After positive appreciations of the immediate post-war period, West German historians such as Hans Rothfels and Gerhard Ritter judged the Red Orchestra. Rothfel, writing for an American audience in "The German Opposition to Hitler, An Appraisal" (1949), wrote for the sake of historical justice, placed the resistance fighters of the 20 July plot, as well as the Harnack group at the centre of his study. Rothfel conceded that the German resistance to Hitler was much more extensive than could have been expected under the conditions of terror and lauded the convictions of the resistance fighters and their vision of a European mission. Ritter's "Carl Goerdeler und die Deutsche Widerstandsbewegung" (1954), focused more on the resisters values and ideas. Ritter stated that not every resister who was unsatisfied or criticized the Nazis could be included in the German resistance movement. He was vehement in stating that socialist opposition against the Nazi state did not deserve the honorary title of "Resistance". In his evaluation he stated, "The group had apparently nothing to do with German Resistance, one should have no doubts about this...Any person who can persuade a German soldier to defect or betray important secrets...is a traitor".