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“Rote Kapelle in Nazi Germany: The Few Who Resisted Hitler's Allegiance”

Book Essay on: Anne Nelson, Red Orchestra: : The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler
( New York: Random House, 2009), 416pages.
UCSB: DD256.4.B47 N45 2009

by Sharon Emery
March 24, 2010

for Prof. Marcuse's lecture course
The Holocaust in European History
UC Santa Barbara, Winter 2010



About the Author
& Abstract
Essay
Annotated
Bibliography
Don't
Plagiarize!
Book available at Amazon.com page

About Sharon Emery

I am a senior history major who is interested in studying World War II and its aftermath. I became interested in studying the history and results of the Holocaust after I learned I am directly related to members of the Nazi party and the German scientist Wernher von Braun. I chose to write about Nelson's monograph because I am interested in the people and parties who were able to combat Hitler's regime, in particular the little known history and members of the Red Orchestra who tried to expose and break the hold of the Nazi party.

Abstract (back to top)

Anne Nelson's Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler investigates a relatively unknown chapter of German history; the few brave German patriots who led clandestine operations to fight one of the most famous dictators of our time. Nicknamed by the Gestapo, the Red Orchestra was led by young Germans and American citizens. The group was especially successful at gathering intelligence while working in government positions, distributing anti-Nazi information, and saving the lives of numerous Jews. The key members included writers, actors, bureaucrats and laborers who are brought to light through a wide array of primary sources including letters, diaries, official records and oral histories. Although we learn that nearly all members were captured and executed, this reader finds that Nelson effectively conveys the sense of determination and trepidation that characterized each member, particularly as the Gestapo was closing in on their whereabouts. Although these members faced great adversity and risked their lives for the cause, sacrifice and selflessness prevailed as the unspoken ideology. Nelson's Red Orchestra is a worthy tribute to their spirit, courage and commitment.


Essay (back to top)

Anne Nelson's The Red Orchestra investigates a relatively unknown chapter of German history; the some three million people from all around Germany who watched in dismay as Nazis subverted the church, military, media, legal system, and all other institutions that Hitler thought contaminated the “supreme” German infrastructure. In Anne Nelson's monograph Red Orchestra, readers discover the determination of a select group of people who sought to "do the right thing" in the face of great adversity and extreme risk to their own safety. The main motivation behind this selflessness came from a rejection of violence and political intolerance under Hitler's regime. The urge to fulfill this "indispensable obligation" could only be stopped by death. Nelson uncovers, dissects and exposes the leading members’ clandestine operations fighting Hitler's Reich. These key writers, actors, bureaucrats and laborers are brought to light through primary sources including letters, diaries, official records and oral histories that expose a painful period in our recent history. Nelson provides an in-depth analysis of the individual Berliners who were part of a loosely knit group of Nazi resisters called the Red Orchestra. In order to give fuller meaning to the stories she fastidiously traces the history of the anti-Nazi movement from its inception through the war and even into the postwar period. Nelson inadvertently provides a larger picture of the perils of fascism. Although this is never directly expressed, the author provides an important message about the dangers one faces when trying to expose the truth in a totalitarian society.

Germany's fate in the 1930s was being driven by Adolf Hitler, “a man of little education but stunning intuition, who was right just enough to throw everyone off balance” (Nelson, 181). Nelson writes, “Some Germans disapproved of Hitler's provocations, but there was no longer any possibility of public opposition. Tens of thousands of Germans languished in concentration camps at any given time. Political parties, trade unions, the media, and academia had all been suppressed and purged” (Nelson, 122). Of the nearly 3 million people opposing Hitler's Germany a few strong members centered in Berlin, fought to resist Nazism and hold true to their convictions.

According to Nelson the Red Orchestra members were a loose group of German intellectuals, aristocrats, and army officers, who all initially resisted the Nazi front with non-violent resistance. Most of the members knew little of other affiliates to minimize exposing the resistance as a whole. These small circles only knew of five or six other contacts and it wasn't until interrogation by the Gestapo in late 1942 did they learn that they had been given a name, Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra). The members extended to all professions including medical, military, academia, and the arts. Politically they were just as vast, ranging from conservatives, Communists, Social Democrats and reformed Nazis. Their religious affiliations included Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, and gypsies. Their ages ranged just as diversely and their social status ranged from high-profile government officials to slum dwellers.

