mixture of genuine and doctored secret information, which, accord-
ing to HVA chief Markus Wolf, contained “some valuable undis-
covered pearls.” Moitzheim also helped identify the handwriting of
Kuron when he initially contacted the HVA. It was not until 1990
that Moitzheim was apprehended and sentenced.MOLTKE, HELMUTH JAMES COUNT VON (1907–1945). A
prominent Abwehr member of the German opposition to Adolf
Hitler, Helmuth James Count von Moltke was born in Kreisau (now
Kryzowa, Poland) on 11 March 1907, a great-grandnephew of the
renowned Prussian field marshal. Trained in Germany as a lawyer
and opposed to Nazism from the outset, he spent extended periods
in London and Cambridge between 1935 and 1938, even becoming
qualified to argue cases before the English bar. Also dating from this
period is the formation of the Kreisau Circle—a diverse anti-Nazi
group of individuals with religious and socialist leanings. The group
was named after the Moltke family estate.
Following the outbreak of World War II, Moltke joined the
Abwehr as a specialist in international law and law of war. In this
capacity, he sought to ensure humane treatment for prisoners of war
and to aid individual victims of the Nazi regime. As the war turned
increasingly against Germany, his primary concern became the con-
clusion of a peace with the Western Allies at the exclusion of the
Soviet Union. With the approval of Abwehr head Wilhelm Canaris,
Moltke undertook a secret trip to Turkey in early July 1943 and
met with several older acquaintances, including station chief Paul
Leverkuehn. Yet his desire to discuss his proposal directly with
another trusted acquaintance, Alexander Kirk, the U.S. ambassador
to Egypt, never came to fruition, despite a second trip to Istanbul in
December. The major stumbling block for the Americans was the
Allied policy of unconditional surrender, which Moltke had hoped
to circumvent.
As the Sicherheitsdienst grew ever more suspicious of Abwehr
members with potential ties to the resistance, Moltke came under
scrutiny. His attempt to warn his colleague Otto Kiep of the im-
pending arrest on 12 January 1944 of the Solf Circle—an opposi-
tion group providing support for persecuted persons or those living
underground—led to his own apprehension one week later. Confined306 • MOLTKE, HELMUTH JAMES COUNT VON