In a Berlin apartment in 1943, a small circle of well-connected Germans gathered for tea and spoke the unspeakable: Hitler had to go. They weren’t soldiers in hiding, but aristocrats, diplomats, educators, and quiet helpers who sheltered Jews, traded forbidden truths, and imagined a post-Nazi Germany. Their meetings felt almost ordinary, until one guest arrived with extraordinary intentions.
Jonathan Freedland’s The Traitors Circle follows the Solf Circle and their allies as bravery collides with betrayal. A charming “resistance messenger” is welcomed in, listens closely, then reports everything. What begins as conversation becomes evidence. Phone taps tighten, arrests sweep across Germany and France, and a show trial turns private dissent into public death sentences. It’s a story of moral courage under surveillance, and how a single traitor can collapse a movement built on trust. Read the full summary to see how it unfolded.
