Kreisau Circle
The circle was composed of men and a few women from a variety of backgrounds, including those of noble descent, devout Protestants and Catholics, intellectuals, military personnel, socialists and conservatives.
[1] Despite their differences, the members of the Kreisau Circle found common interest in their opposition to Hitler's regime on moral and religious grounds.
Although the circle did not promote violent overthrow of the regime, their planning was considered by the Nazis to be treasonous as it rested on the assumption that Germany would lose the war.
[4] Although motivated by differing ideologies (the German Youth Movement in a return to nature and religious socialism in a return to Christian values), each faction inspired resistance to the Nazi regime by encouraging their followers to reconsider traditionally rigid political, social, and religious distinctions and engage in discourse with those who disagreed with them.
These fundamental similarities created an environment that allowed for persons of a variety of backgrounds to meet and participate in intellectual resistance to the Third Reich.
Following great losses during the war, young men found themselves fascinated with Volkish ideology, the idea of reunification of the German people that transcended class distinctions.
[4] An extension of the German Youth Movement, the Löwenberger Arbeitsgemeinschaften was an organization of college professors, youth movement leaders, unemployed workers, students, and farmers who came together to work in work camps and discuss social and political issues and solve the problems Silesia faced (i.e. high unemployment) in the aftermath of WWI.
One participant described his time at the camps, "Representatives of the three social groups in the nation were able to achieve a common language that had proved beyond the grasp of the older generation.
This lesson that people of differing social classes and political views could collaborate successfully would greatly influence Helmuth James von Moltke in his construction of the Kreisau Circle, who himself was an important contributor to the Löwenberger movement.
This movement is notably characterized by the work of Paul Tillich, who sought to fashion socialism into an ideology that was complementary with Christian faith.
In 1938, both men began to form separate social circles in which they discussed the problems of the Reich and their hopes for Germany's future.
Moltke's circle, which included Einsiedel, was largely preoccupied with the sociological and economic problems that Germany would face after the Reich fell.
Yorck's circle, which began to meet frequently at his home, focused mostly on the administrative questions of how the government should run after Hitler's regime had ended.
[3] Their differences were valued as Moltke and Yorck believed that debate would assist them to accomplish their common goal for a better Germany following “X-day”, or the day after the end of the Reich.
The Kreisau Circle's most notable member was Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, who was considered to be the leader of the organization.
Following Kristallnacht in 1938 and a trip to Prague that made him realize the Nazis' imperialist intentions, Yorck became increasingly troubled with Hitler's regime and began to bring groups of dissenters to his home to discuss what was to be done after the fall of the Third Reich.
According to Freya von Moltke, some of the most pressing questions that the group sought to answer were, "How can I make democrats out of Germans who had not been able, really, to run a democracy properly?"
In a constitutional draft made on 9 August 1943, Moltke outlined a new Reich structure which would be self-governing and rest upon the, “natural divisions of the nation: family, municipality, and land”.
The eligible voters, which Moltke defined as all persons over the age of 21 or have served in the military, would elect municipal and county representative assemblies.
Moltke and other members in the circle wanted a restoration of Christian values that they felt had been lost and led to Hitler's regime.
[9] With the return of Christian values, the group believed that greater acceptance and cooperation between all peoples would occur and lead to the political unification of the European continent.
In the autumn of 1943, Helmuth von Moltke learned from an informant that a Gestapo spy had discovered an anti-Nazi salon in Berlin and that there would be a round-up of all participants.
[2] Kiep, former German Consul General in New York and member of the Abwehr's counterintelligence department under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, failed to escape and was arrested in January 1944.
[4] Prior to the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler, Helmuth von Moltke was treated fairly in prison and allowed to correspond with his wife Freya.
In addition, Freya von Moltke transformed the Kreisau estate into the Krzyzowa Foundation for Mutual Understanding in Europe on 10 July 1990.
[3] This foundation bases its work on the principles of the Kreisau Circle, and continues to look towards developing understanding between persons from different social, political, and cultural backgrounds.
