Helmuth Graf von Moltke (Moltke)

Moltke, Count Helmuth von (Moltke), (1907-1945), Legal Adviser germanskogo Command, one of the leaders of the resistance. Born March 11, 1907 in Kreysau, Silesia. His father was German and his mother - an Englishwoman of African descent, both - scientists Christians. He was the great grandson of Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke (1800 - 1891) who helped to found Second Bismarck Reich. From his mother he inherited a love of Christianity, democracy and the existing world order. In his youth, took part in the activities germanskogo youth movement, engaged in social reforms. Of 23, it took over management of the family estate in Kreysau. Having decided to devote himself to the legal profession, he practiced international law in Berlin. A tall man, flamboyant appearance, the vehicle of one of the most respected names in Germany, he seemed destined for a long and brilliant legal career.
.
. From the outset, von Moltke was an opponent of the Nazi regime, which he considered a disgrace to clear their homeland
. At the slightest opportunity he has provided covert aid to the victims of Nazism, including legal support and assistance in emigration. He was the founder and leader Kreysau group, a small group of like-minded people that developed the device poslegitlerovskoe Germany. The circle was not a carefully organized group of conspirators, but was only an informal community of young Germans, alarmed by their country's future. Their plan was to create a new Germany on the site of the Third Reich. The ideological mastermind group, von Moltke, believed that Germany would be able to find a lasting government only after the moral improvement, based on Christian values. He called for a completely open society with equal justice for all. His aspirations very different from the views of some leaders of the military wing of the Resistance, demanding immediate removal of Hitler and the Nazi regime.
.
. Since the beginning of 2 nd World War, von Moltke was a minor post of an expert on international law in the management of foreign intelligence of the High Command Armed Forces of Germany (RCC)
. He used his position to help the hostages, prisoners of war and persons sent to forced labor. In January 1944 von Moltke was arrested, and after the failure of the July 1944 conspiracy he was accused of treason, especially for refusing to report on the early activities of their accomplices. The real reason his trial was the fact that von Moltke was a humane and conscientious person. Chairman of the People's Tribunal Roland Freysler said at the trial: "The mask dropped. Only in one respect, we and Christianity are similar: we demand a person completely ". Von Moltke was sentenced to death on Jan. 11, 1945. In his last letter to his wife, he wrote that he did not seek martyrdom, but he felt "an invaluable advantage to die for what we really did and thought worthwhile. He was executed not for what he did, but for what he thought. He was executed in PlцІtzensee Prison in Berlin on Jan. 23, 1945 at the age of 37 years.