Helmuth James von Moltke
Helmuth James Graf von Moltke (11 March 1907 – 23 January 1945) was a German jurist who, as a draftee in the German Abwehr, acted to subvert German human-rights abuses of people in territories occupied by Germany during World War II. He was a founding member of the Kreisau Circle opposition group, whose members opposed the government of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, and discussed prospects for a Germany based on moral and democratic principles after Hitler. The Nazis executed him for treason for his participation in these discussions.
Helmuth James Graf von Moltke | |
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Moltke in January 1945 | |
Born | |
Died | 23 January 1945 37) Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, Nazi Germany | (aged
Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
Resting place | Hamburg-Wandsbek |
Nationality | German |
Other names | Helmuth James Ludwig Eugen Heinrich Graf von Moltke |
Education | University of Breslau University of Oxford |
Occupation | Lawyer |
Known for | Non-violent opposition to the Nazi government of Germany as co-founder of the Kreisau Circle |
Spouse | Freya Deichmann |
Children | Helmuth Caspar, Konrad |
Moltke was the grandnephew of Helmuth von Moltke the Younger and the great-grandnephew of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, the victorious commander in the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars, from whom he inherited the Kreisau estate in Prussian Silesia, now Krzyżowa in Poland.