As Jewish persecution persisted members of the Red Orchestra helped Jews and anti-fascists hide or escape. By 1942, as a last resort many led clandestine operations to bring international attention to Nazi war crimes. The key members of Red Orchestra all maintained anonymity throughout the war; only the key members knew of other leading contacts that reorganized from loose alliances into a larger ring of intellectuals and workers fighting for the cause. Harro Schulze-Boysen was a founding member who laid out his position in the May 5, 1932 magazine editorial Gegner (“Opponent”) “We serve no party. We serve an invisible confederation of thousands, who may be present in every camp and know that the day is approaching when all must unite. We have no program. We proclaim no truths in stone. The only thing that is sacred to us is life – the only thing that appears to be of value to us is movement” (Nelson, 133). Although Harro was detained and tortured a month after this editorial was printed, his “anti-ideology” fueled the movement.

Nelson goes into great detail about the key members of the group. We follow the moving stories of the leading members including Harro and wife Libertas Shulze-Boysen, Arvid and Mildred Harnack, Adam and Greta Kuchkoff, and John Sieg. Nelson provides an intimate portrait of these peoples’ lives, both before they became spies and when they served as agents. Interestingly, Nelson provides a rare glimpse into the lives of the wives and mothers Libertas, Mildred and Greta who risked everything, including Greta's child Ule, to handle covert operations. She deeply empathizes with their situation which brings to light the adversity of women living under a patriarchal society, where men often times kept the female agents shrouded in the dark, fearing that they might expose information. Nelson exposes the struggles of indefinable mother-wife bond juxtaposed to their other life: clandestine agents fighting one of the biggest dictatorial regimes of our time. I appreciated these anecdotes very much as this part of the story has too often been ignored by historians engaged in looking at the “bigger picture.”

Each key member provided and worked with top Nazi officials and some even held government positions. Arvid Harnack worked for Hitler's Economics Ministry and believed the best way to combat fascism was through economics. Mildred Harnack spent her time aiding Arvid by making contacts and circle discussions with people who were against the Nazi regime and serving as a go-between for her husband. Adam Kuckhoff was a journalist who wrote for many left-wing papers including Die Tat ("The Deed"). Greta Kuckhoff spent most of her time aiding and saving persecuted Jews, which brought mounting criticism, even by her husband as she became more conspicuous (Nelson, 159). Harrow Schulze-Boysen dropped out of law school to publish anti-fascist writings; later he participated in wireless contact with Soviet agents. The flirty wife of Harro, Libertas Shulze-Boysen worked for Berlin's MGM which put her in direct contact with Joseph Goebbels and the Nazi media empire. John Sieg was an American with dual German citizenship. He was inspired by the U.S. labor movement and participated in many clandestine Red Orchestra operations.

The Berlin circles of Harnack and Schulze-Boysen are compelling as they operated under the noses of the Gestapo for much of the war. During the early 1940s the Red Orchestra circles worked primarily exposing information through political activism and intelligence work. As many Berliners turned off their radios and stopped reading newspapers because of intense Nazi propaganda, Harnack and Schulze-Boysen provided foreign news through production and distribution of underground publications. In 1941 the Red Orchestra dramatically stepped up its publications, printing, typing whenever and wherever supplies were located. Arvid Harnack believed that sending these military interceptions to the Soviets and other leading countries as the best way to combat Nazism.

Most members of the Red Orchestra believed peace could be negotiated and the war could be averted by reaching out to key countries: the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. In 1939 and 1940 various German resistance groups divided up the world. Arvid Harnack reached out to Washington and Moscow while Adam von Trott shuttled back and forth to London, New York and Washington. Stalin was busy taking advantage of the diplomatic lull and focused his attention on his own aggressive campaigns with Hitler. Trott was written off by British officials and even considered his endeavors “traitorous.” Roosevelt dismissed Trott and Harnack without a hearing, and the FBI even considered them spies (Nelson, 161). In all it proved a failure, since only a few low level foreign officials were sympathetic to their plight.

Nelson was able to gather some very valuable underground material from a few surviving members of the Red Orchestra, which offers a rare glimpse into the lives and day-to-day activities during the war years. We find the story of Hans Sussmann, a longtime member of the communist party who joined the Schulze-Boysen circle and actively participated in clandestine operations. In his touching memoir he recounts his resistance work, comparing it to a chronic illness. “If you're fighting an opponent that you hate from the bottom of your heart, you don't take it lightly,” he wrote. “It's as though you're possessed, and the urge to fulfill it is an indispensable obligation” (Nelson, 146). The members came from all socioeconomic factions and had a range of reasons for opposing Hitler's regime. Some rejected the growing violence, others opposed the regime for religious, political or racial intolerance. Nelson writes about a young dentist, Helmut Himpel, who shared his connection to the Schulze-Boysen circle through what could be depicted in the saddest love story: his love for a beautiful half-Jewish law student whom he was forbidden to marry because of Nazi race laws (Nelson, 139). This anecdote is one of many heartbreaking stories Nelson writes about in Red Orchestra, which informs readers about the diversity each member faced.

