Island of Peace in an Ocean of Unrest: The Letters of Dorothy von

Island of Peace
in an Ocean of Unrest:
The Letters of Dorothy von
Moltke
© 2013 Catherine R. Hammond
Nebbadoon Press
www.NebbadoonPress.com
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E-book ISBN 978-1-891331-45-9
Photos / Graphics permissions and credits
All black and white photos were provided by the Moltke family
with permission for reproduction except for the photo of the
Translation Committee.
Cover color photo provided by the Kreisau Foundation for European
Understanding, Krzyżowa, Poland. Photographer: Miroslaw
Budzanowski, 2004.
Photo of the “Translation Committee” reproduced by permission
and was provided by Longyear Museum, Chestnut Hill,
Massachusetts.
Photo below: Schloss Kreisau, 1870. This original drawing by
Richard Püttner shows the large manor house that Field
Marshal Helmuth Carl Bernhard von Moltke bought with
money given him by the Kaiser as a reward for winning the
Battle of Königgrätz against Austria in 1866.
Photo below: After World War II, Shloss Kreisau, now in
Poland, was taken over by the Polish Government and then
fell into disrepair. Beginning in 1989, it was restored by Poles
and Germans working together. The former Moltke estate,
including the renovated Schloss, as seen, is now owned by the
Kreisau Foundation for European Understanding.
Photo below: Field Marshal Helmuth Carl Bernhard von
Moltke (1800-1891) in uniform, circa 1871. This was the year
Field Marshal von Moltke led the Prussian forces in the final
victory over the French, which resulted in the establishment of
the German Empire.
Photo below: Visit by Kaiser Wilhelm II to Schloss Kreisau,
September 22, 1890. The Kaiser is second from left. To his
right is Dorothy von Moltke’s future mother-in-law, Ella von
Moltke. Barely visible through the ivy at far right is Helmuth
von Moltke, Dorothy’s future husband. Arriving by train at
four o’clock in the afternoon, the Kaiser was personally
welcomed by the almost ninety-year-old Field Marshal. The
Field Marshal died seven months later.
Photo below: Schloss Kreisau in 1900. The pair of cannons on
either side of the staircase was captured from the French in
1870 during the Franco-Prussian War and given to Field
Marshal Helmuth von Moltke by Kaiser Wilhelm I.
Photo below: This photograph was taken when Dorothy was
sixteen and still living in her homeland of South Africa, two
years before she met her future husband, Helmuth von Moltke,
while traveling in Germany with her mother.
Photo below: Sir James Rose Innes (1855–1942), father of
Dorothy von Moltke, circa 1914. Sir James was Attorney
General under Cecil Rhodes and Chief Justice of South Africa
from 1914 to 1927. He was an early advocate of the rights of
blacks in South Africa. Almost all of the letters in this book
were written by Dorothy to him and her mother, Jessie Rose
Innes.
Photo below: Jessie Rose Innes (1860-1943), mother of
Dorothy von Moltke, 1902. Active in advancing the rights of
women, Lady Rose Innes occasionally travelled abroad to give
speeches at conferences on woman suffrage and served as
President of the National Council of Women.
Photo below: The Moltke family (Dorothy’s future in-laws),
circa 1902. Seated: Helmuth’s parents, Count Wilhelm von
Moltke (Vattel) and Countess Ella von Moltke (Muttel).
Standing, from left to right: Margarethe, Peter, Monika,
Leonore, and Helmuth. In front: Carl Viggo (Helmuth’s
youngest brother).
Photo below: Wedding photo of Dorothy Rose Innes and
Helmuth von Moltke, Pretoria, South Africa, 1905.
Photo below: Arrival of Helmuth and Dorothy von Moltke at
Kreisau shortly after their wedding in Pretoria, South Africa,
1905. Now married to the new Count von Moltke, Dorothy
became Countess von Moltke and the Gutsherrin—Lady of
the Manor—a role she played with exceptional grace.
