German Resistance Memorial Center
Topic - The Red Orchestra
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Actions and Leaflets
A flyposting action initiated by Harro Schulze-Boysen and students from Heilsche Night School was aimed against the National Socialist propaganda exhibition "The Soviet Paradise" in the Lustgarten in Berlin. The goal was to show that opponents of the National Socialists were still active inside Germany. John Rittmeister, Adam Kuckhoff and others from the group were against this, but the younger people wanted to take action. Handbill
Handbill
Berlin, Mai 1942
On the night of May 17-18, 1942 Liane Berkowitz, Karl Böhme, Hans and Hilde Coppi, Ursula Goetze, Otto Gollnow, John Graudenz, Helmut Himpel, Werner Krauss, Helmut Marquart, Friedrich and Gerda Rehmer, Friedrich Schauer, Harro Schulze-Boysen, Maria Terwiel, Fritz and Hannelore Thiel, and Wolfgang Thiess pasted hundreds of handbills on house walls and trees.
Harro Schulze-Boysen wrote this pamphlet with Cato Bontjes van Beek and Heinz Strelow under the impact of the failure of the German offensive just outside Moscow in the winter of 1941-42. In six closely-printed pages, Schulze-Boysen critically examined the National Socialist propaganda and came to the conclusion, "Final victory for National Socialist Germany is no longer possible." Schulze-Boysen signed the pamphlet with the name "AGIS", perhaps in reference to the ancient Greek figure, King Agis of Sparta, who wanted to release his subjects from their debts and implement land reform. The name may also be connected with the Latin imperative "agis", which means "act!". Pamphlet, winter of 1941-42
Pamphlet, winter of 1941-42
The pamphlet was hectographed with the help of John Graudenz, Helmut Roloff, Helmut Himpel, and Maria Terwiel. On February 14, 15, and 16, 1942, several hundred copies were dispatched from four different post offices to higher-ranking civil servants, officers, National Socialist party functionaries, university teachers and clergymen, mainly in Berlin. Most of the recipients handed in the pamphlet to the police. Despite intensive efforts, the Gestapo was unable to trace its source.
Born in 1884 in Danzig, John Graudenz became a journalist in 1916. Before long he was appointed chief of the Berlin office of the big news agency United Press, and transferred to its Moscow office in 1922. In the 1920s he ran his own photo agency, but also worked as a reporter for the New York Times until 1932. Subsequently he worked as a freelance commercial agent. After 1933 he had contacts to various resistance groups. Graudenz met Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen in the spring of 1939. He obtained a duplicating machine which was installed in Ernst Happach's apartment and used to print various leaflets of the group. Graudenz played a major role in producing the "AGIS" pamphlet. He also supported Harro Schulze-Boysen in obtaining information and helped Hans Coppi to look for possible locations for radio equipment. John Graudenz
John Graudenz with his daughters Silva and Karin, 1933
John Graudenz was arrested on September 12, 1942, sentenced to death on December 19, 1942 and murdered on December 22, 1942 in Berlin-Plötzensee.
Maria Terwiel was born in 1910 in Boppard and grew up in Dusseldorf and Stettin. Her father was deputy commissioner in the office of the regional commissioner of Pomerania. As a social democrat he was sent into retirement in 1933 under the "Law on re-establishing professional officialdom". Since she was classified as "half-Jewish" under the "Nuremberg Laws", Maria Terwiel had to break off her law studies in 1935 although she had already written her dissertation. She then worked for a French-Swiss firm. She came in contact with Schulze-Boysen and Graudenz through her partner, the dentist Helmut Himpel. Maria Terwiel was involved in duplicating thousands of pamphlets and leaflets, including Schulze-Boysen's "Napoleon" pamphlet, his "AGIS" pamphlet and the sermons of Bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen, who spoke out in the summer of 1941 against the National Socialists' murder of mentally ill people. Maria Terwiel and Helmut Himpel around 1938 Maria Terwiel and Helmut Himpel around 1938
Maria Terwiel and Helmut Himpel around 1938
Maria Terwiel took part with Fritz Thiel in the flyposting action on the night of May 17-18, 1942. Helmut Himpel gave medical help to Jews and other people persecuted by the National Socialist regime. He was in contact with Schulze-Boysen and Graudenz from 1939 on, and helped to distribute leaflets on several occasions. At the end of 1941 he persuaded the pianist Helmut Roloff to join the resistance activities. Helmut Himpel and Maria Terwiel were arrested on September 17, 1942 and sentenced to death together on January 26, 1943. Helmut Himpel was murdered on May 13, 1943, Maria Terwiel on August 5, 1943 in Berlin-Plötzensee.
