Libertas Schulze-Boysen

Libertas Schulze-Boysen, born Libertas Viktoria Haas-Heye (20 November 1913 in Paris – 22 December 1942 in Berlin-Plötzensee) was a German resistance fighter who was a member of the Berlin-based anti-fascist resistance group that was later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr, during the Third Reich.

Libertas Schulze-Boysen
Libertas Schulze-Boysen sitting at her desk at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Born(1913-11-20)20 November 1913
Paris, France
Died22 December 1942(1942-12-22) (aged 29)
Plötzensee Prison, Charlottenburg-Nord, Berlin
NationalityFrench

Early years
Bust of Libertas at Castle Liebenberg

Libertas Schulze-Boysen was the youngest of three children. Her father was Heidelberg born, fashion designer Otto Ludwig Haas-Heye and her mother was noted pianist Viktoria Ada Astrid Agnes Gräfin zu Eulenburg.[1] Libertas' parents had married in Liebenberg Castle on 12 May 1909 and had lived for a time in London and Paris. Her siblings were Countess Ottora Maria Douglas-Reimer and older brother Johannes Haas-Heye.[1]

Her mother was known as "Thora" and came from an old Prussian noble family. She was the youngest of eight children of the Prussian diplomat and composer Prince Philipp zu Eulenburg and Augusta, Princess of Eulenburg. Philipp zu Eulenburg was a close friend of Kaiser Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig and his Swedish wife, Augusta Gräfin Sandels (1853-1941). When Libertas was eight years old, her parents divorced. Libertas spent part of her childhood at Eulenburg's country estate, Liebenberg Castle, near Berlin [2] taught initially by a governess.[1] From 1922, she attended a school in Berlin and lived with her father, who headed the fashion department of the Kunstgewerbemuseum. Later a co-worker of her father, the artist Valerie Wolffenstein supervised her, when she spent a summer in Switzerland in 1924, learning to draw. Between 1926 and 1932 Schulze-Boysen was sent to be educated at boarding schools in Paris, London and Switzerland.[1]

In 1932, Schulze-Boysen completed her Abitur at a girls' finishing school in Zurich, followed by a stay in the United Kingdom.[3] After attending a Nazi torchlight procession but not really understanding the new powerful movement, but impressed by the German Youth Movement[4] Schulze-Boysen joined the Nazi Party with member number 1 551 344, in March 1933, [5] and at the same time the League of German Girls (German:Bund Deutscher Mädel).[6]

As a press officer

In the same year, Schulze-Boysen moved to Berlin after being hired by the motion picture company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Berlin branch office as a press officer, informing the media about new cinematic releases.[7][8] Initially Libertas worked on press copy for the American films Sons of the Desert and Dancing Lady, but the film studio, that sacked all its Jewish staff in 1933[7] started to feel the effects of Nazi censorship. A screenplay by Herman Mankiewicz called The Mad Dog of Europe that was meant to illuminate the treatment of Jews in Germany was dropped.[9]

Marriage
Liebenberg castle

In the summer of 1934, Libertas met Harro Schulze-Boysen, while they were both sailing on the Wannsee.[10] In October 1934, the couple moved in together, in a apartment in Hohenzollerndamm, in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin. They lived together for a year, before getting married on 26 July 1936.[11] The wedding took place in the chapel of Liebenberg Castle under a painting of Guido Reni,[10] with Hermann Göring giving away the bride.[12] Influenced by the views of her husband, who was hostile to the Nazis, Schulze-Boysen left the Nazi Party within the year.[13]

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 resistance and was one of his most active agents, taking part in writing pamphlets and acting as a both a courier and recruiter for the group.[14]

Resistance

On the 12 January 1938, Libs met playwright Günther Weisenborn.[15] As their relationship blossomed, Libertas and Weisenborn drew closer together as artists, resulting in a them both collaborating in writing a play Die guten Feinde ("The Good Enemies").[15]

In April 1939, Soviet intelligence officer of the GRU Anatoly Gurevich was ordered to travel from Brussels to Berlin to contact Harro Schulze-Boysen.[16] He was hoping to revive Shulze-Boysen as an intelligence source and arrange communication with him via a courier service. Gurevich was given the telephone number of Schulze-Boysen and been ordered to phone him and arrange a meeting somewhere in the city. He was not to meet him at his home, however.[16] When Gurevich phoned, Libertas Schulze-Boysen answered the phone.[16] They met on the platform of an underground station, later moving to a cafe where Harro Schulze-Boysen joined them later.[16]

