Heinz Harro Max Wilhelm Georg Schulze-Boysen (; Schulze, 2 September 1909 – 22 December 1942) was a left-wing
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
publicist and
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
officer during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. As a young man, Schulze-Boysen grew up in prosperous family with two siblings, with an extended family who were
aristocrats
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At the time of the word' ...
. After spending his early schooling at the Heinrich-von-Kleist Gymnasium and his summers in Sweden, he part completed a political science course at the
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...
, before moving to Berlin on November 1929, to study law at the
Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
. At Humboldt he became an anti-nazi. After a visit to France in 1931, he moved to the political left. When he returned, he became a publicist on the "Der Gegner" (English: "The Opponent"), a left-leaning political magazine. In May 1932, he took control of the magazine, renamed as the "Gegner" (English: "opponent") but it was closed by the Gestapo in February 1933.
In May 1933, Schulze-Boysen trained as a pilot and started working in
Ministry of Aviation
The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply.
...
. In the summer of 1934, he met the artistocrat
Libertas Haas-Heye and married her in July 1936. The couple held regular dinner parties and evening-picnics that became formal meetings where many people from different stratas of society met and who were confessed anti-nazis. By 1936, their house in Charlottenburg had become a popular meeting place and by 1937 the group began to resist. During the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
, Schulze-Boysen began collecting details of the Wehrmacht's involvement in the war from the ministry. He arranged for the documents to be passed to Soviet embassy by
Gisela von Pöllnitz. As he was promoted in the Ministry, Schulze-Boysen collected information that he used to write savage indictments of the Nazi plans. Their first leaflet was "Der Stoßtrupp" ("The Shock Troop") that criticised the plan for the invasion of
Sudetenland
The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...
. At the time, the documents were taken abroad.
At the beginning of the war, Schulze-Boysen met
Arvid Harnack
Arvid Harnack (; 24 May 1901 in Darmstadt – 22 December 1942 in Berlin) was a German jurist, Marxist economist, Communist, and German resistance fighter in Nazi Germany. Harnack came from an intellectual family and was originally a humanist. He ...
who was the leader of another political faction and they started to work together. As the war progressed their combined undercover political faction, developed from a resistance organisation into an espionage networks from a small cadre of close friends, that began to collaborate with Soviet intelligence. The espionage network, led by Schulze-Boysen lasted slightly longer than a year. From just before June 1941 to August 1942 before a blunder by Soviet intelligence exposed their names and addresses to the German
Funkabwehr
Funkabwehr, or ''Radio Defense Corps'' was a radio counterintelligence organization created in 1940 by Hans Kopp of the German Nazi Party High Command during World War II. It acted as the principal organization for radio Counterintelligence, i.e ...
, which resulted in the arrest of many members of the group, including Schulze-Boysen who was arrested on 31 August 1942 and executed in 1942.
Early life
Schulze-Boysen was born in
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...
as the son of decorated
naval
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
officer and Marie-Luise (née Boysen). On his paternal side he was the grandnephew of
Grand Admiral
Grand admiral is a historic naval rank, the highest rank in the several European navies that used it. It is best known for its use in Germany as . A comparable rank in modern navies is that of admiral of the fleet.
Grand admirals in individual n ...
Alfred von Tirpitz
Alfred Peter Friedrich von Tirpitz (19 March 1849 – 6 March 1930) was a German grand admiral, Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the German Imperial Navy from 1897 until 1916. Prussi ...
and on the maternal side, the German economist and philosopher
Ferdinand Tönnies
Ferdinand Tönnies (; 26 July 1855 – 9 April 1936) was a German sociologist, economist, and philosopher. He was a significant contributor to sociological theory and field studies, best known for distinguishing between two types of social gro ...
. In 1913, the family moved to Berlin when his father received a posting. He had two siblings: a sister Helga, and a brother, Hartmut (1922-2013).
In 1913, Schulze-Boysen attended primary school and later the Heinrich-von-Kleist-Gymnasium in the district of
Schmargendorf
Schmargendorf () is a south-western locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the district (''Bezirk'') of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Until 2001 it was part of the former district of Wilmersdorf.
Geography
Schmargendorf borders with the localities o ...
in Berlin. From 1920, he regularly spent his summer holidays with the Hasselrot family in Sweden. In 1922 his father was transferred to
Duisburg
Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...
, and Harro followed him in the autumn. As a student at the Steinbart Gymnasium in Duisburg, he participated in the underground struggle against the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 and was temporarily imprisoned by the French and Belgian occupying forces. To get him out of this political firing line, his parents organized a slightly longer stay in Sweden. Harro's trip to England in 1926 had inspired comparison and reflection. He had found that his experiences in the country did not match the perception of England within Germany.
In 1927 he wrote his first major newspaper report about a scandal in Duisburg to erect a monument to the sculptor
Wilhelm Lehmbruck
Wilhelm Lehmbruck (4 January 188125 March 1919) was a German sculptor.
Biography
Born in Meiderich (part of Duisburg from 1905), he was the fourth of eight children born to the miner Wilhelm Lehmbruck and his wife Margaretha. He was able to stu ...
. On the occasion of the 80th birthday of the Reich President
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fro ...
, Schulze-Boysen gave a commemorative speech at the school. His political involvement in high school was perceived as unusually intense. He passed the
Abitur
''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
with the overall rating "good". His dexterity was particularly emphasized in the written and oral expression. At the time his spiritual attitude was in agreement with the values and traditions of the family. From then on, he appeared in public and in written statements with the double name Schulze-Boysen.
Political awakening
In April 1928 he studied law and political science at the
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...
and later Berlin, without finishing. In the same period he joined the ''
Studentenverbindung
(; often referred to as Verbindung) is the umbrella term for many different kinds of fraternity-type associations in German-speaking countries, including Corps, , , , and Catholic fraternities. Worldwide, there are over 1,600 , about a thousa ...
'' Albingia and the
Young German Order
The Young German Order (in German , often abbreviated as ) was a large para-military organisation in Weimar Germany. Its name and symbol (see picture) were inspired by the Teutonic Knights ( in German).
The pseudo-chivalric group was involved i ...
, a paramilitary organisation that influenced him ideologically at the time. Its goal was to ethically revive the "comradeship from the trenches of the First World War" as a model for the
Volksgemeinschaft
''Volksgemeinschaft'' () is a German expression meaning "people's community", "folk community",Richard Grunberger, ''A Social History of the Third Reich'', London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971, p. 44. "national community", or "racial community", ...
to be developed. It rejected any form of dictatorship from the ideological left or right.
