard a military air- craft bound for East Prussia and the Wolfschanze . X-Day , the day for which the Kreisauers had worked and planned., had come .

110 rnte rview with Co untess Yorck von Wartenburg , Berlinj July 15 , 197 0. CHAP TER V

THE 20TH OF JULY AND AFTERWARDS

At about 12 :50 p.m. on July· 20 the bomb , concealed in Stauffenb erg 's briefcase , exploded , shatteri� th e small wooden building where Adolf Hitler was conducting his morning· military conference� Stauffenberg and Haeften miraculously managed to escape from the Wo lfschanze and re turned to Berlin.

The flight from. East Prussia, however , lasted over two hours , an d the message of a fellow conspirator that Hitler had been killed did not reach the War Minis try in the Bendlerstrasse , the headquarters of the coup. The orders fo r th e implemen.ta­ ti on of Operation Walkure had , therefore , not been issued .

It was late afternoon before Stauffenberg reached the Bendler­ strasse , and valuable time had been lost. Immediate ly orders for Walkure were radioed to military commanders throughout the Reich , and until shortly after· 10 p.m. the Bendlerstras se was the scene of feverish activity . Failure to seize control of the Berlin- radio station , however , proved fatal . Soon. · orders from the FUhrerhauptquartier reached the mi litary com­ manders rescinding all orders from the Bendlerstrasse . Despite · continued implementation of the coup in Paris , , and

Prague , the conspiracy in Berlin had collapsed by 11 :00 p.m.

Beck was allowed to commit suicide ; Stau ffenb erg , Haeften ,

15 3 154 ·

Olbricht, and Me rtz von Quirnheim were led into the Bendler- block courtyard and , in the glare of lights from several military trucks , we re summari ly executed. Standing against the sandbagged wall of the bui lding Stauffenberg shouted ,

"Long live holy Germany !" Then a volley of shots echoed 1 throughout the courtyard.

Peter Yorck and Eugen Gerstenmaier were arres ted with

Schulenburg , Schwerin , Berthold von· Stauffenberg , and others .

Yorck had arrived at the War Minis try in- the early afternoon , and with him he brought a list of instructions to be. dis­ patched to the new· administrative offi cials throughout· Ger- . 2 many . Around· 5:0 0 p.m. he phoned· the Hortensienstrasse and summoned Gers tenmaier to the War Ministry . On ly moments before Yorck 's call a special radio broadcast announced the failure of the assassination attempt . Neverthe less , Gers ten- maier, a pistol in one pocket and his Bible in the other , le ft the Hortensienstrasse . At th e War Ministry he was briefed by Yorck and Schulenburg . The assassination had apparently miscarried , but· the coup was still being carried out . Later provisional authority over the Reich Minis try of. the Church and Education - was- conferred upon Gers tenmaier by

Co lonel General Hoepner , but it was incre as ingly evident th at

1 Peter Ho ffmann , Widerstand , Staats s treich , pp . 4 66-6 03. 2 spiegelbild einer Verschworung , . p. 110 . 1 55 the plot had failed . As the· shots from the courtyard rang out just after midnight , Yorck and Ge rsten- maier waited with the other prisoners in Stauffenberg 's office for th eir own execution . Instead , they were trans­ 3 ported to the Ges tapo prison in. the Prinz Albrechtstrasse .

Adam von Trott and Hans von Hae ften spent the 20th of

July at their pos ts in the Wilhelms trasse anxious ly aw aiting orde rs to proceed with the takeover of the Fore ign Office .

Hae ften had a written autho ri zation. to assume control of the

Wilhelms trasse and was prepared to arrest certain of�icials .

Trott, Haeften , Wilhelm Melchers , and Alexander Werth· met in·

Trott 's office and wai ted for the te lephone call from· the·

War Ministry . But th e phone call did not come . Attempts to re ach Hae ften 's brother proved futile . Finally , at around·

7 :00 p.m. Haeften again tried to te lephone his· brother . When· he returned from his office , as Me lchers later recalled , "he was de athly pale . I� his eyes was the dawning realisation of what danger we we re in . Why did his brother not answer? "

When the troops wh o had sealed off th e street below in keep­ ing with Operation Walkure withdrew , it was clear that the plot had failed. The meeting in Trott 's office broke up , but

Trott , still hoping to hear from Stauf fenberg , remained behind .

3 Eugen Gerstenmaier , "Die Kreisauer und der 20 . Juli ," Reden und Aufsatze , v. II , pp . 238-243, and E. Gers tenmaier, 11The Church Conspiratori al," in E. Boehm , We-- Survived., pp. 186-1 88. 156

He waited until eleven. o'clock . In the middle of the night he met Haeften in- the darkness of the Grunewald to coordinate their stories in case of arrest. The next day Haeften le ft for Me cklenburg to bid farewell to his family . On July 23 he was arres ted . Trott , who refused to leave Berlin , was­ 4 arreste d two days later.