From the end of 1941 on, the group around the former editor of "The Red Flag," John Sieg, regularly distributed the duplicated leaflet "The Inner Front." It contained appeals, information about the state of the European economy and details of the transmission frequencies of Radio Moscow, as well as foreign-language articles addressed to the forced laborers in Germany. Although several editions of "The Inner Front" were published, there is only one surviving copy, from August 1942. The texts were typed on a stencil and run off in a shop for painting supplies in Berlin-Rudow. Walter Husemann, Fritz Lange, and Martin Weise worked on "The Inner Front," together with Herbert Grasse. Leaflet from August 1942
Leaflet from August 1942
Herbert Grasse was born in 1910 in Berlin. After learning the trade of printer he joined the Communist Youth Federation and later the German Communist Party (KPD). After 1933 he was involved in the production and distribution of the illegal newspaper "Neuköllner Sturmfahne" ("Neukölln Warning Flag"). Grasse was arrested in 1936 and sentenced to two-and-a-half years in a penitentiary. After his release in January 1939 he was able to re-establish contact with his friends and consequently to the resistance circles around John Sieg and Wilhelm Schürmann-Horster. In the small printing shop where he worked, Grasse secretly produced leaflets and helped to duplicate the illegal publication "The Inner Front". He distributed leaflets in various resistance circles, using his contacts in armament plants in Berlin. Together with Eugen Neutert he tried to persuade forced laborers to take part in joint actions to disrupt wartime production. Herbert Grasse was arrested on October 23, 1942. The next day he committed suicide on the way to interrogation in the Berlin police headquarters.
Wilhelm Guddorf grew up in an academic Catholic family. He studied languages and history and wrote for the Dusseldorf edition of "Freiheit" ("Freedom"), a journal of the Independent German Social Democratic Party (USPD). In 1922 he joined the German Communist Party (KPD). In 1926 he became an editor at the Communist Party newspaper "Die Rote Fahne" ("The Red Flag") and headed the paper's foreign politics section. After internal differences in the party he left the paper in 1932. Guddorf was arrested in 1934 and sentenced to three years in a penitentiary, then imprisoned for another two years in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. After his release he worked in a bookshop in Berlin. In the fall of 1939 he was arrested again for a short period. Afterwards he formed a communist group with Fritz Lange and Martin Weise; from 1940 on the group also had contacts to Hamburg. Wilhelm Guddorf with his daughter Isa around 1933
Wilhelm Guddorf with his daughter Isa around 1933
At the same time Guddorf was in close contact with John Sieg, who introduced him to Arvid Harnack in 1941. Guddorf was mainly involved in "The Inner Front", but also worked on other leaflets with Harro Schulze-Boysen and Arvid Harnack. Wilhelm Guddorf was arrested in October 1942, sentenced to death on February 3, 1943 and murdered on May 13, 1943 in Berlin-Plötzensee.
