It’s hard to read Jonathan Freedland’s historical account of a group of German dissidents who risked everything to oppose Hitler’s regime without thinking about our current, increasingly dark times and wonder: Would I have done the same?
It’s a question that Freedland himself anchors as a central theme of the book: as a challenge to the commonly perceived notion that most Germans were complicit. Yet, here Freedland has dug up a gut-wrenching and awe-inspiring tale of a small, courageous, often forgotten group of people who undertook to defy the Nazi regime.
The Traitors Circle is a meticulously researched work of narrative nonfiction that reads with the urgency and suspense of a spy thriller, bringing to light the remarkable, and largely forgotten, story of German resistance from within the Nazi elite. This is the story of the Solf Circle, a group of unlikely rebels who chose conscience over comfort, and paid a devastating price.
Freedland explores the heroic acts of defiance undertaken by the Solf Circle, all of whom were members of the German elite. They were united in a common purpose: to oppose the Nazis and to stand for truth. They knew that the shame of Nazi actions would stain Germans and Germany for generations. They set out to defy the Nazis in their own ways: refusing to salute, rescuing Jews, plotting against Hitler, and making plans for a post-Nazi Germany.
The members of the group – Hanna and Lagi Solf, Otto Kiep, Elizabeth von Haden, and Countess Maria von Maltzan – operated within their positions for a decade and committed impressive acts of defiance. Maria, for instance, served as one of the “black swimmers,” who, in the dead of night, ferried Jews across Lake Constance into Switzerland and swam for hours in silence to avoid patrol boats.
Despite their courage and careful planning, the circle would ultimately be betrayed. Each member was arrested and tortured; some were executed.
In the author’s note, Freedland reveals that his grandmother had been a victim of the last German V-2 rocket dropped on London. That seminal experience led her to feel that all Germans were complicit in the atrocities of the Holocaust.
And yet, from the start of the war until the end, there was a not small number of Germans who defied the Nazis. According to Freedland, roughly 5% of Germans participated in acts of defiance against the Third Reich. The Traitors Circle serves as a powerful corrective to the narrative of universal German complicity.
Freedland has undertaken a breathtaking amount of research to craft a riveting historical account of this remarkable group of people who were willing to step out of line and bring upon themselves unimaginable harm. He tells the story through the viewpoints of each member of the Solf Circle, employing the techniques of a masterful thriller writer – short chapters, cliffhangers, and mounting tension – while never sacrificing historical accuracy.
The author structures the narrative like a thriller, revealing the identity of the traitor midway through the book. This choice allows readers to focus not on the mystery of “whodunit” but on the far more harrowing question of how the betrayal unfolded and what it cost. The dramatic irony – knowing the trap is closing in while the characters remain unaware – creates unbearable tension as we watch the Gestapo’s net tighten around people we’ve come to admire.
It is striking that people of such elite social status would risk everything and pay such a heavy personal price. As diplomat Otto Kiep tells his niece: “When this is over, people will say to me, ‘If you were against them, why weren’t you in a concentration camp? Why are you still alive? How did you escape, unless you too were a Nazi?’”
His words capture the impossible position these resisters faced – and raise the question that haunts the entire book: What compels a person to take such personal risk? The answer remains elusive, but The Traitors Circle reminds us that throughout history, while some are easily swept up in evil acts, others have answered the call to courage. Their example demands our attention and gratitude. – Rachel Gutman