Download Shane Bohn Resistance in Nazi Germany Paper Topic #2 – Final

Shane Bohn
Resistance in Nazi Germany
Paper Topic #2 – Final Draft
Help Received: Readings on Helmuth James von Moltke from class, notes from class, and Study
Guide created by Cadet Ryan Miccio
Helmuth James von Moltke
Helmuth James von Moltke was a German legal scholar who was an expert in
international law. He was one of the founding members of the Kreisau Circle. This was the
resistance group that opposed Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. As one of the leaders of the
Kreisau Circle, he fought for the rights of prisoners of war and for the rights of all those who
inhabited the conquered territories of Nazi Germany. He not only fought for the rights of the
conquered people, but he also helped move Jews to Denmark from dangerous areas where they
would be rounded up into ghettos and then transported to concentration camps or death camps by
the Nazis. Like Adam von Trott, Moltke also joined the ranks of the Nazi army so as to not draw
attention to himself, and to resist the Nazis from within their own ranks. He would also be able
to gather intelligence and monitor the plans of the Nazis. He worked in the Abwehr which was
the Nazi army intel force, but he did not wear a uniform while part of the Abwehr. Another
member of the resistance within Nazi Germany worked as one of his superiors: Admiral Canaris.
Moltke also attempted to spread his knowledge of Nazi plans and other intelligence to the
United States like Trott. He too, however, was met with the same response that Trott was:
mistrust. President Franklin D. Roosevelt did not listen to Moltke because he thought that like
all the other Nazis, he was illegitimate and probably giving false information to lead the United
States and its allies into a trap or to just give the Nazis an advantage.
When the members of the Kreisau Circle began to bring up the idea of assassinating
Adolf Hitler, Moltke strongly opposed this motion. He feared that if they were to carry out this
plot, Hitler would become a martyr in the eyes of all the Nazis. This would provide unrelenting
and passionate support for the Nazis that would end up making the assassination a better move
for the Nazis to move forward. He pleaded with the other members of the Kreisau Circle to find
another option so that the Nazis would not gain this support. He also knew that Hitler had very
strong leaders as his second in command, and feared that assassinating Hitler would be like
cutting off one head of a Hydra and having two take its place. Moltke also brought up the
argument that if they failed to assassinate Hitler, the failed assassination attempt would expose
the resistance which was full of the leaders that were meant to take the place of the Nazis after
the assassination. That would mean that if they failed, they all would be put to death by the Nazi
regime.
The members of the Kreisau Circle took into consideration Moltke’s valid points, but in
the end decided to move forward with the plot to kill Hitler. Moltke was arrested by the Gestapo
and put on trial by the People’s Court after the failed assassination attempt, but the court could
not find any evidence that Moltke was involved with the coup or the assassination. They did
however, sentence him to death on the grounds that he discussed with friends that he believed in
a Germany run on moral and democratic principles which they labeled as treason against Nazi
Germany.