In the summer of 1929 he participated in an
academic fencing
Academic fencing (german: link=no, akademisches Fechten) or is the traditional kind of fencing practiced by some student corporations () in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Latvia, Estonia, and, to a minor extent, in Belgium, Lithuania, and Pol ...
club at the university and a course from the ''Hochsee-Wehrsportverein'' high sea defense sailing club in
Neustadt. In November he moved to the
Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
to continue his studies in law and joined its International Students' Association. In 1930, Schulze-Boysen supported the intellectual-nationalist group called the ''Volksnationale Reichsvereinigung'' ("People's National Reich Association"). During this period, Schulze-Boysen was also a member of the National Socialist
Black Front
The Combat League of Revolutionary National Socialists (German: ''Kampfgemeinschaft Revolutionärer Nationalsozialisten'', KGRNS), more commonly known as the Black Front (german: Schwarze Front), was a political group formed by Otto Strasser in ...
. For the first time during this period he dealt intensively with Nazi
ideology
An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...
and searched for the causes of the sudden victory of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
in
Reichstag elections in March 1933. He studied the Nazi Party's programme and read ''
Mein Kampf
(; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...
'' in search of answers, describing it as a "jumble of platitudes" and commenting: "There's nothing here but nonsense".. It became clear to him that a further gain in votes by the Nazis would lead to a sharp intensification and polarization in society.
As a publicist
In July 1931, during a stay in France, Schulze-Boysen met French intellectuals associated with the magazine ''Plans'', which sought the establishment of a Europe-wide collective economic system and whose influence resulted in him being reorientated politically to the left, though he still maintained his contacts with the nationalists. As time went on, he increasingly distanced himself from the views of the
Young German Order
The Young German Order (in German , often abbreviated as ) was a large para-military organisation in Weimar Germany. Its name and symbol (see picture) were inspired by the Teutonic Knights ( in German).
The pseudo-chivalric group was involved i ...
as he realised that the daily struggle in Germany should primarily be directed against the emerging fascism and all reactionaries.
In 1932 and 1933, he published the left-liberal political magazine ''
Der Gegner
Der Gegner (The Opponent) was a German arts magazine published between April 1919 – 27 September 1922. It was edited by Julian Gumperz, and Karl Otten. It was published in Halle by Franz Joest Verlag. Wieland Herzfelde replaced Otten on the edi ...
'' (English: "The Opponent"),that sought an alternative between capitalism and communism. It was founded in 1931 by
Franz Jung
Franz Josef Johannes Konrad Jung (26 November 1888, Neisse, Upper Silesia – 21 January 1963, Stuttgart) was a writer, economist and political activist in Germany. He also wrote under the names Franz Larsz and Frank Ryberg.
He grew up in Neisse ...
and modelled on the ''Plans'' magazine. The poet
Ernst Fuhrmann
Dr. Ernst Fuhrmann (21 October 1918 – 6 February 1995) was chairman of Porsche AG between 1972 and 1980. He was a German citizen.
Fuhrmann attended primary school in Vienna before progressing to a secondary school. Between 1936 and 1941 he att ...
, the artist
Raoul Hausmann
Raoul Hausmann (July 12, 1886 – February 1, 1971) was an Austrian artist and writer. One of the key figures in Berlin Dada, his experimental photographic collages, sound poetry, and institutional critiques would have a profound influence on ...
, the writers
Ernst von Salomon
Ernst von Salomon (25 September 1902 – 9 August 1972) was a German novelist and screenwriter. He was a Weimar-era national-revolutionary activist and right-wing Freikorps member.
Family and education
He was born in Kiel, in the Prussian prov ...
and
Adrien Turel and the Marxist theoretician
Karl Korsch
Karl Korsch (; August 15, 1886 – October 21, 1961) was a German Marxist theoretician and political philosopher. Along with György Lukács, Korsch is considered to be one of the major figures responsible for laying the groundwork for Western ...
, among others collaborated in writing the magazine. Their aim was to build a unified front of young people against the "liberal, capitalist and nationalist spirit" in Europe. For the French, Schulze-Boysen was the actor for Germany in this field. He tried to develop an independent German youth movement with the "Gegner-Kreis", which included
Robert Jungk
Robert Jungk (; born ''Robert Baum'', also known as ''Robert Baum-Jungk''; 11 May 1913 – 14 July 1994) was an Austrian writer, journalist, historian and peace campaigner who wrote mostly on issues relating to nuclear weapons.
Life
Jungk was bor ...
,
Erwin Gehrts,
Kurt Schumacher
Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher, better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician who became chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the first Leader of the Opposition in the West ...
and
Gisela von Pöllnitz and began to organize ''Enemy Evenings'' in Berlin cafés. "There was hardly an opposition youth group with which he did not keep in touch with." At the end of 1931, he took a leave of absence from his studies because he had come to the conclusion that the contents discussed here had nothing to do with the daily political disputes. In February 1932, Schulze-Boysen, in coordination with his French partners of ''Plans'', organized the ''Treffen der revolutionären Jugend Europas'' or ''Meeting of Europe's Revolutionary Youth''. A total of about 1,000 young people attended the meeting and he formulated the political goals for the German delegation. In view of the crisis in Germany, these consisted of the abolition of the capitalist system and also the assertion of Germany's own role without foreign
diktat
A diktat (german: label=from German, Diktat, ) is a statute, harsh penalty or settlement imposed upon a defeated party by the victor, or a dogmatic decree. The term has acquired a pejorative sense, to describe a set of rules dictated by a foreign p ...
and interference.
In the search for alternatives to crisis-ridden Western Europe, he became more interested in the Soviet system, which was influenced by his disappointment with the national and conservative parties in Germany, who in his opinion did not fight the nascent Nazis enough. In March 1932, he wrote his first article, "Der Neue Gegner" (English: "The New Opponent") that defined his concept of publication goals, stating: "Let us serve the invisible alliance of thousands, who today are still divided." In April 1932, he wrote a letter to his mother that stated his goal was the intellectual reconciliation of the young generation. Essentially his politics were driven by the idea of a united youth fighting the older generations.
