German Resistance Against Hitler: The Search for Allies Abroad, 1938-1945

512 Pages·1992·32.24 MB·English

by  Klemens von Klemperer

GERMAN RESISTANCE
AGAINST HITLER
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GERMAN RESISTANCE
AGAINST HITLER
The Search for
Allies Abroad,
1938-1945
KLEMENS VON KLEMPERER
CLARENDON PRESS • OXFORD
Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford 0x2 6DP
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Oxford is a trade mark of Oxford University Press
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press Inc., New York
© Klemens von Klemperer 1992
First published 1992
First issued as a Clarendon paperback 1994
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Von Klemperer, Klemens, 1916—
German resistance against Hitler: the search for allies abroad.
1938-19451 Klemens von Klemperer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Anti-Nazi movement—Germany. 2. Germany—Foreign
relations—1933-1945. 3. World War, 1939-1945—Diplomatic history.
I. Title.
DD256.3.V673 1992 943.086—dc20 91-34961
ISBN 0-19-821940-7 (hbk)
ISBN 0-19-820551-1
2 4 68 10 9 7 53
Printed in Great Britain
by J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd.
Bristol
To THE MEMORY OF
GEORGE BELL
Bishop of Chichester
and
WILLEM A. VISSER'T HOOFT
General Secretary of the World
Council of Churches in Process of Formation
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PREFACE
EVERYTHING I have written in the past has been dictated by more than
purely antiquarian curiosity. In each case the choice of my subject was guided
by a personal concern and involvement in the problem I took up. This is
especially the case with this book. All along my preoccupation in my writing
has been with the crisis era, the 19205 to the 1940s, and with the crisis zone
of Europe, Central Europe, and especially with the darkest chapter of German
history—the Nazi period. Over the past two decades I have been ever more
drawn to those who took it upon themselves to keep burning the flame of
human decency and freedom. I have always been aware of the duty to face
this task responsibly and to keep my own concerns in check by a dispassionate,
critical approach to my topic.
By now a large literature has sprung up concerning the German Resistance.
I must single out first of all Peter Hoffmann's magisterial work and also the
encyclopaedic volume edited by jurgen Schmadeke and Peter Steinbach
covering the transactions in Berlin of July 1984 of the International Con-
ference on the Widerstand. Concerning my specific topic, the foreign relations
of the German Resistance, a great deal of work has also been done which
has found its way into a number of monographs and biographies as well as
chapters of books and articles. But there has been no comprehensive work
covering the whole subject. I have set out to perform this task in this book.
It has taken me a long time to finish this manuscript, not only because I
write slowly, but also because I found that the canvas before me was enormous
and that the surreptitious diplomacy which the conspirators against Hitler
were forced to pursue had many facets. Because of my personal involvement
in my chosen topic I had always to remind myself that my first duty was not
to prejudge the case, and not to let my passions run away with me, but to
follow the wisdom of the Masters of history: to put the full evidence before
the readers1 sine ira et studio and to tell the story 'wie es eigentlich gewesen'.
In this way the readers may then be able to judge for themselves just as I, for
myself, am in the end at liberty to draw my own conclusions. Only in this
way could I hope to do justice to the subject for which I care so much.
Virtually each chapter or sub-chapter of this book deserves a monograph
of its own. In so far as such treatises exist, I have fallen back on them. Thus
I have greatly benefited from the work of those who have laboured before
1 I hope, however, to be forgiven for having omitted some distinctly marginal foreign con-
nections of the German Resistance.
viii Preface
me in my vineyard, and I have given due credit to their work wherever called
for.2
While working on this book over the years, my commitment to it has never
faltered, not even for a moment. My encounter with the way of life and
death of men such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Carl Goerdeler, Hans-Bernd von
Haeften, Helmuth James von Moltke, Adam von Trott zu Solz, and, last
but not least, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg has been a constant
encouragement to me and has sustained my sense of duty to see my task
through to the end. It was my privilege to meet some of the few survivors of
the Widerstand, namely Axel von dem Bussche, Hasso von Etzdorf, Eugen
Gerstenmaier, Otto John, Richard Lowenthal, Josef Muller, Marie-Luise
Sarre, Fabian von Schlabrendorff, and Eduard Waetjen. I owe a great debt,
moreover, to the families and friends of the resisters who have given me the
benefit of their memories and often of their hospitality, and who put their
documents at my disposal. Invariably they have respected the fact that the
historian's perspective is not always identical with that of the kin or friend.
This volume relies heavily on their assistance and advice, and I feel honour
bound to mention in this connection David Astor, Eberhard and Renate
Bethge, Christabel Bielenberg, Alexander Boker, Barbara von Haeften,
Alfred von Hofacker, David and Diana Hopkinson, Inga Kempe, Karl-
Albrecht von Kessel, Lore Kordt, Sabine Leibholz-Bonhoeffer, Gerhard
Leibholz, Marianne Meyer-Krahmer, Freya von Moltke, Mariane von
Nostitz, Achim Oster, Shiela Sokolov Grant, Clarita von Trott zu Solz, Ingrid
Warburg-Spinelli, and Hans Wilbrandt.
Moreover, I should like to acknowledge with gratitude the assistance I
have obtained from the staffs of the archives and libraries listed in the
Bibliography, which I have been able to consult, and I should also mention
the people who have given me help with their advice or with documents:
Sidney Aster, Mary Bancroft, Philip F. T. Bankwitz, Richard Breitman,
Michael Dawson, Michael Ermarth, A. E. Fontenay, Leonidas E. Hill, Sir
Francis Harry Hinsley, Peter Hoffmann, Walter A. Jackson, Hans-Adolf
Jacobsen, George O. Kent, Michael Kruger-Charle, Richard Lamb, Hsi-
Huey Liang, Peter Ludlow, Nancy Lukens, Henry O. Malone, Claire Nix,
Ger van Roon, Beate Ruhm von Oppen, Bradley F. Smith, Margiana Stinnes,
Jochanan Wijnhoven, Igor Zelljadt, Ruth Zerner.
My extensive archival trips have been generously supported by The Amer-
ican Philosophical Society and the American Council of Learned Societies. I
have also had the privilege of being a fellow at Churchill College (Cambridge),
Trinity College (Oxford), and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. These insti-
21 am thinking in particular of the contributions to my subject by Michael Balfour, Harold
C. Deutsch, Ingeborg Fleischhauer, Hermann Graml, Klaus Hildebrand, Walter Lipgens, Peter
W. Ludlow, Henry O. Malone, Christian Muller, Klaus-Jiirgen Muller, Gerhard Ritter, Hans
Rothfels, Ger van Roon, and Graf von Thun-Hohenstein.
Preface ix
tutions have been a great source of encouragement and inspiration to me.
If my English style is in any way up to what it should be, I owe it to Allison
Lockwood who has gone over every single page I have written. Finally, I
owe a debt to Bill Fivel and Laurie Looney for saving me from the worst
hazards of the computer age, and to John G. Graiff, interlibrary loan sama-
ritan.
This book, then, is a co-operative effort in what I believe to be an important
cause. I alone, however, am responsible for any judgements expressed and
for any error in the text that the readers might detect.
As the readers make their way through this volume, they will understand
why it is dedicated to the memory of Bishop George Bell of Chichester and
Willem A. Visser't Hooft.
K.v.K.