Born in 1921 in Berlin, Eva-Maria Buch grew up in a Catholic family and attended St. Ursula's School, which was run by nuns. When the school was closed in 1939, Eva-Maria Buch left without a graduation certificate. She completed a training course as an interpreter and occasionally taught language classes in the faculty of international studies at Berlin University. While working part-time in a secondhand bookshop she met the former journalist Wilhelm Guddorf, who was employed there as an assistant bookseller. He had been released after several years' imprisonment in a concentration camp. Eva-Maria Buch
Eva-Maria Buch
Eva-Maria Buch, who was deeply rooted in Catholicism, supported Guddorf's illegal work and translated some of the group's leaflets which were addressed to French forced laborers and prisoners of war. After the first arrests of group members in the fall of 1942, she helped Guddorf to live illegally in Berlin. Eva-Maria Buch was arrested in her parents' apartment on October 10, 1942. She continued trying to shield her partner, Wilhelm Guddorf. She was sentenced to death on February 3, 1943 and murdered on August 5, 1943 in Berlin-Plötzensee.
Members of the groups around Harnack and Schulze-Boysen heard about the mass crimes in the east very early on. In the cultural film office, Libertas Schulze-Boysen obtained photographs and films of the mass shootings by the "Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) of the Chief of the Security Police and SD (Security Service)". In reaction to these shocking reports, in 1942 John Sieg and Adam Kuckhoff wrote a fictional letter to a police captain. The mass murder was described here from the viewpoint of the murderers. The exact print run and distribution of this hectographed leaflet are not known. Leaflet, beginning of 1942
Leaflet, beginning of 1942
Kurt Schumacher was born in 1905 in Stuttgart and learned the trade of wood carver. He studied sculpture in Berlin and won several awards for his artistic work. Schumacher was acquainted with Harro Schulze-Boysen from 1932 on through their work for the journal "gegner" ("opponent"). In 1934 Schumacher married Elisabeth Hohenemser. He completed his studies in March 1935 and then worked as a freelance sculptor. Kurt and Elisabeth Schumacher
Kurt and Elisabeth Schumacher
As early as 1937-38, Elisabeth and Kurt Schumacher supported victims of political persecution. In mid-August 1939 Kurt Schumacher helped Rudolf Bergtel, an escaped convict from Aschendorfer Moor prison camp, to flee to Switzerland. In June 1941 Schumacher was drafted to Regional Artillery Battalion 662, where he distributed the leaflet "Open Letters to the Eastern Front" in 1942. Elisabeth Hohenemser was born in 1904 in Darmstadt. She studied in Offenbach and later attended the master class of the graphic artist Ernst Böhm in Berlin. Afterwards she worked as a graphic artist in the Reich Office for Industrial Safety. In mid-August 1942 Elisabeth Schumacher gave accommodation to the parachutist Albert Hößler and arranged for him to meet Schulze-Boysen and Hans Coppi. Kurt and Elisabeth Schumacher were arrested on September 12, 1942, sentenced to death on December 19, 1942 and murdered together three days later in Berlin-Plötzensee.
John Sieg was born into a German-American family in 1903 in Detroit. In 1912 he moved to Germany. After finishing secondary school he attended a teacher training college. He returned to the USA in 1923, worked in automobile factories and studied at night schools. In 1928 he finally returned to Germany, and married the secretary Sophie Wloszczynski the same year. In 1929 John Sieg joined the German Communist Party (KPD), wrote for the Berlin press and met Adam Kuckhoff, editor in chief of the journal "Die Tat" ("The Deed"). As editor of the arts section of the main communist newspaper, "Die Rote Fahne" ("The Red Flag"), Sieg was imprisoned for three months in the spring of 1933. After being unemployed and doing casual work, he was employed as a freight ground worker at the German state railroad from 1937 on. Sophie and John Sieg
Sophie and John Sieg
He was active in the communist resistance in Berlin-Neukölln and became a key figure for different groups. From the mid-1930s on, he was in close contact with Arvid Harnack and Adam Kuckhoff. Sophie and John Sieg were arrested on October 11, 1942. John Sieg hanged himself in his cell on October 15, 1942. In the spring of 1942 he had already told friends that if he were arrested he was determined to commit suicide to avoid betraying anybody. Sophie Sieg was imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp in June 1943 and liberated by the Red Army on April 30, 1945.