Solf Circle

TheSolf Circle(German:Solf-Kreis) was an informal gathering of German intellectuals involved in theresistanceagainstNazi Germany.Most members were arrested and executed after attending a tea party in Berlin on 10 September 1943 at the residence ofElisabeth von Thadden.The group's downfall also ultimately led to the demise of theAbwehrin February 1944.

Background

Hanna Solfwas the widow of Dr.Wilhelm Solf,who served as Imperial Colonial Secretary before the outbreak ofWorld War Iand ambassador toJapanunder theWeimar Republicand, like her husband, was a political moderate and anti-Nazi. After her husband's death in 1936 she had presided over a circle of anti-Nazi intellectuals in her salon inBerlin,reminiscent of theSeSiSo Club,together with her daughter, theCountess So'oa'emalelagi "Lagi" von Ballestrem-Solf.They included career officers from the Foreign Office, industrialists and writers, and they would meet regularly to discuss the war and relief for theJewsand political enemies of the regime; Solf and her daughter were responsible for hiding many Jews and providing them with documents for them to emigrate safely. They also had links with other anti-Nazi groups like theKreisau Circle.

The tea party and betrayal of the Solf Circle

Otto Kiep

On 10 September 1943 the Solf Circle met at a birthday party given byElisabeth von Thadden,theProtestantheadmistress of a famous girls' school inWieblingen,nearHeidelberg.Among the guests were:

• Otto Kiep,a high official from the Foreign Office, who was once dismissed from his position as Consul General in New York City for attending a public luncheon in honor ofAlbert Einstein,but was able to get himself reinstated in the diplomatic service;
• the Countess Hannah von Bredow, the granddaughter ofOtto von Bismarck;
• CountAlbrecht von Bernstorff,the nephew of CountJohann Heinrich von Bernstorff,the German ambassador to the United States duringWorld War I;
• FatherFriedrich Erxleben,a well-knownJesuitpriest;
• Nikolaus von Halem,a merchant; hanged for conspiracy to kill Hitler;
• Legation adviser Richard Kuenzer;
• State Secretary Arthur Zarden and his daughter Irmgard.

The following paragraphs are paraphrased from William Shirer's, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich":

To the party, Thadden brought a handsomeSwissdoctor namedPaul Reckzeh,who was said to be practising at theCharité Hospitalin Berlin under ProfessorFerdinand Sauerbruch.Like most Swiss, he expressed anti-Nazi sentiments in a discussion joined by others present, most vocal of which were Kiep and Bernstorff. Before the end of the party, Reckzeh offered to convey the correspondence of those present to their friends in Switzerland, an offer which many accepted. However, Reckzeh was actually an agent or informer working for theGestapo,and he turned over these letters and reported on the gathering. Moreover Reckzeh was not in fact Swiss, but a German born in Berlin, and had only been sent by his spymasters to neutral Switzerland the previous year to gather intelligence on the various resistance networks active in Germany.

Helmuth James Graf von Moltke,a member of the Kreisau Circle, learned of this betrayal through a friend in the Air Ministry who hadtappeda number of telephone conversations between Reckzeh and the Gestapo, and he quickly informed Kiep, who in turn informed the rest of the guests. They hurriedly fled for their lives, but it was too late, asHeinrich Himmlerhad his evidence. He waited four months to act on it, hoping to cast a wider net; apparently he succeeded, for on 12 January 1944 some seventy-four persons, including everyone who had been in the tea party, were arrested. The Solfs themselves fled toBavariaand were caught by the Gestapo; they were then incarcerated inRavensbrück concentration camp.Moltke himself was arrested at this time due to his connection with Kiep. But that was not the only consequence of Kiep's arrest - its repercussions spread as far as Turkey, and resulted in the final demise of the Abwehr, already under suspicion as a hotbed of anti-Nazi activity.

The defection of Erich Vermehren and the dissolution of the Abwehr

Main article:Erich Vermehren

Among Kiep's close friends wereErich Vermehrenand his wife, the former Countess Elisabethvon Plettenberg.Vermehren, by profession a lawyer fromHamburg,was prevented from taking up aRhodes scholarshipinOxfordin 1938 because he repeatedly refused to join theHitler Youth.Excluded from military service because of a childhood injury, he managed to get himself assigned to theIstanbulbranch of the Abwehr. He also managed to get his wife to follow him, despite the Gestapo's efforts to detain her in Germany as a hostage.