In May 1932, an investigation was opened against Jung and the office premises of the ''Der Gegner'' were sealed. Schulze-Boysen took over the business as the new editor and gave the publication a new name, ''Gegner'' (English: "''opponent''"), but with the same network of the most diverse political camps. At the depths of the crisis, he saw a clear opportunity to implement a new policy approach: "Opponents of today – comrades of tomorrow". He had become the leading head and the centre of the "enemy circle". Schulze-Boysen considered the seizure of power by
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
to be probable at that time, but believed that he would soon be overthrown by a general strike. After the seizure of power by the Nazis and the
Reichstag fire
The Reichstag fire (german: Reichstagsbrand, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of ...
in Berlin, Schulze-Boysen helped several friends and colleagues who were being threatened to escape abroad. As early as February 1933 the Gestapo had rated the actions of the magazine as "radical" in an official communication, and in April 1933, the offices of ''Der Gegner'' were destroyed by the
Sturmabteilung
The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ral ...
in a raid and detained all those present. The editorial staff were deported to a special camp of the 6th
SS-Standarte. Schulze-Boysen himself was severely abused and detained for several days. The Sturmabteilung tortured his Jewish friend and colleague Henry Erlanger before his eyes, who died shortly afterwards. It had become clear to him, as a self-confessed anti-Nazi that he had to find new ways to implement his convictions. A chance encounter in the street led to Schulze-Boysen meeting the sculptor Kurt Schumacher, who had been working on ''Gegner'' with him. This was the beginning of the intellectual discussion group that would change into a direct-action, anti-fascist resistance group.
Military
In May 1933, his father organized a pilot training course for him at the German Aviation School in
Warnemünde
(, literally ''Mouth of the Warnow'') is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow. is one of the world's busie ...
as a sea observer to remove his son from the political front line in Berlin. The place was far away from Berlin and provided enough opportunity to allow Schulze-Boysen to reflect on his past and enable him to prepare plans for the future. Before his departure, he advised his friends and colleagues to look around Nazi Germany and to go into the institutions of the Nazi regime. He read books that the rulers appealed to and tried to return with due caution to his published work. In the spring of 1934, this resulted in an opportunity through a contact with the publisher
Erich Röth. He published the magazine ''Wille zum Reich'' under a pseudonym and dealt with cultural policy issues but with the goal of undermining the Nazi movement with its own themes.
Every fortnight he held picnic-evenings in his apartment with interested parties in which they discussed philosophical and well as political questions. Under a pseudonym (presumably under the abbreviation E.R. for Erich Röth), Schulze-Boysen wrote individual editorials and essays. It was important for him to explore what possibilities of influence existed with regard to the new situation. From 10 April 1934 onwards, he was employed as an auxiliary officer in the fifth department, in the section ''Foreign Air Powers'' of the
Ministry of Aviation
The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply.
...
(german: Reichsluftfahrtministerium) (RLM) in Berlin. As an adjutant of the head of maritime aviation intelligence, he was responsible for evaluating the foreign literature and press on the subject of air armament. He analysed tactics, organisation, training and technology by studying foreign magazines, lectures, photo collections and journals.
Marriage
![Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen (1935)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Harro_and_Libertas_Schulze-Boysen_%281935%29.jpg)
To protect himself from further persecution, Schulze-Boysen surrounded himself with a group of politically incorruptible friends who were left-leaning anti-fascists, among them
artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
s,
pacifist
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
s and
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
s. In the summer of 1934, he met 20-year-old
Libertas Haas-Heye while they were sailing on the
Wannsee
Wannsee () is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger ''Großer Wannsee'' (Greater Wannsee, "See" means lake) and the ...
, who worked at
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
in Berlin as a press officer.
They married on 26 July 1936. The wedding took place in the chapel of under a painting of
Guido Reni
Guido Reni (; 4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicolas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious ...
, with
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
giving away the bride. Liebenberg Castle was the ancestral estate of her parents. Schulze-Boysen spent his honeymoon in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
as a language study trip for his employer and he submitted a confidential report upon his return. Haas-Heye was an impulsive woman of great personal ambition: she held evening discussions at her house, where she sought to influence her guests on behalf of Schulze-Boysen. She was fully aware of his activities in the resistance and supported the group by taking part in writing pamphlets, acting as a courier and helping to establish social contacts. Schulze-Boysen considered himself a
libertine
A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints, which they see as unnecessary or undesirable, and is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour ob ...
and the couple had an
open marriage
Open marriage is a form of non-monogamy in which the partners of a dyadic marriage agree that each may engage in extramarital sexual relationships, without this being regarded by them as infidelity, and consider or establish an open relatio ...
.
Schulze-Boysen's friends
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-P1219-0323, Mitglieder der Widerstandsorganisation Schulze-Boysen-Harnack](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-P1219-0323%2C_Mitglieder_der_Widerstandsorganisation_Schulze-Boysen-Harnack.jpg)
In 1935,
Walter Küchenmeister joined the group. Küchenmeister had known Schulze-Boysen since 1930, but had been reintroduced to him through Kurt Schumacher. Küchenmeister very quickly became an important member of the group and assumed the position of writer. In the same year, Schulze-Boysen visited Geneva, disguised as a private trip, for a series of lectures on international legal issues. The playwright
Günther Weisenborn
Günther Weisenborn (10 July 1902 – 26 March 1969) was a German writer and fighter in the German Resistance against Nazism. He was notable for collaborating with Bertolt Brecht, along with Hanns Eisler, Slatan Dudow, on the play, '' The Mother ...
had known Schulze-Boysen since 1932 when he had met him at a left-wing student gathering and had become good friends. In 1937 Weisenborn had introduced the actor
Marta Wolter to Schulze-Boysen and became part of the group.
Walter Husemann, who at the time was in the Buchenwald concentration camp, would marry Marta Wolter and join the group. Other friends were found by Schulze-Boysen among former students of a reform school on the island of Scharfenberg in
Berlin-Tegel
Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Berlin-Tegel „Otto Lilienthal“) was the primary international airport of Berlin, the federal capital of Germany. The airport was named after aviation pioneer Otto Lilienth ...
. They often came from communist or social democratic workers' families, e.g. Hans and
Hilde Coppi,
Heinrich Scheel
Heinrich Karl Scheel ( lv, Heinrihs Kārlis Šēls; 17 May 1829 – 13 April 1909) was a Baltic German architect who lived and worked in Riga, Latvia. He is considered one of the greatest 19th century Riga architects and has designed more than ...