Within days the major figures of the circle were arrested, and on August 7-8 Peter Yorck was the firs t Krei- . sauer to stand before the Volksgerichthof . The verdict of the "court" was., of course , a foregone conclus ion , and Yorck made no attempt to evade re sponsibility . His· conduct- was characteristic of all the Kreisauers who faced the infamous judge , and de spite insults · and abuse pouring from the bench·, Yorck gave an eloquent and unequivocal state- ment of his· position :

The decis ive factor wh ich brings to gether all these questions is the to talitarian · claim of the state on the individual wh ich forces him to renounce- his- moral and religious ob ligations to God. 5

Before his· execution on the same day Yorck whispered to Harald

Poelchau·, wh o was the prison chaplain and whose resistance

4 Me lchers ' account is found in Chris topher Sykes·, Troubled Loyalty, pp . 434-437. 5 Yorck 's te stimony before the Peoples ' Court in Budde and Lutschess , Die Wahrheit Uber den 20. Juli , p. 8 5. 157 · role had not been uncovered , that nothing was yet known of 6 th e Kreisau work .

Despite brut al torture an d threats to family and friends ·, the Ge stapo never dis covered. the true extent of the circle •s activities . The · Kreisau documents ., for e�amp le , were no t. found . Lack of evidence , however , did not res train

Nazi "justice ." Trott and Haeften· were tried and executed in Augus t; Re ichwein in· October; Leber, Mo ltke , and. Haubach 1 ' in January ; and Father Delp in- February . The courage of these men did not· de sert them in the cefa of de ath . "For so just and good. a thing ," Leber said , "the giving of one 's 8 own life is the proper price ." Ge rs tenmaier , Steltzer , and

Husen escaped with prison sentences , while Lukaschek , who was tried after Freisler 's de ath in an air raid , was acquit- 9 ted.

In the weeks an d months that· led to the 20th of July the loose structure of the Kreisau Circle had been 'maintained and the meetings in Berlin had continued , despite the - los s of

Helmuth von Moltke . Peter Yorck , assuming the ro le of .•

6 Interview with Dr . Harald Poelchau , Berlin , Ap ril 6 , 1970 . 7 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung , pp . 29 1-293. 8 Annedore Leber and Freya Countess ·von Moltke , Fiir und Wider , p. 236 . 9 Ger van Roon , Neuordnung , p. 293. ... 158·

Ge schaftsfUhrer, had not on ly continued to provide the cir- ole's members with a common· center and meeting place but also, under the influence of Stauffenberg , had given the circle a new dire ction . During this period, as the circle became grad- ually integrated into the active plans for X-Day , Julius .

Leber 's relationship with the circle grew . mo re intimate . It was , after all , with Adolf Re ichwe in and the support. of the .

Kreisau Circle that Leber entered the negotiations with the

Communists . Although Stauffenberg by no means dominated the political aspects of the conspiracy , his inclination tow ard the politics of Leber and his Kreisau friends contrib uted significantly to the emergence of Leber as the re sistance 's most dynamic po litical figure in the last months before July

20 .

The political tensions within the re sis tance had not eased by July 2 0, and th e Kreisau Circle was only one of seve ral groups that figured prominently in the political composition· of the resistance . The asse rtion . that Stauffen­ berg hoped to install a "Kreisau government" with Leber as . 10 . c h ance 11 or an d Trott as f ore�g. n m�nl.s. t er �s , th ere f ore , mere speculation . Certainly the group around Goerde ler and the Leus chner-Kaiser group had both played important roles in the developments leading to the coup, and their influence

10 Gert Buchheit, Ludwig Beck . Ein preussischer Gen­ eral , Munich , 196 4, p. 207. 159 in the formation· of· a pos t-Nazi Germany would have been great. While they , like Leber and the Kreisauers , were dependent upon Stauffenberg for the execution of the Staats ­ streich , they had· not· surrende red po litical control of the re sis tance to the young colonel. Still, primarily due to the rise of Stauf fenberg and his close re lationships · with

Yorck , Trott , and Leber , the Kreisau Ci rcle was· drawn . into the active conspiracy . The circ le did not play a crucial ro le in the events of July 20 . Its · primary duties in the operation were politi cal-administrative and were to have followed the succes sful coup . However·, the actions of Yorck ,

Gers tenmaier , Tro tt , and Haeften. cle arly indicate the extent of the circle 's involvement in . stauf fenberg 's plans . More­ over , the circle 's participation in· the political preparations for X-Day had been considerable . Since the completion of the

Kreisau program in· May of 19 43, the circle had· moved. slowly from the fringes of the resistance tow ard its active center.

Rather than dis solving in January 1944, the Kreis au Circle became an integral part of th e conspiracy which culminated in the Bendlerstras se on that sultry Thursday in July of 19 44. BIBLIOGRAPHY BIBLIOGRAPHY

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' ..:

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16 1 162 ·

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Thomas Clifford Childers , Jr . , was born in Cleveland ,

Tennessee, on December 10 , 1946 . He attended grammar school and high school in Cleveland be fo re entering The Univers ity of Tennessee in 1965 where he graduated with a Bachelor of.

Arts degree in political science in 1969 . During 19 69-1970 he studied as a Fulbright Scholar at. the Johannes Gutenberg

Universitat in , We st Germany . He rece ived the Ma ster of Arts- degree in history from The University of Tennessee in August 19 71.

Mr . Childers is married to the forme r Elizabeth Caro­ line Mayfield of Cleveland , Tennessee .

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