Helmuth James Graf Von Moltke - International Law Division of The Abwehr

International Law Division of The Abwehr

In 1939, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. Moltke was immediately drafted at the beginning of the Polish campaign by the Abwehr—specifically, the High Command of the Armed Forces (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht—OKW), Counter-Intelligence Service, Foreign Division—under Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, as an expert in martial law and international public law. Moltke's work for the Abwehr mainly involved gathering insights from abroad, from military attachés and foreign newspapers, and news of military-political importance, and relaying this information to the Wehrmacht. He maintained the connection between the OKW and the Foreign Office, but above all to provide appraisals of questions of the international laws of war. Unusually, he chose not to wear a uniform.

In his travels through German-occupied Europe, he observed many human rights abuses, which he attempted to thwart by insisting that Germany observe the Geneva Convention (it continued not to) and through local actions in creating more benign outcomes for local inhabitants, citing legal principles. In October 1941, Moltke wrote, "Certainly more than a thousand people are murdered in this way every day, and another thousand German men are habituated to murder... What shall I say when I am asked: And what did you do during that time?" In the same letter he said, "Since Saturday the Berlin Jews are being rounded up. Then they are sent off with what they can carry.... How can anyone know these things and walk around free?"

Moltke hoped that, with his appraisals, he could have a humanitarian effect on military events, and was supported in this by anti-Hitler officers such as Canaris and Major General Hans Oster, Chief of the Central Division. During Nazi Germany's war with the Soviet Union, Moltke wrote a controversial opinion urging Germany to follow both the Geneva Convention and the Hague Convention, in order to comply with international law and to promote reciprocal good treatment for German prisoners of war; however he was overruled on the grounds that Russia was not a signatory to the agreements, with Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel describing the Geneva Convention as "a product of a notion of chivalry of a bygone era." He further acted on his opposition to the brutalities of Nazism by ordering deportation of Jews to countries which provided safe haven, and by writing reports emphasizing the psychological problems German soldiers developed after witnessing and participating in mass killings of Jews and Eastern Europeans. Having access to this information reinforced Moltke's opposition to the war, and the entire program of the Nazi party.

In 1943 Moltke traveled to Istanbul on two occasions. The official reason was to retrieve some German merchant ships impounded by Turkey. The real reason was his participation in an effort to end World War II by a coalition of anti-Hitler elements of the German Army, German refugees living in Turkey, members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the Abwehr (German military intelligence) and the German ambassador to Turkey, Franz von Papen. This group passed a report to the allies, which reached President Roosevelt. However, Roosevelt's advisers, including Henry Morgenthau Jr., counseled against the credibility of the report.