, Hermann Natterodt and Hans Lautenschlager. Some of these contacts existed before 1933, for example through the German Society of Intellectuals. John Rittmeister's wife Eva was a good friend of
Liane Berkowitz,
Ursula Goetze
Ursula Goetze (29 March 1916 – 5 August 1943) was a Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to pop ...
,
Friedrich Rehmer,
Maria Terwiel and
Fritz Thiel
Fritz Thiel (17 August 1916 – 13 May 1943) was a German precision engineer and German resistance to Nazism, resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. He became part of a Berlin-based anti-fascist resistance group during World War II, that w ...
who met in the 1939
abitur
''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
class at the secondary private school, ''Heil'schen Abendschule'' at Berlin W 50, Augsburger Straße 60 in
Schöneberg
Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelh ...
. The Romanist
Werner Krauss
Werner Johannes Krauss (''Krauß'' in German; 23 June 1884 – 20 October 1959) was a German stage and film actor. Krauss dominated the German stage of the early 20th century. However, his participation in the antisemitic propaganda film ''Jud S ...
also joined. Through discussions, an active resistance to the Nazi regime grew.
Ursula Goetze
Ursula Goetze (29 March 1916 – 5 August 1943) was a Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to pop ...
, who was part of the group, provided contacts with the communist groups in
Neukölln
Neukölln () is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located in the southeastern part from the city centre towards Berlin Schönefeld Airport. It was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city. It featu ...
.
Approaching war
In January 1936, Schule-Boyzen completed basic military training in the 3rd Radio Intelligence Teaching Company in
Halle and was promoted to corporal.
In order to be promoted, he had to either prove an academic degree or take part in a reservist exercise. However, the Luftwaffe Personnel Office blocked this possibility because he was registered in the files as "politically unreliable". In September 1936
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
asked the head of the human resources department, Colonel General
Hans-Jürgen Stumpff
__NOTOC__
Hans-Jürgen Stumpff (15 June 1889 – 9 March 1968), was a German general during World War II and was one of the signatories to Germany's unconditional surrender at the end of the war.
Military career
Stumpff joined the army in 190 ...
, what reports they had on Schulze-Boysen. When he learned that Schulze-Boysen's political activities from the Weimar Era "would offer no guarantee of a positive attitude towards the National State", Göring replied that "the old calibre of new appointments should be accepted" and sent him on an aviator course. He completed his course in November in
List on Sylt
List auf Sylt (known as List until 31 December 2008
atelier
An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or v ...
that he and Libertas had purchased together in
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...
as their wedding apartment gradually became a popular meeting place for people who wanted to maintain social interactions with one another. A second discussion group developed in Libertas' parents' estate, in Liebenberg. Many former acquaintances from ''Der Gegner'' were also present. To safeguard these covered activities, some basic conspiratorial rules were agreed. Schulze-Boysen's code name was ''Hans'' when he attended these regular discussion groups.
Resistance
![The Schulze-Boysen Group](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/The_Schulze-Boysen_Group.png)
During the summer of 1936, Schulze-Boysen had become preoccupied by the
Popular Front
A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault".
More generally, it is "a coalition ...
in Spain and through his position at the Reich Aviation Ministry, had collected detailed information of the support that Germany was providing. The documents were passed to the ''Antimilitarist Apparatus'' or AM Apparat (Intelligence organisation) of the
German Communist Party
The German Communist Party (german: Deutsche Kommunistische Partei, ) is a communist party in Germany. The DKP supports left positions and was an observer member of the European Left. At the end of February 2016 it left the European party.
His ...
.
At the end of 1936,
Libertas Schulze-Boysen
Libertas "Libs" Schulze-Boysen, born Libertas Viktoria Haas-Heye (20 November 1913 in Paris – 22 December 1942 in Plötzensee Prison ) was a German aristocrat and resistance fighter against the Nazis. From the early 1930s to 1940, Libs attem ...
and
Walter Küchenmeister, on the advice of
Elisabeth Schumacher—wife of
Kurt Schumacher
Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher, better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician who became chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the first Leader of the Opposition in the West ...
—sought out
Elfriede Paul
Elfriede Paul (14 January 1900 – 30 August 1981) was a German physician and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. Paul, a small and energetic woman, was a communist member of the anti-fascist resistance group that was later called the ...
, a doctor, who became a core member of the group.
The
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
galvanised the inner circle of Schulze-Boysen's group. Kurt Schumacher demanded that action should be taken and a plan that took advantage of Schulze-Boysen's position at the ministry was formed. In February 1937, Schulze-Boysen compiled a short information document about a sabotage enterprise planned in Barcelona by the German
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
. It was an action from "Special Staff W", an organisation established by Luftwaffe general
Helmuth Wilberg
Helmuth Wilberg (1 June 1880 – 20 November 1941) was a German officer of Jewish ancestry and a ''Luftwaffe'' General of the Air Force during the Second World War.
Military career
Wilberg joined the 80. Fusilier Regiment "von Gersdorff" (''K ...
to study and analyse the tactical lessons learned by the
''Legion Kondor'' during the Spanish Civil War. The unit also directed the German relief operations that consisted of volunteers, weapons and ammunition for General
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
's
FET y de las JONS
The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS; ), frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco F ...
. The information that Schulze-Boysen collected included details about German transports, deployment of units and companies involved in the German defence. The group around Schulze-Boysen did not know how to deliver the information to the Soviets, but discovered that Schulze-Boysen's cousin,
Gisela von Pöllnitz, was planning to visit the
that was held in Paris from 25 May to 25 November 1937.
After extensive discussion the group decided that she would deliver the letter to the Soviet Embassy in Paris.
[Ohler. Page 157.] Von Pöllnitz fulfilled her mission and placed the letter in the mailbox of the Soviet Embassy on the
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne (, "Boulogne woodland") is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. The land was ceded to the city of Paris by t ...
.
However, the building was being watched by the Gestapo and after posting the letter they arrested her in November 1937.
To prepare for the upcoming military
occupation of Czechoslovakia
Occupation commonly refers to:
*Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment
*Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces
*Military occupation, th ...
, just after 5 June 1938, a game of planning took place in the Foreign Air Powers Department and shortly afterwards in August a combat exercise took place in the Wildpark-Werder area that is directly southwest of
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
. The Gestapo also prepared for the impending war and, with orders from
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
, updated their registers of potential enemies of the state. Schulze-Boysen was classified as a former editor of the ''Gegner'' and they were aware of his status. On 20 April 1939, he was promoted to
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
and promptly called upon to perform a study on the comparison of air armaments between France, England and Germany.