The most compelling, dangerous and life changing clandestine work came from Harro's wife, Libertas who worked at the Reich's Kulturfilm central office in 1941. Her new job was to deal with “art, German peoples and lands, and other peoples countries” (Nelson, 233). Libertas found herself in the center of a “dangerous world full of secrets and contradictions.” However, she used her cunning flirtatiousness and charm to gather information for Harnack's circle in hopes of collecting enough information to expose Hitler and the Nazi party’s atrocities, which were of great value since Hitler tried hard to keep the information as private as possible. Greta later wrote about the images Libertas collected as “cynically grinning torturers posing with their victims” (Nelson, 239). Her collection included pictures from the Rohm massacre, torture of young children and infants, and entire “liquidation's” of Polish, Jewish, and Soviet civilians. Although this took a tole on Libertas mental health Greta later wrote that she “accomplished it consistently, because we considered it necessary” (Nelson, 239).

By 1942 the Gestapo had amassed enough information against members of the Red Orchestra and were ready to raid the group. The Gestapo had followed their trail as early as August 26, 1941 when a chain of gross errors were committed by Soviet intelligence. Moscow had wired the encoded names and addresses of Adam Kuckhoff, and Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen to their agents in Brussels. Although initially the Gestapo was unable to interpret the code, a larger chain of events would unfold throughout the year in order to piece together enough information to make arrests. On August 31, 1942 the Gestapo made their first arrest, Harro Schulze-Boysen. During interrogation John Sieg, Harro Schulze-Boysen and Arvid Harnack were severely beaten and tortured with axes and rubber clubs. By the end of three consecutive days of torture John Sieg hanged himself in his prison cell at Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse. Arvid Harnack, Harro Schulze-Boyen and Adam Kuckhoff had their fate settled when each confessed working with the Soviets. By the end of 1943 all were executed. The women of the Red Orchestra fared better in the prison at Alexanderplatz but only Greta Kuckhoff survived. Mildred Harnack and Libertas Schulze-Boysen were beheaded by guillotine. By the end of 1942 more than 130 people were identified and arrested for their role in the operation, of whom six died during interrogation and 49 were executed.

Through Nelson's work readers are able to understand how German democracy fell to the hands of a terrible dictator. We know through the record that at least 130 Red Orchestra members paid with their lives for standing up to the regime out of conviction. Nelson demonstrates the necessity of understanding the political and ideological environment that molds spies and counter-agents. Her book shows how one of the world's most frightening dictators could be totally wrong in tactics and targeting, costing the lives of millions of innocent civilians. Through these unsung heroes can we learn that ordinary citizens are capable of accomplishing extraordinary acts of heroism, especially in the modern world. Although Nazi Germany was one of the most tragic events in recent history, we can take away the members of the Red Orchestra not as victims of Hitler’s “plan,” but more importantly as resisters, risking almost certain death in the name of truth and conviction.

 


Annotated Bibliography and Links (back to top)(links last checked 3/24/10)

Book Reviews

  • Freeman, Jay, Review: Red Orchestra: , Booklist Vol. 105 Issue 12. February 15, 2009. p18, 1p.

    In this review readers discover “The Red Orchestra” was a name given by the German Gestapo. This clan led clandestine operations against the Nazi regime. Although many were captured and/or executed, these young Germans and Americans who opposed Hitler were able to hold positions in government gather intelligence and save the lives of many Jews.

  • Herzog, Dagmar, “Berlin Underground.” Review of Red Orchestra:", New York Times Book Review June 7, 2009. 2 pages.

    Members of the Red Orchestra worked to expose the Nazi regimes crimes, particularly war crimes by putting together photographs and documents that could later be used to bring Hitler and the regime to justice. We find that members of the Red Orchestra came from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Each individual had their own reason for opposing the regime. Herzog highlights one founding member Libertas Schulze-Boysen who created documents and photographs to prove Germany’s war crimes. She was eventually caught and sent to the guillotine. Many others of the Red Orchestra would be later exposed to the Nazi’s because of Soviet “haplessness.” Herzog finds that if the members of the Red Orchestra had never been exposed the, “war might have been shorter, and the Holocaust smaller.”

  • anonymous, Publishers Weekly Vol. 256 Issue 7. February 16, 2009. p122-122.

    After the 1933 Reichstag fire most political opponents such as “Jews and non-Aryan types” had been eliminated. However, the Red Orchestra was able to succeed in combating the strong Nazi party. People such as Greta Kuckhoff, Mildred Harnack, and Avrid Harnack were able to fight fascist censorship by sliding “their people into Nazi ministries, help Jews flee, and provide Allies with vital information to aid the war effort.” Nelson’s book exposes the some 130 Red Orchestra members who fought against Hitler’s “iron will.”

Books and Articles

  • Brysac, Shareen B. , Resisting Hitler: Mildred Harnack and the Red Orchestra (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 516 pages. UCSB: PS29.H36 B79 2000.