In 1940, she wrote film reviews for the culture section of the National-Zeitung.[17] The task is difficult as she can't write freely or criticize, as the paper is under the control of Joseph Goebbels propaganda ministry and the reviews must include written text from the Zeitschriften-Dienst, that also describes what can and can't be written about.[17] Libertas decides to cooperate in order to express herself and maintain influence.[18] For films she liked, she would often write extravagantly, or in the form of a love letter. In other films that didn't find favour, she would write in a strict and formal manner.[18]

On the 1 November 1941, Schulze-Boysen was appointed to German Documentary Film Institute (German:Deutsche Kulturfilm-Zentrale), a department of the Reich Propaganda Ministry.[19]

She starts to gathering pictorial evidence of Nazi war crimes. She supported her husband in the quest for like-minded opponents of the Nazi régime.[2]

In late October 1941 she was visited by a Soviet military intelligence officer and put him in contact with her husband.

Discovery

It was the discovery by the radio counterintelligence organization Funkabwehr of the illegal radio transmissions by GRU agent Johann Wenzel, and his capture by the Abwehr on 29-30 June 1942[20] that eventually revealed the groups activities, would led to the arrest of the couple.[21]

Arrest

On 31 August 1942, Harro Schulze-Boysen was arrested in his office in the Ministry of Aviation. Libertas had received a puzzling phone call from his office several days before.[22] She was also warned by the women who delivered her mail that the Gestapo were monitoring it.[23] Libertas's assistant radio author Alexander Spoerl also noticed that Adam Kuckhoff had gone missing while working in Prague.[22] On the 7 September 1942, the Harnacks were arrested while on holiday.[24]

Libertas suspected that Schulze-Boysen was arrested, contacted the Engelsing's. Herbert Engelsing tried to contact Kuckhoff without result.[25] Libertas and Spoerl both started to panic and frantically tried to warn others.[23] They destroyed the darkroom at the Kulurefilm center and Libertas destroyed her meticulously collected archive. At home, she packed a suitcase of all Harro Schulze-Boysens papers and then tried to fabricate evidence of loyalty to the Nazi State by writing fake letters.[25] She sent the suitcase to Günther Weisenborn in the vain hope that it could be hidden and he tried to contact Harro Schulze-Boysen in vain.[25]

On the 8 September, while on a train to visit friends in the Mosel Valley, Libertas was arrested.[26] She was taken to the basement cells (German:Hausgefängnis) in the most dreaded address in all of German-occupied Europe, Reich Main Security Office headquarters at 8 Prinze-Albert strasse (Prince Albert street) containing department AMT IV, the Gestapo and put into protective custody (Schutzhäftlinge) by them.[27]

In prison, Libertas met Gertrude Breiter,[28] the secretary for Libertas' interrogator, Kommissar Alfred Göpfert. Libertas believed that Breiter was hostile to her superiors, seeing her more as a friend than an agent provocateur[28] Breiter told Libertas that Göpfert didn't have any serious evidence against her and due to her family connections with Hermann Göring, her life would be safe.[29] Libertas decided to confide in Breiter and talks with her more than a dozen times.[29] In the course of their furtive conversations, Libertas tells Breiter what she knows of the other prisoners, asks Breiter to deliver letters and asks for additional favours in the form of a typewriter, to write some poetry.[30] In the three months Libertas was in prison, she wrote a number of remarkable letters and poems to her mother.[31]

When the Gestapo informed her of Breiter betrayal, Libertas was overwhelmed with remorse, stating in a letter to her mother, I had to drink the bitter cup for now I learn that the person whom I had given my complete trust Gertrude Breiter had betrayed me.[28] Her mother believed that Libertas has betrayed a number of the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack group.[28] However, in an unpublished interview with David Dallin after the war, Manfred Roeder, the advocate who prosecuted the Schulze-Boysens in the Reichskriegsgericht, stated that Libertas never betrayed anybody.[32] Roeder credited the Funkspiel operation the Abwehr ran against the Red Orchestra radio operators for providing the necessary clues to identify the resistance members.[32]