The overall situation in Germany, which was moving more and more towards the state of war, did not leave the actors associated with Schulze-Boysen idle. In October 1938 Küchenmeister and Schulze-Boysen wrote the leaflet entitled ''Der Stoßtrupp'' (English: "The Shock Troop") for the imminent affiliation of the
Sudetenland
The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...
. Around 50 copies were
mimeograph
A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a copy made by the pro ...
ed and distributed. In the spring of 1939, Paul, the Schumachers and Küchenmeister travelled to Switzerland, ostensibly to treat Küchenmeister's
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
but also to contact the KPD director
Wolfgang Langhoff
Wolfgang Langhoff (6 October 1901 in Berlin, German Empire – 26 August 1966 in Berlin, German Democratic Republic)The Internet Movie Database"Wolfgang Langhoff" Accessed 17 August 2007. was a German theatre, film and television actor and theat ...
to exchange information. In August, Küchenmeister helped reach Switzerland. He also provided him with information on current German aircraft and tank production, as well as deployment plans for a German submarine base in the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
.
On his 30th birthday on 2 September 1939, Schulze-Boysen had talked with German industrialist
Hugo Buschmann, with whom he had agreed to receive literature on the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
, Lenin, Stalin, and
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
. Schulze-Boysen was primarily concerned with questions of what alternatives there were to the capitalist system of the Western European countries, and he considered writing his thesis on the Soviet Union during his studies. Schulze-Boysen invalidated the concerns that Buschmann had regarding the literature handover by remarking, "I regularly receive
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the co ...
and
Izvestia
''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes ...
and have to read them because I am a rapporteur on Russian issues. My department requires a thorough study of this literature. Besides, we are allies of Soviet Russia".
Schulze-Boysen spent much of 1940 looking for new contacts. Besides his work in the RLM, he studied at the
Deutsche Hochschule für Politik The Deutsche Hochschule für Politik (DHfP), or ''German Academy for Politics'', was a private academy in Berlin, founded in October 1920. It was integrated into the Faculty for Foreign Studies (''Auslandswissenschaftliche Fakultät'') of the Humbol ...
of the
Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
. Towards the end of his studies, he led a seminar on foreign studies as an employee of SS Major
Franz Six
Franz Alfred Six (12 August 1909 – 9 July 1975) was a Nazi official, promoter of the Holocaust and convicted war criminal. He was appointed by Reinhard Heydrich to head department Amt VII, Written Records of the Reich Security Main Office ( ...
who was director of the Hochschule. In 1941, Libertas Schulze-Boysen became an English language lecturer to teach translators the language. Schulze-Boysen who also lectured there and met three people at the institute that became important members of his group: student and interpreter
Eva-Maria Buch
Eva-Maria Buch (31 January 1921 – 5 August 1943) was a German resistance to Nazism, resistance fighter against the Nazi Germany, Nazi régime in Germany associated with the Red Orchestra (espionage), Red Orchestra (''Rote Kapelle'') resistan ...
; confirmed Nazi and
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
member
Horst Heilmann
Horst Heilmann (15 April 1923 – 22 December 1942) was a German resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. He was a member of the anti-fascist resistance group that formed around Harro Schulze-Boysen. This group and many others were bundled t ...
and Luftwaffe officer
Herbert Gollnow. Buch translated the resistance magazine ''Die innere Front'' (English: "The Internal Front") into French. Little was known about Gollnow.
Heilmann met Schulze-Boysen when he wrote a paper called ''The Soviets and Versailles'' that was presented at a political seminar for the Hitler Youth being attended by Schulze-Boysen. Heilmann was introduced to
Albrecht Haushofer
Albrecht Georg Haushofer (7 January 1903 – 23 April 1945) was a German geographer, diplomat, author and member of the German Resistance to Nazism.
Life
Haushofer was born in Munich, the son of the retired World War I general and geographer K ...
through Schulze-Boysen; it was not the first meeting between Schulze-Boysen and Haushofer but was perhaps the first political one. According to new evidence that was presented in 2010, Schulze-Boysen and Haushofer met at least twice before, understood each other's motives, and allowed a compromise to be reached between them, which enabled Heilmann to turn away from
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. At Schulze-Boysen and Haushofer's first meeting, also attended by
Rainer Hildebrandt
Rainer Hildebrandt (born December 14, 1914 in Stuttgart, died January 9, 2004 in Berlin) was a German anti-communist resistance fighter, historian and founder of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. He was involved in the resistance to the communist reg ...
whose apartment they were using, they discussed the possibility of cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union. Haushofer was antipathetic towards the Soviet Union and believed that the only way to establish mutual agreement with Stalin's regime was to confront Soviet power with Europe's right to self-assertion. Schulze-Boysen pleaded for mutual collaboration between the two countries and believed that German communism would emerge as an independent political doctrine, while he anticipated a role for the Soviet Union in Europe. At a second meeting, with trust established between two sides, Haushofer told Schulze-Boysen that an assassination attempt against Hitler was being planned. These two meetings created a level of trust between the two men that reduced their risk of exposure when trying to turn the Wehrmacht officer. In August 1941, after a weekend sailing on the
Großer Wannsee
The Großer Wannsee (, "Greater Wannsee", "See" means lake) is a bight of the Havel river near the locality of Wannsee and Nikolassee (in the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf), a south-western suburb of the German capital Berlin not far from Potsdam ...
, on Schulze-Boysen's boat, the ''Duschika'', Schulze-Boysen confided in Heilmann that he was working for the Russians as an agent. Heilmann supplied intelligence to Schulze-Boysen for almost a year.
Schulze-Boysen/Harnack Group
In 1941, Schulze-Boysen had access to other resistance groups and began to cooperate with them. The most important of these was a group run by
Arvid Harnack
Arvid Harnack (; 24 May 1901 in Darmstadt – 22 December 1942 in Berlin) was a German jurist, Marxist economist, Communist, and German resistance fighter in Nazi Germany. Harnack came from an intellectual family and was originally a humanist. He ...
who had known Schulze-Boysen since 1935, but was reintroduced to him sometime in late 1939 or early 1940 through
Greta Kuckhoff
Margaretha "Greta" Kuckhoff ( Lorke; 14 December 1902 – 11 November 1981) was a Resistance member in Nazi Germany, who belonged to the illegal Communist Party of Germany and the NKVD spy ring that was dubbed the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr. S ...
