Craisau Circle

The founder of the circle was Count Helmut James von Moltke . He owned an estate, the name of which the Gestapo subsequently gave the name to the whole group. Some ideas that later developed into a political program can be traced in his correspondence since 1930 . In 1938 , returning from Britain , Moltke began to seriously think about how to protect the Western world from establishing a regime similar to the Nazi. Since 1939, Moltke and his friend and associate Peter York von Wartenburg have organized an unspoken discussion club. It consisted mainly of representatives of the upper classes of society (landowners, professors, former trade union leaders, diplomats, two Catholic Jesuit priests and two Lutheran pastors ), their views ranged from conservative to socialist . Moltke and von Wartenburg belonged to well-known aristocratic families, the first was the great-nephew of Field Marshal Helmut von Moltke Sr. , and the second was a direct descendant of Field Marshal Ludwig York von Wartenburg .

In January 1944, Moltke was arrested after the Gestapo became aware of his views and connections with other figures of the Resistance (the Nazis sent the Gestapo agent to a circle known as the “tea parlor Frau Zolf”, which was specifically visited by diplomat Otto Kip, a friend of Moltke) . The Craisau circle ceased to exist. After the failure of the conspiracy on July 20, many members of the circle were arrested and detained in concentration camps or executed, among those executed were Moltke, York, Adam von Trott zu Solz , Alfred Delp .

Moltke, York and other members of the circle considered the advent of Nazism a turning point in history, which should be the end of the historical era and open a new era. The outgoing era, according to Moltke, began with the Reformation and was developed in the Enlightenment . This era was marked by the decline of Christian values, the growth of individualism and materialism , and over time - also of capitalism and nationalism . The destruction of the existing social structures and the emergence of the Nazi state were a natural result of the historical process.

Moltke considered opposition to Nazism a moral duty of man. At the same time, he was against the assassination of Hitler . Moltke believed that the forcible removal of the dictator would be a moral defeat for the conspirators and give Hitler the halo of a martyr ^{[2] [3]} . The members of the circle considered the defeat of Germany in the war and the overthrow of Nazism inevitable and focused on what the future Germany should look like ^[4] .

The program document for the circle was the Principles of a New Order ( German: Grundsätze für die Neuordnung ), compiled by Moltke and dated August 9, 1943 . They are not a full-fledged constitution , although they do contain certain constitutional provisions. A distinctive feature of the "Principles" is the emphasis on the development of subsidiarity and local self-government along with the leveling of egalitarian manifestations of democracy ^[5] .

• List of the main participants in the conspiracy July 20, 1944

• Hans Mommsen Alternatives to Hitler: German resistance under the Third Reich . - IBTauris, 2003 .-- P. 134-151. - 313 p. - ISBN 9781860647451 .