Photo below: The Moltkes’ eldest son, Helmuth James, about
age four, circa 1911. Helmuth James would grow up to
become the leader of the anti-Nazi Kreisau Circle, dedicated
to planning the reconstruction of Germany on a democratic,
non-militaristic basis. After a trial at the notorious
Volksgerichtshof (People’s Court), he was hanged on January
23, 1945.
Photo below: Dorothy and Helmuth von Moltke seated in a
carriage in front of the Moltke Schloss in Kriesau, 1912.
Photo below: Kaiser Maneuvers, Third Army Corps, near
Kreisau, September 1912. Kaiser Wilhelm II is second from
the left. Third from left is Chief of General Staff Helmuth von
Moltke, nephew of the great Field Marshal and uncle of
Dorothy’s husband. In 1913, Dorothy’s father, Sir James Rose
Innes, who was visiting the family in Silesia, watched these
military exercises with fascination and described them in his
Autobiography.
Photo below: The committee that translated Science and
Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy into
German in 1911-1912. From left: Helmuth von Moltke, Ulla
Schultz (later Oldenbourg), Adam Dickey, Renate Hermes
(later King), Dorothy von Moltke, and Theodor Stanger. For
this work, Count and Countess von Moltke travelled to
Boston, where they remained for the next seven months before
reuniting with their young family.
Photo below: The Moltke family, 1913—one year before the
outbreak of World War I. From left to right: Dorothy, Willo,
Jowo, Helmuth James, and Helmuth. They would later add to
the family another son, Carl Bernd, and a daughter, Asta
Maria.
Photo below: Dorothy von Moltke (center) enjoying a moment
of levity with her father, Sir James Rose Innes (left), and her
mother-in-law, Ella Bethusy-Huc von Moltke, 1914. In this
year, Dorothy would see her homeland of South Africa go to
war with Germany in the First World War.
Photo below: Dorothy von Moltke with her parents and all five of
her children in the Netherlands after World War I, in 1919. Second
row, from left: Sir James Rose Innes, Dorothy, and Lady Rose
Innes. First row, from left: Helmuth James, Jowo, Willo, Carl
Bernd, and Asta.
Photo below: Entrance to the Hof at Kreisau, 1920. The Hof
was a huge rectangular farmyard surrounded by stables and
cowsheds, housing horses, cows, pigs, oxen, sheep, chickens,
and other farm animals. In addition to their riding horses, the
Moltkes had eight teams of horses for working the fields.
Beyond the Hof, stretching for miles, lay meadows and fields
where barley, corn, flax, peas, rapeseed, potatoes, and sugar
beets were raised. About sixty workers were employed by the
estate year-round, with additional laborers hired at peak times.
Photo below: Helmuth von Moltke (1876-1939), circa 1920.
By this time, Count von Moltke had become a Christian
Science practitioner. The book he is holding is likely Science
and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy or
the Bible.
Photo below: The Moltke family, 1929. From left: Jowo,
Dorothy, Carl Bernd, Asta, and Willo. Skiing was a favorite
sport of the Moltke children, and there was plenty of
opportunity for it in Silesia, where temperatures sometimes
dropped to five degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). The family
also enjoyed tobogganing and skijoring (being pulled on skis
by a horse or horses).
Photo below: Helmuth James von Moltke (center) with Frau
Doktor Eugenie Schwarzwald (left) and Freya Deichmann
(later von Moltke), 1930. This photograph was taken at
Gründlsee, Austria, where Helmuth James met Freya, in 1929.
They were married two years later, in 1931.
Photo below: Freya von Moltke, wife of Helmuth James von
Moltke, 1937. Freya would play an essential role in her
husband’s work as leader of the Kreisau Circle and during his
ordeal in 1944-1945, when he was imprisoned and then
hanged.
Photo below: The Berghaus (House on the Hill), not far from
the Schloss. The Moltkes lived here from 1928 to 1945, often
congregating on this porch from which they could enjoy the
beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. This
photograph was taken in 1940, five years after Dorothy’s
death. The child on the steps is her grandson, Helmuth Caspar
von Moltke.