On 15 November 1942, Gurevich was brought back to Berlin where he was asked by the Gestapo on 22 November 1942 to identify the name of women in a picture. He identified it immediately as Libertas Schulze-Boysen. This provided definitive proof to the investigators that she was actively involved in the work of her husband.[33]

By the end of November 1942, a 90-page report was written by Horst Kopkow known as the Bolshevist Hoch Landesverrats that summarised the activities of the group and was is passed to senior members of the Nazi state for review[34] With the production of the report, the Gestapo considered the initial phase of the investigation successful.[35]

Trial

She and her husband were brought before trial in the Reichskriegsgericht ("Reich Court Martial"). She was charged with "preparation" to commit high treason, helping the enemy and espionage. Her husband was charged with preparation to commit high treason, wartime treason, military sabotage and espionage.[36] The trial ended on 19 December 1942 with death sentences for both her husband and her. Libertas Schulze-Boysen and her husband were executed on 22 December 1942 at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin.[2][37][38]

Honours
Memorial plaque for Libertas Schulze-Boysen and Harro Schulze-Boysen at Haus Altenburger Allee 19 in Westend Berlin
  • The German writer Alexander Spoerl dedicated his 1950 novel Memoiren eines mittelmässigen Schülers (Memoirs of a Mediocre Student) to Libertas Schulze-Boysen.[39]
  • In the Berlin borough of Lichtenberg in 1972, a street was named after the Schulze-Boysens.[38]
  • The Libertas Chapel[40] in Liebenberg Castle, where she married her husband Harro, is dedicated to her. Since 2004, a special exhibition by the Memorial to the German Resistance on the life of Libertas and the joint anti-fascist resistance within the Red Orchestra against National Socialism has been on display here - documented with photographs and extensive writings.[41]

See also

Bibliography
  • Aurich, Rolf (2008). Jacobsen, Wolfgang (ed.). Libertas Schulze-Boysen : Filmpublizistin [Libertas Schulze-Boysen: film publicist]. Film & Schrift, Bd. 7. Munich: Edition text + kritik. ISBN 978-3-88377-925-6. OCLC 237239951.
  • Boysen, Elsa (1992). Harro Schulze-Boysen : das Bild eines Freiheitskämpfers [Harro Schulze-Boysen : the image of a freedom fighter] (in German) (3rd ed.). Koblenz: Fölbach. ISBN 3-923532-17-2. OCLC 75288953.
  • Coppi, Hans (1995). Harro Schulze-Boysen, Wege in den Widerstand : eine biographische Studie [Harro Schulze-Boysen, Paths to Resistance: a biographical study] (in German) (2., durchges. Aufl ed.). Koblenz: D. Fölbach. ISBN 3-923532-28-8. OCLC 243801569.
  • Hürter, Johannes (2007). Schulze-Boysen, Libertas (in German). Neue Deutsche Biographie 23. pp. 730–731.
  • Kettelhake, Silke (2008). 'Erzähl allen, allen von mir!' – Das schöne kurze Leben der Libertas Schulze-Boysen 1913-1942 (Tell everyone, everyone about me!' – The beautiful, short life of Libertas Schulze-Boysen, 1913-1942) Publisher: Droemer Verlag ISBN 978-3-426-27437-8 (in German)
  • Ohler, Norman (2019). Harro und Libertas eine Geschichte von Liebe und Widerstand (in German) (1st ed.). Cologne: Kiepenheuer et Witsch. ISBN 978-3-462-05267-1. OCLC 1126557580.
  • Rosiejka, Gert (1986). Die Rote Kapelle : "Landesverrat" als antifaschist. Widerstand. Ergebnisse, 33. (in German) (1. Aufl ed.). Hamburg: Ergebnisse-Verl. ISBN 3-925622-16-0. OCLC 74741321.