. Kuckhoff knew Arvid and
Mildred Harnack
Mildred Elizabeth Harnack ( Fish; September 16, 1902 – February 16, 1943) was an American literary historian, translator, and member of the German resistance against the Nazi regime. After marrying Arvid Harnack, she moved to Germany in 192 ...
when the latter was studying in America at the end of the 1920s, and had brought the poet
Adam Kuckhoff
Adam Kuckhoff (, 30 August 1887 – 5 August 1943) was a German writer, journalist, and German resistance to Nazism, German resistance member of the anti-fascist resistance group that was later called the Red Orchestra (espionage), Red Orchestra ...
together with the couple. The Kuckhoffs had known the Schulz-Boysens since 1938, having met them at a dinner party hosted by film producer
Herbert Engelsing and his wife Ingeborg Engelsing, a close friend of Libertas and started to engage them socially in late 1939 or early 1940 by bringing Mildred and Libertas together while on holiday in Saxony. Through the Engelsing's, the Schulze-Boysen's were introduced to
Maria Terwiel and her future fiance, the dentist
Helmut Himpel.
In January 1941 Schulze-Boysen, promoted to lieutenant, was assigned to the attaché group of the 5th department of the Reich Aviation Ministry. His new place of work was in Wildpark in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
, where the headquarters of the Luftwaffe was located. His job there was to process the incoming reports from the Luftwaffe attachés working in the individual embassies. At the same time, Harnack learned from him that the Reich Aviation Ministry was also involved in the preparation of the Russian campaign and that reconnaissance flights had begun over Soviet territory.
On 27 March 1941 in a meeting at the apartment of Arvid Harnack, Schulze-Boysen met the third secretary member of the Soviet embassy,
Alexander Korotkov, who was known to Harnack as Alexander Erdberg. Korotkov was a Soviet intelligence agent who had been operating clandestinely in Europe for much of the 1930s as an employee of the foreign intelligence service of the Soviet
People's Commissariat for State Security
The People's Commissariat for State Security (russian: Народный комиссариат государственной безопасности) or NKGB, was the name of the Soviet secret police, intelligence and counter-intelligence fo ...
(NKGB). Korotkov assigned the code name ''Starshina'', a Soviet military rank, to Schulze-Boysen as Harnack brought him into the operation. Without being aware of the exact activity of his counterpart at the time, Schulze-Boysen informed him in the conversation that the attack on the Soviet Union had been decided and would take place in the shortest possible time. On 2 April 1941, Schulze-Boysen informed Korotkov that the invasion plans were complete and provided Korotkov with an initial list of bombing targets of railways. On 17 April, Schulze-Boysen reported that the Germans were still indecisive. He stated that German generals in North Africa were hopeful of a victory over Great Britain, but the preparations for the invasion continued. In mid-April, in an attempt to increase the influx of intelligence, the Soviets ordered Korotkov to create a Berlin espionage operation. Harnack was asked to run the operation and the groups were given two radio transmitters. Schulze-Boysen selected
Kurt Schumacher
Curt Ernst Carl Schumacher, better known as Kurt Schumacher (13 October 1895 – 20 August 1952), was a German politician who became chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1946 and the first Leader of the Opposition in the West ...
as their radio operator. In the same month, Korotkov began to pressure both groups to break contact with any communist friends and cease any kind of political activity. Schulze-Boysen had a number of friends with links to the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
including Küchenmeister with whom he cut contact, but he continued to engage in politics. In May 1941, a suitcase-based radio transmitter was delivered to Harnack via Greta Kuckhoff. Eventually, Libertas was drawn into the espionage operation. As the month progressed, the reports provided to the Soviets became more important, as they in turn devoted more time to ensure the supply of information continued. On 6 June 1941, Schumacher was drafted into the German army and Schulze-Boysen found a replacement radio operator in
Hans Coppi
Hans-Wedigo Robert Coppi (25 January 1916 – 22 December 1942) was a German resistance fighter against the Nazis. He was a member of a Berlin-based anti-fascist resistance group that was later called the Red Orchestra by the Gestapo.
Lif ...
. Schulze-Boysen persuaded Coppi to establish a radio link to the Soviet Union for the resistance organisation. Both Harnack and Coppi were trained by a contact of Korotkov, in how to encode text and transmit it, but Coppi failed to send any messages due to inexperience and technical problems with the radio. Harnack managed to transmit messages but the operation was largely a failure. Around 13 June 1941, Schulze-Boysen prepared a report that gave the final details of the Soviet invasion including details of Hungarian airfields containing German planes.
When the
Soviet invasion began on 22 June 1941, the Soviet embassy closed and due to the radio transmitters that had become defective, intelligence from the group failed to reach the Soviet Union. However, they still gathered information and collated it. The couple had read about the
Franz Six
Franz Alfred Six (12 August 1909 – 9 July 1975) was a Nazi official, promoter of the Holocaust and convicted war criminal. He was appointed by Reinhard Heydrich to head department Amt VII, Written Records of the Reich Security Main Office ( ...
murders in the Soviet Union and the group was aware of the capture of millions of Russian soldiers. Schulze-Boysens position in the Luftwaffe gave them a more detailed perspective than most Berliners and by September 1941, they realised that the fate of Russians and Jews had begun to converge. At the same time, the combined group started to collect military intelligence in a careful, systematic manner that could be used to overthrow the Nazis. Members of both groups were convinced that only by the military defeat of the Nazis could Germany be liberated and that by shortening the war, perhaps millions of people could be saved. Only in that way would Germany be able to be saved as an independent state at the centre of Europe.
On 18 October 1941, the Soviet agent
Anatoly Gurevich
Anatoly Markovich Gurevich (russian: Анатолий Маркович Гуревич; 7 November 1913 – 2 January 2009) was a Soviet intelligence officer. He was an officer in the GRU operating as "разведчик-нелегал" (''razve ...
was ordered by
Leopold Trepper
Leopold Zakharovich Trepper (23 February 1904 – 10 January 1982) was a Polish Communist and career Soviet agent of the Red Army Intelligence. With the code name Otto'','' Trepper had worked with the Red Army since 1930. He was also a resistance ...
