Helmuth James von Moltke

For the German military commander of the 19th century, see Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. For the German chief of staff at the start of the First World War, see Helmuth von Moltke the Younger.
Helmuth James Graf von Moltke
Moltke in January 1945
Born(1907-03-11)11 March 1907
Kreisau, Prussia, German Empire (now Krzyżowa, Poland)
Died23 January 1945(1945-01-23) (aged 37)
Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, Nazi Germany
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Resting placeHamburg-Wandsbek
NationalityGerman
Other namesHelmuth James Ludwig Eugen Heinrich Graf von Moltke
EducationUniversity of Breslau
University of Oxford
OccupationLawyer
Known forNon-violent opposition to the Nazi government of Germany as co-founder of the Kreisau Circle
SpouseFreya Deichmann
ChildrenHelmuth Caspar, Konrad

Helmuth James Graf[1] 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.

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.[2]

  1. ^ Regarding personal names: Graf was a title before 1919, but now is regarded as part of the surname. It is translated as Count. Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given (Graf Helmuth James von Moltke). Since 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix (von, zu, etc.), can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, and thus come after any given names (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke). Titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting. The feminine form is Gräfin.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Balfour was invoked but never defined (see the help page).