References
  1. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (14 July 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 35. ISBN 9781328566232.
  2. "Libertas Schulze-Boysen". Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (in German). German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  3. Geertje Andresen (1 November 2005). Oda Schottmüller: Die Tänzerin, Bildhauerin und Nazigegnerin Oda Schottmüller (1905–1943). Lukas Verlag. pp. 185–. ISBN 978-3-936872-58-3. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  4. Shareen Blair Brysac (23 May 2002). Resisting Hitler: Mildred Harnack and the Red Orchestra. Oxford University Press. p. 376. ISBN 978-0-19-992388-5. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  5. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (14 July 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 40–41. ISBN 9781328566232.
  6. Nelson, Anne (7 April 2009). Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler. Random House Publishing Group. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-58836-799-0. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  7. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (14 July 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 60. ISBN 9781328566232.
  8. Petrescu, Corina L. (2010). Against All Odds: Models of Subversive Spaces in National Socialist Germany. Peter Lang. p. 190. ISBN 978-3-03911-845-8. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  9. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (14 July 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 61. ISBN 9781328566232.
  10. Brysac. Ref 39.
  11. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (14 July 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 96. ISBN 9781328566232.
  12. Hastings, Max (2015). The Secret War: Spies, Codes and Guerrillas 1939-1945. London: William Collins. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-00-750374-2.
  13. Nelson, Anne (7 April 2009). Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler. Random House Publishing Group. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-58836-799-0. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  14. Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2.
  15. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (14 July 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 125. ISBN 9781328566232.
  16. Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2.
  17. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (14 July 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 104. ISBN 9781328566232.
  18. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (14 July 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 105. ISBN 9781328566232.
  19. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (14 July 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 185. ISBN 9781328566232.
  20. Stephen Tyas (25 June 2017). SS-Major Horst Kopkow: From the Gestapo to British Intelligence. Fonthill Media. pp. 91–92. GGKEY:JT39J4WQW30.
  21. Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2.
  22. Nelson, Anne (7 April 2009). Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler. Random House Publishing Group. p. 263. ISBN 978-1-58836-799-0. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  23. Brysac, Shareen Blair (23 May 2002). Resisting Hitler: Mildred Harnack and the Red Orchestra. Oxford University Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-19-992388-5. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  24. Nelson, Anne (2009). Red Orchestra. The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler. New York: Random House. p. 266. ISBN 978-1-4000-6000-9.
  25. Nelson, Anne (7 April 2009). Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler. Random House Publishing Group. p. 264. ISBN 978-1-58836-799-0. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  26. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (23 October 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 268. ISBN 9781328566232.
  27. Brysac 2002, p. 278.
  28. Brysac, Shareen Blair (2000). Resisting Hitler: Mildred Harnack and the Red Orchestra. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 338. ISBN 978-0-19-513269-4.
  29. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (23 October 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 271. ISBN 9781328566232.
  30. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (23 October 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 272. ISBN 9781328566232.
  31. Libertas: "Our Death must be a Beacon" Archived 2010-06-12 at the Wayback Machine Notice regarding program about Libertas Schulze-Boysen sponsored by the Leo Baeck Institute and Elysium. February 26, 2003. Retrieved April 13, 2010
  32. Brysac, Shareen Blair (2000). Resisting Hitler: Mildred Harnack and the Red Orchestra. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 339. ISBN 978-0-19-513269-4.
  33. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (23 October 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 306. ISBN 9781328566232.
  34. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (23 October 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 309. ISBN 9781328566232.
  35. Ohler, Norman; Mohr, Tim; Yarbrough, Marshall (23 October 2020). The Bohemians : the lovers who led Germany's resistance against the Nazis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 309. ISBN 9781328566232.
  36. Nazi Feldurteil. Nazi "field" verdict sentencing the Schulze-Boysens and other members of the Red Orchestra. Retrieved April 13, 2010 (in German)
  37. Official Nazi document of execution Retrieved April 13, 2010 (in German)
  38. Background on Schulze-Boysen-Straße Retrieved April 13, 2010 (in German)
  39. Pučan, Lukáš (2008). Bakalarska's works (PDF) (Thesis). Faculty of Arts Department of German, Nordic and Dutch Studies, Masaryk University. p. 28. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  40. "Kaiserjagden in Liebenberg". Deutschland Internet. Augusta Presse- und Verlags GmbH. Archived from the original on 24 Oct 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  41. "Sonderausstellung - Libertas Schulze-Boysen und die Rote Kapelle". Deutsche Kreditbank AG. Archived from the original on 23 Oct 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
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