    This book is the story of Mildred Harnack; a leading member of the Red Orchestra. Brysac's research on Harnack is extensive and detailed. Following the life of Mildred Harnack provides an interesting look at what life was like for resistors in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. Although Anne Nelson's Red Orchestra supplies valuable insight into the Harnack family, Brysac's account provides a deeper historical analysis of Mildred Harnack's fascinating life.

  • Höhne, Heinz, Codeword: Direktor: The Story of the Red Orchestra Richard Berry (New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1971) 310 pages. UCSB: D810.S7 H5713 1971 [SRLF].

    The American CIA created an extensive report of the Red Orchestra which was declassified in 1976. Höhne offers a more readable version of the report in Codeword: Direktor which according to many historians was the first book to be published in a purely historical narrative. Nelson's book The Red Orchestra provides an in-depth report of the executed members, whereas Höhne's book presents multiple accounts from the surviving members including, Trepper, Rado, Roeder, Foote, and Puenter. For a more in-depth analysis of the surviving members as well as an overview of the CIA report, Codeword: Direktor is an excellent historical monograph.

  • Sayner, Joanne, Women Without a Past?: German Autobiographical Writings and Fascism (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2007), 381 pages. UCSB: PT167.S28 2007

    One of the themes in Nelson's book that I greatly appreciated was her exposing the role of women, wives and mothers inside the Red Orchestra. Similar to Nelson, Sayner deeply empathizes with their cause and recounts the political and ideological differences of women inside Nazi Germany. Sayner's book is a collection seven autobiographies of women living under the Nazi regime, including a chapter of Greta Kuckhoff's memory of resistance inside the Red Orchestra. This book provides valuable insight on the plight and adversity women faced living under the Nazi flag.

Relevant Websites

  • , Traces.org “Cast of Characters” (Jan 14, 2007/ Apr 13, 2008),

    Traces, a non-profit educational organization provides brief biographic summaries of the key members in the Red Orchestra. This website provides additional pictures and a few links for members such as Mildred Harnack and William Leonard. This website is a good supplement for the book Red Orchestra as it provides additional background information that Nelson does not include.

  • German Resistance Memorial Center, “Red Orchestra” (Dec 16, 2007).

    The German Resistance Memorial Center provides a brief synopsis of the resistance movement starting from their inception in the early 1930s until the end of 1942, paying special attention to Arvid and Mildred Harnack, Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen, as well as the formation of the network and the clandestine operations the members led. This website provides a much shorter and less detailed version of Nelson's book, leaving only the most important details. Although this is a well written overview it doesn't give readers a good sense of what the Red Orchestra really accomplished.

  • Wikipedia.org, "Red Orchestra" (January 20, 2004/February 27, 2010).

    This website discusses in a little more detail where the name Red Orchestra came from as well a short synopsis of the Trepper Group, the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack Group, and “The Red Three,” which Nelson does not cover in Red Orchestra. Through this website we find that “The Red Three” were one part of the Red Orchestra which were the only sub-group centered outside the reach of German security forces, in Switzerland, during April 1942. Although the only bibliography for the whole article is a four page excerpt from Jeffrey Richelson, A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century, this website provides added information that Nelson did not include in her monograph

  • Roloff, Stefan, "The Red Orchestra/Die Rote Kappelle Film.” (March 13, 2003/March 17, 2007).

    Stefan Roloff provides information about his film, “The Red Orchestra” which debuted in 2002. In this film the viewers see and hear the survivors and their children retell the story of the Red Orchestra. The filmmaker Stefan Roloff derived his desire to make this film from his father Helmut Roloff. Nelson's Red Orchestra provides an in depth analysis about Helmut Roloff's arrest and post-war activities. The film “The Red Orchestra” was nominated by the US Women Critics Circle as the “Best Foreign Film in 2005.” This film and website are a great supplement to Nelson's book as viewers are able to experience through imagery the determination of the members of the Red Orchestra.

  • Roloff, Stefan, Movie Trailer for "The Red Orchestra" Film, 2:34 mins, 2005.

    This two and a half minute trailer provides a brief synopsis of the aforementioned film and the members. This film is available through the WorldCat library network.



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Any student tempted to use this paper for an assignment in another course or school should be aware of the serious consequences for plagiarism. Here is what I write in my syllabi:

Plagiarism—presenting someone else's work as your own, or deliberately failing to credit or attribute the work of others on whom you draw (including materials found on the web)—is a serious academic offense, punishable by dismissal from the university. It hurts the one who commits it most of all, by cheating them out of an education. I report offenses to the Office of the Dean of Students for disciplinary action.


prepared for web by Sharon Emery on 3/24/10; last updated: 11/21/10
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