Kreisau Circle

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The Kreisau Circle (German: Kreisauer Kreis) was the name the Gestapo gave to a group of Germans centered at the Kreisau estate of Helmuth James Graf von Moltke - a great-great nephew of the Field Marshal who had led the Prussian army to victory over France in 1870 - in order to envision an alternative to Nazism. It is one of the few instances of German Widerstand, resistance to the regime. The most celebrated members of the Kreisau Circle include Peter Yorck Count of Wartenburg - a direct descendant of the Prussian general of the Napoleonic era who was instrumental in arranging the defection of the Prussian army from the French side to that of the Allies - and Adam von Trott zu Solz.

The von Moltke main house at Kreisau

The group was mainly made up of conservatives from the traditional aristocracy and gentry. It included two Jesuit priests, two Lutheran Pastors, conservatives, liberals, socialists, landowners, former trade-union leaders and diplomats. It was united by its abhorrence of Nazism and its desire to conceive of a new Germany after the fall of Hitler. The long meetings and discussions at Kreisau developed an image of a society to be, based on Christian values and on small communities, so as to avoid a manipulation of the whole of society like the one Hitler had achieved.

The Kreisau Circle maintained contact with other groups of resistance. The circle worked to enlighten the Allied forces, especially the United Kingdom, to conditions within the Third Reich and the threats and weaknesses of Nazism. But the circle's main focus was to plan and propose a peacetime government for Germany; they do not ever appear to have made any plans to overthrow the Nazi state. As Moltke wrote to his wife just before his execution "we are to be hanged for thinking together."

On 19 January 1944 Moltke was arrested and the Kreisau Circle fell into disarray. The focus of some circle members had been turning towards an active political coup, and some participated in the famous failed assassination attempt on the 20th of July 1944. After its failure many members of the Circle were arrested and executed, including Trott, the non-participating Moltke, and Yorck.