, the director of Soviet Intelligence in Europe, to drive to Berlin and find out why the group were no longer transmitting. Trepper received a message on 26 August 1941 with a set of instructions for the Schulze-Boysens, Harnacks and Kuckhoffs to re-establish communications. Although it took several weeks for Gurevich to reach Berlin, the visit was largely a failure and the groups remained independent. Gurevich received intelligence from Schulze-Boysen at a four-hour meeting they held at his apartment.
AGIS leaflets
In December 1941 or January 1942 (sources vary), the Schulze-Boysens met psychoanalyst
John Rittmeister and his wife Eva. Rittmeister was happy to hear from the reports that informed him of the German military setback on the
Eastern Front and convinced Schulze-Boyse that the reports should be shared with the German people, which would destroy the myth of German propaganda. However, Rittmeister did not share the activist politics of Schulze-Boysen, nor did he know about his espionage activities.
[Cocks. Page 331.] The ''AGIS'' leaflet was created, named in reference to the
Sparta
Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...
n King
Agis IV, who fought against corruption. Rittmeister, Schulze-Boysen and Küchenmeister wrote them with titles like ''The becoming of the Nazi movement'', ''Call for opposition'', ''Freedom and violence'' and ''Appeal to All Callings and Organisations to resist the government''.
On 15 February 1942, Schulze-Boysen led the group to write the six-page pamphlet called ''Die Sorge Um Deutschlands Zukunft geht durch das Volk!'' (English: "The Concern for Germany's Future Goes Through the People!"). Co-authored by Rittmeister, the master copy was arranged by the potter
Cato Bontjes van Beek
Cato Bontjes van Beek (; 14 November 1920 – 5 August 1943) was a German member of the Resistance against the Nazi regime.
Early years
Born in Bremen, Cato was the eldest of three children. She spent her childhood and youth in the nearby Fi ...
, a friend of Libertas, and the pamphlet was written up by
Maria Terwiel on her typewriter. Once copy survives today. The pamphlet posited the idea of active defeatism, which was a compromise between principled pacifism and practical political resistance. It stated the future for Germany lay in establishing a socialist state that would form alliances with the USSR and progressive forces in Europe. It also offered advice to the individual resistor: "do the opposite of what is asked of you". The group produced hundreds of pamphlets that were spread over Berlin, in phone boxes, and sent to selected addresses. Producing the leaflets required a small army of people and a complex approach to organisation to avoid being discovered.
The Soviet Paradise exhibition
In May 1942, the Nazis publicised propaganda as an exhibit known as
The Soviet Paradise
The Soviet Paradise (German original title "''Das Sowjet-Paradies''") was the name of an exhibition and a propaganda film created by the Department of Film of the propaganda organisation (''Reichspropagandaleitung'') of the German Nazi Party (NSDA ...
. Massive photo panels depicting Russian Slavs as subhuman beasts who lived in squalid conditions and pictures of firing squads shooting young children and others who were hung were shown at the exhibit. Greta Kuckhoff was horrified by the exhibition. The group decided to respond and created a number of
stickers
A sticker is a type of label: a piece of printed paper, plastic, vinyl, or other material with temporary or permanent pressure sensitive adhesive on one side. It can be used for decoration or for functional purposes, depending on the situation. ...
to paste onto walls. On 17 May 1942, Schulze Boysen stood guard on each of the 19 members, travelling over five Berlin neighbourhoods at different times to paste the stickers over the original exhibition posters. The Harnacks were dismayed at Schulze-Boysen's actions and decided not to participate in the exploit, believing it to be reckless and unnecessarily dangerous.
Discovery
The discovery of the illegal radio transmissions by Soviet agent
Johann Wenzel
Johann Wenzel (9 March 1902, Nidowo, Nowy Staw – 2 February 1969, Berlin) was a German Communist, highly professional GRU agent and radio operator of the espionage group that was later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr in Belgium and th ...
by the radio
counterintelligence
Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...
organization
Funkabwehr
Funkabwehr, or ''Radio Defense Corps'' was a radio counterintelligence organization created in 1940 by Hans Kopp of the German Nazi Party High Command during World War II. It acted as the principal organization for radio Counterintelligence, i.e ...
and his capture by the Gestapo on 29–30 June 1942 eventually revealed the Red Orchestra, and led to the arrest of the Schulze-Boysens. Wenzel decided to cooperate after he was tortured. His exposure of the radio codes enabled
Referat 12, the cipher bureaux of the Funkabwehr, to decipher Red Orchestra message traffic. The unit had been tracking Red Orchestra radio transmissions since June 1941 and in December they raided a house in Brussels where Wenzel was transmitting that was found to contain a large number of coded messages. When
Wilhelm Vauck, principal cryptographer of the
Funkabwehr
Funkabwehr, or ''Radio Defense Corps'' was a radio counterintelligence organization created in 1940 by Hans Kopp of the German Nazi Party High Command during World War II. It acted as the principal organization for radio Counterintelligence, i.e ...
, the radio
counterintelligence
Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...
department of the
Abwehr
The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...
received the ciphers from Wenzel, he was able to decipher some of the older messages. Vauck found a message that was dated 10 October 1941. The message was addressed to ''KENT'' (
Anatoly Gurevich
Anatoly Markovich Gurevich (russian: Анатолий Маркович Гуревич; 7 November 1913 – 2 January 2009) was a Soviet intelligence officer. He was an officer in the GRU operating as "разведчик-нелегал" (''razve ...
) and had the header format: ''KL3 3 DE RTX 1010-1725 WDS GBD FROM DIREKTOR PERSONAL''. When it was decrypted, it gave the location of three addresses in Berlin: The first address, 19 Altenburger Allee, Neu-Westend, third floor right and addressed to ''CORO'' was the Schulze-Boysens apartment. The two other addresses were the Kuckhoffs' and the Harnacks' apartments. When Vauck decrypted this message, it was forwarded to
Reich Security Main Office
The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and ''Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Nazi ...
IV 2A, where they identified the people living at the three addresses. The three couples were put under surveillance on 16 July 1942. There was a member of Schulze-Boysen's group working in Referat 12 in Vauck's team: Horst Heilmann, who was supplying Schulze-Boysen with intelligence. Heilmann tried to contact Schulze-Boysen but was unsuccessful and left a message with him to phone him back. Schulze-Boysen returned the call, but Vauck answered the phone and when he requested the name of the caller to take a message, and was met with Schulze-Boysen, the deception was revealed.