When Kiep was arrested, the Vermehrens were summoned to Berlin by the Gestapo to be interrogated in connection with their friend's case. Knowing what would be in store for them, they got in touch with the BritishSecret Intelligence Servicein February 1944, and were flown toCairoand thence to England.

When the news of the defection broke – courtesy of Britishpropaganda– it became the talk of Berlin. Although the Vermehrens did not bring any documents of any intelligence value orciphersto theAllies,it was believed that they absconded with the Abwehr's secret codes and handed them over to the British.

Ultimately the capture of the Solf Circle and the subsequent defection of Vemehren exposed how the presence of Resistance agents and Allied spies had infiltrated within the Abwehr inner circle. This proved to be the last straw forAdolf Hitler.On 18 February he ordered that the Abwehr be dissolved and its functions taken over by theRSHA,under Himmler's jurisdiction. The disintegration of the Abwehr caused the resignation of hundreds of officers who took up positions elsewhere rather than serve theSS.

While the demise of the Abwehr was an unexpected but welcome boon to the Allies, it also deprived the German armed forces of an intelligence service of its own, and was a further blow to those among the anti-Nazi conspirators against Hitler who had also used the Abwehr's resources.

The fate of some members of the Solf Circle

Most members of the Solf Circle were tried and convicted inRoland Freisler'sVolksgerichtshof,and eventually executed. Kiep himself was subjected to severe torture; while he was being interrogated after his conviction, the Gestapo learned of his involvement with the20 July Plot.He was executed inPlötzensee Prisonon 15 August 1944. Elisabeth von Thadden also met the same fate on 8 September. Arthur Zarden, knowing what was in store for him and afraid to implicate others under torture, committed suicide on 18 January 1944 by throwing himself out a window at the Gestapo interrogation center. Irmgard Zarden (his daughter) spent five months in Ravensbrück concentration camp before being acquitted for lack of evidence.

Bernstorff was confined to Ravensbrück together with Solf and repeatedly tortured. He was then sent to the prison in Prinz Albrecht Straße to stand trial in theVolksgerichtshof.However,Roland Freislerdid not have the satisfaction of sentencing him because he was killed in an air raid on 3 February 1945. When theRed Armyliberated the prison on 25 April he was not among the living. Together with Richard Kuenzer, Bernstorff was taken out of the prison two days before to the vicinity of the Lehrter Bahnhof, and presumably shot upon the orders ofJoachim von Ribbentrop,the Nazi Foreign Minister.

Nikolaus von Halem was arrested on 26 February 1942 and suffered through a number of prisons and concentration camps, includingSachsenhausen.In June 1944, shortly before the 20 July 1944 coup attempt, thePeople's Courtindicted Halem for conspiracy to commit treason and undermining the war effort. He was sentenced to death and hanged on 9 October 1944.

The fate of the Solfs

Solf and her daughter So'oa'emalelagi were interned in Ravensbrück after their arrest. In December 1944 they were transferred toMoabitRemand Prison while awaiting their trial in theVolksgerichtshof.The considerable delay in their trial was at least in part due to the efforts of the Japanese ambassador,Hiroshi Ōshima,who knew the Solfs. Their trial was further delayed because the same air raid that killed Freisler on 3 February 1945 also destroyed the dossier on the Solfs, which was in the files of theVolksgerichtshof.Nevertheless, they were finally scheduled to be tried on 27 April but they were released from Moabit on 23 April, apparently because of an error brought about by the confusion caused by the entry of the Red Army into Berlin.

After the war, Solf went to England while her daughter was reunited with her husband, Count Hubert Ballestrem, who was an officer in theWehrmachtand lived in Berlin. Solf died on 4 November 1954 inStarnberg,Bavaria.

Countess von Ballestrem died on 4 December 1955 at the age of 46, her early death attributable to her incarceration.

See also

• Anti-fascism
• List of members of the 20 July plot
• Category:Members of the Solf Circle