Table Of ContentHELMUTH VON MOLTKE
Helmuth von Moltke
A LEADER AGAINST HITLER
by
MICHAEL BALFOUR
Professor of European History
in the University of East Anglia
and
JULIAN FRISBY
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
©Michael Balfour and Julian Frisby 1972
Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover 1st edition 1972 978-0-333-14030-7
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or
by any means, without permission.
SBN 333 14030 3
Library of Congress catalog card number 72-86789
Published by
MACMILLAN LONDON LIMITED
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in New York Toronto
Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras
ISBN 978-1-349-01632-7 ISBN 978-1-349-01630-3 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-1-349-01630-3
Contents
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii
PREFACE ix
AUTHORS' NOTE xi
ABBREVIATIONS xi
1 The Moltke Family 1
2 Kreisau 6
3 James Rose Innes and His Daughter 11
4 Early Life 18
5 Two Important Influences 25
6 Crisis at Kreisau: Marriage 35
7 The Nazi Menace 50
8 Life and Death in Nazi Germany: 1934-5 58
9 A Lifeline to England: 1935-8 65
10 Hitler Offends the Army: 1938 74
11 The Munich Crisis 81
12 The Last Months of Peace 86
13 The Abwehr 94
14 Work in the Abwehr: September-December 1939 99
15 Waiting for the Attack: January-Apri/1940 110
16 The Crisis of Confidence: May-June 1940 122
17 Keeping a Head above Water: July-December 1940 131
18 Interlude: January 22-June 1941 146
19 Fresh Impetus: 22 June-December 1941 151
20 Steps Forward: January-Whitsun 1942 178
21 The Turning Point: Whitsun-Christmas 1942 195
22 Argument and Frustration: January-April1943 206
23 Hard at Work: April-August 1943 228
24 Plans 237
25 Travels: April-December 1943 258
Vl CONTENTS
26 The Last Weeks of Liberty: October 1943-January
1944 282
27 The Spy 296
28 Downfalls 299
29 Imprisonment 307
30 Trial and Death 316
APPENDIX: The Last Months in Kreisau 337
NOTES 369
INDEX 381
List of Illustrations
Between pages 148 and 149
1. HELMUTH IN 1931
Although Helmuth brought Fraulein Schneefuss to Kreisau to
make a picture of him as a present for his parents, he declared
that he was too busy to sit inactive while she drew, so that this
charcoal sketch had to be made while he was working at his
desk.
2. THE SCHLOSS
3. THE BERGHAUS
Helmuth had this picture with him in Ravensbriick.
4. HELMUTH'S PARENTS
5[a] DOROTHY AND FREY A
[b] HELMUTH AND CASPAR, 1938
6. FREY A 1946
7. HELMUTH AT HIS TRIAL
Preisler on the left
8. LETTER OF 16 November 1941
Actual size
Preface
T H I s book has been written because its authors believe that only in
a continuous narrative, which not merely introduces at the proper
chronological points the material already published but also draws upon
the considerable amount of unpublished material, can the character of
Helmuth von Moltke be properly appreciated.
Chief among the unpublished (or partially published) documents
are the 1,600 letters which he wrote to his wife Freya between 1929
and 1945. Out of these, which besides being difficult to decipher are
often concerned with trivial and ephemeral matters, she has selected
580 for transcription as being of wider and lasting interest; of these
425 date from the war period. To our regret, however, we have found
ourselves unable to reproduce anything like all of these. For few of
the letters can be properly appreciated without a knowledge of the
private and public background against which they were written. It was
clearly essential for us to sketch the private background, while if we
had taken the public one for granted we should have narrowed ap
preciably the circle of those who could through the book come to know
the man. Even as things are, we have run to a greater length than we
intended and are in danger of producing an inappropriate memorial
to someone who valued brevity.
Our first and incomparably our biggest debt of gratitude is to Freya
Gratin von Moltke, particularly for placing at our disposal her know
ledge and memories as well as the letters and other material which she
has preserved with such faithful care. Both in writing the book and in
regular contacts throughout the years since 1945 we have been privi
leged to observe how her lively interest and involvement in the present
have at no time overshadowed her awareness of the past or prevented
her, while retaining a profound fidelity to Helmuth, from viewing him
and his activities objectively. We feel an obligation to make this re
markable personal achievement known.
Our second major obligation is to Dr Ger van Roon who has done
so much to collect information about Helmuth and his friends and has
generously put his knowledge and archives at our disposal. We intend
this book to be regarded as complementary to rather than as a substi
tute for his. He has looked at the group as a whole and has documented
the evolution of their ideas; we have been primarily concerned to give
a picture of the man we knew.
X PREFACE
We are also indebted to many members of Helmuth's family and,
among persons mentioned in the book, to Professor Dr Fritz
Christiansen-Weniger, Sir John Foster, Dr Eugen Gerstenmaier, the
Hon. Alexander Kirk, Dr Harald Poelchau, Professor Dr Wilhelm
Wengler and Marion Gratin Yorck von Wartenburg. Grizel Balfour
has given us invaluable help as typist and index-maker, beside holding
a watching brief for the general reader. The number of other people
who have assisted us is so great that we hope they will accept an ex
pression of gratitude which is no less sincere for being collective.
The book has been written as a joint enterprise to which J.F. has
contributed his intimate knowledge of the Moltke family and M.B. his
wider acquaintance with the history of the time. Primary responsibility
for the views expressed accordingly varies with the subject but neither
contributor is in disagreement with anything in the book. Where we
have had occasion to refer to parts which one or the other of us has
played in the story, we have identified the person concerned by initials,
since it would have been inappropriate to use the first person either
singular or plural and we felt it incongruous to use our own names.
Freya von Moltke has read the entire text and as far as her knowledge
goes (which is saying a good deal) believes it to be factually accurate.
We have not asked her to endorse all our judgments but we have no
reason to think that any of them make her unhappy.
MICHAEL BALFOUR
1 February 1972 JULIAN FRISBY
Authors' Note
U N L E s s otherwise specified, all Helmuth's letters were addressed to
Freya. In reproducing his letters, italics have been used where he himself
wrote the passage or words in English. In such cases, his own punctuation
has been retained.
Unless otherwise stated, the references to Dr van Roon's book are to
the English edition: German Resistance to Hitler: Count 'Von Moltke
and the Kreisau Circle (1971).
Abbreviations
AA Auswlirtiges Amt = Foreign Office
AHA Allgemeines Heeresamt = General Army Office
AWA Allgemeines Wehrmachtamt = General Office of the Armed
Forces
cos
Chief of Staff
GOC General Officer Commanding
HWK Handelskrieg und Wirtschaftliche Kampfmassnahmen = Trade
War and Measures for Economic Warfare
IfZ Institut fiir Zeitgeschichte (Contemporary History) Munich
IMT International Military Tribunal Nuremberg
OKH Oberkommando des Heeres = High Command of the Army
OKW Oberkommando der Wehrmacht = High Command of the
Armed Forces
PoW Prisoner-of- war
RSHA Reichssicherheitshauptamt = Head Office for State Security
SD Sicherheitsdienst = Security Service
VfZ Vierteljahreshefte fur Zeitgeschichte = Quarterly Journal of
Contemporary History