Arrest and death
On 31 August 1942, Schulze-Boysen was arrested in his office in the RLM, and his wife Libertas a few days later when she panicked and fled to a friend's house. On 15 December 1942, Harro and Libertas, along with many close friends including the Harnacks, the Schumachers, Hans Coppi, John Graudenz and Horst Heilmann, were tried in the
Reichskriegsgericht
The Reichskriegsgericht (RKG; en, Reich Court-Martial) was the highest military court in Germany between 1900 and 1945.
Legal basics and responsibilities
After the Prussian-led Unification of Germany, the German Empire with effect from 1 Octobe ...
, the highest
military court
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
in
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. The group was prosecuted by
Manfred Roeder
Manfred Roeder (6 February 1929 – 30 July 2014) was a German lawyer and Neo-Nazi terrorist. Roeder was a prominent Holocaust denier. He has also been described as an early representative of the ''Reichsbürger'' movement.
Life
Born in Berl ...
and tried by five military judges consisting of a
vice admiral, two generals and two professional judges. Evidence was presented to the court by Roeder along with an indictment that contained a juridical estimation of the case. There was no jury and prosecution witnesses were Gestapo agents. At the end of the trial, Roeder demanded the death sentence. On 19 December, the couple were sentenced to death for "preparation for high treason" and "war treason".
Harro Schulze-Boysen was executed by hanging on 22 December 1942 at 19:05 in
Plötzensee Prison
Plötzensee Prison (german: Justizvollzugsanstalt Plötzensee, JVA Plötzensee) is a juvenile prison in the Charlottenburg-Nord locality of Berlin with a capacity for 577 prisoners, operated by the State of Berlin judicial administration. The d ...
in Berlin.
Libertas Schulze-Boysen
Libertas "Libs" Schulze-Boysen, born Libertas Viktoria Haas-Heye (20 November 1913 in Paris – 22 December 1942 in Plötzensee Prison ) was a German aristocrat and resistance fighter against the Nazis. From the early 1930s to 1940, Libs attem ...
was executed 90 minutes after her husband.
Their bodies were released to
Hermann Stieve
Hermann Philipp Rudolf Stieve (22 May 1886 – 5 September 1952) was a German physician, anatomist and histologist. Following his medical studies, he served in the German Army during First World War and became interested in the effect of stress a ...
, an
anatomist
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...
at what is now
Humboldt University
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...
, to be dissected for research. When Stieve was finished with them, their remains were taken to the
Zehlendorf crematorium. Their final resting place is unknown.
Honours
* In 1964, the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
issued a special stamp series on the Communist Resistance, the 20+5-penny stamp that was dedicated to Schulze-Boysen.
* In 1967, The
National People's Army
The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990.
The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) an ...
News Regiment 14 was named after Schulze-Boysen.
* In 1969, Schulze-Boysen was posthumously awarded the
Order of the Red Banner
The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...
by the Soviet Union.
* In 1972 in the Berlin borough of
Lichtenberg
Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen.
Overview
The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin ...
, a street is named after the Schulze-Boysens. The German Federal Finance Ministry has the following quote by Schulze-Boysen:
:''"Wenn wir auch sterben sollen,''
:''So wissen wir: Die Saat''
:''Geht auf. Wenn Köpfe rollen, dann''
:''Zwingt doch der Geist den Staat."''
:''"Glaubt mit mir an die gerechte Zeit, die alles reifen lässt!"''
:"Even if we should die,
:We know this: The seed
:Bears fruit. If heads roll, then
:The spirit nevertheless forces the state."
:"Believe with me in the just time that lets everything ripen."
:There is also a Schulze-Boysen-Strasse in
Duisburg
Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...
,
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
,
Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...
,
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...
and
Ludwigsfelde
Ludwigsfelde is a town in the north of the district Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg.
Geography
Location
The town is located south of Berlin in the district Teltow-Fläming on the plateau of Teltow. In earlier times, it was part of the district Zo ...
.
* In 1983, the GDR issued a block of stamps in memory of the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack resistance group.
* In 1984, the sculpture Freedom Fighter by
Fritz Cremer
Fritz Cremer was a German sculptor. Cremer was considered a key figure in the DDR art and cultural politics. His most notable for being the creator of the "Revolt of the Prisoners" (Revolte der Gefangenen) memorial sculptor at the former concentra ...
in Bremen was erected in memory of
Mildred Harnack
Mildred Elizabeth Harnack ( Fish; September 16, 1902 – February 16, 1943) was an American literary historian, translator, and member of the German resistance against the Nazi regime. After marrying Arvid Harnack, she moved to Germany in 192 ...
and Harro Schulze-Boysen at the
Wilhelm Wagenfeld House
Wilhelm Wagenfeld House (german: Wilhelm-Wagenfeld-Haus) is a design museum and exhibition centre in Bremen, Germany. Completed in the Neoclassical style in 1828, the building now carries the name of Bremen-born Wilhelm Wagenfeld (1900–1990), ...
in
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
's Wallanlagen.
* In 1991, the picture ''Red Chapel Berlin'' (Tempera auf Nessel, 79 × 99 cm), painted by in 1941, was the picture of the month for July in the
Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History
The Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History (''LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte'')
is an arts and cultural museum in Münster, Germany Besides an extensive collection ranging from '' spätgotik'' painting and sculptur ...
in
Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...
.
* In 2009, the Harro Schulze-Boysen-Weg was inaugurated on November 26 on the occasion of his 100th birthday in Kiel.
* In 2017, two ''
Stolperstein
A (; plural ; literally 'stumbling stone', metaphorically a 'stumbling block') is a sett-size, concrete cube bearing a brass plate inscribed with the name and life dates of victims of Nazi extermination or persecution.
The project, initiat ...
'' were laid at Liebenberg Castle in memory of Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen.
Literature
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
*
Lebendiges Museum Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schulze-Boysen, Harro
1909 births
1942 deaths
Military personnel from Kiel
People from the Province of Schleswig-Holstein
Communist Party of Germany politicians
Young German Order members
People condemned by Nazi courts
Executed communists in the German Resistance
Red Orchestra (espionage)
People from Schleswig-Holstein executed at Plötzensee Prison
German spies for the Soviet Union
Executed spies
German nationalists
People executed by hanging at Plötzensee Prison
Luftwaffe personnel of World War II