At Christmas, Dietrich composes an essay that he gives to Hans von Dohnányi and their coconspirator within the Abwehr, Major General Hans Oster: We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learned the arts of equivocation and pretense; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical.… Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough?
