Libertas Schulze-Boysen
Encyclopedia
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
– December 22, 1942 in Berlin-Plötzensee
Plötzensee
Plötzensee is a small glacial lake in Berlin. It is situated near the Rehberge public park in the former borough of Wedding, now a part of Mitte. The name stems from Plötze, one name for the roach in German, as the lake formerly teemed with it....
) was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
opponent of the Nazis who belonged to the Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle) resistance group during the Third Reich.
Early years
Liebenberg
Liebenberg is a surname, and may refer to:* Adolf von Liebenberg* Andreas Liebenberg* Brian Liebenberg, French rugby player* Frederik Ludvig Liebenberg , Danish writer and publisher* Gerhardus Liebenberg* Shantal Liebenberg...
near Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. She was a granddaughter of Prussian diplomat Philip, Prince of Eulenburg through his youngest daughter Viktoria.
After her abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
at a girls' gymnasium (Germany) in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
and a stay in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, she was hired by the motion picture company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
's Berlin branch office as a press officer. She joined the Nazi Party in March 1933. In 1934, she became acquainted with Harro Schulze-Boysen
Harro Schulze-Boysen
Heinz Harro Max Wilhelm Georg Schulze-Boysen was a German officer, commentator, and German Resistance fighter against German dictator Adolf Hitler's Nazi régime.- Early life :...
, whom she married on July 16, 1936 in Liebenberg. Early in 1937, she left the Nazi Party
In the period that followed, she wrote a play with Günther Weisenborn, “Die guten Feinde” (“The Good Enemies”). In 1940, she wrote film reviews for the Essener Zeitung, while also gathering pictorial evidence of Nazi war crimes in the Reich Propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
Ministry. She supported her husband in the quest for like-minded opponents of the Nazi régime.
Arrest and trial
In late October 1941, she was visited by a SovietSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
military intelligence officer and put him in contact with her husband. The Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
discovered their Resistance group in summer 1942 and her husband was arrested on August 31, 1942. Schulze-Boysen warned friends and disposed of their own illegal documents, but was arrested anyway on September 8, 1942. While in prison, she wrote a number of remarkable letters and poems to her mother.
She and her husband were brought before the Reichskriegsgericht ("Reich Court Martial"), where they were charged. She was charged with "preparation" to commit high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
, helping the enemy and espionage. Her husband was charged with preparation to commit high treason, wartime treason, military sabotage and espionage. The trial ended on December 19, 1942 with death sentences for both her husband and her. Libertas Schulze-Boysen and her husband were executed on December 22, 1942, at Plötzensee Prison
Plötzensee Prison
Plötzensee Prison was a Prussian institution built in Berlin between 1869 and 1879 near the lake Plötzensee, but in the neighbouring borough of Charlottenburg, on Hüttigpfad off Saatwinkler Damm. During Adolf Hitler's time in power from 1933 to 1945, more than 2,500 people were executed at...
in Berlin.
Legacy
In the Berlin borough of LichtenbergLichtenberg
Lichtenberg is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen.-Overview:...
in 1972, a street was named after the Schulze-Boysens.
The full name of her niece, Rosita, Duchess of Marlborough (b. 1943), is Dagmar Rosita Astrid Libertas.
Her grandniece is Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein
Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein
Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein , is the wife of Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein, Regent of Liechtenstein and heir apparent to the Liechtensteiner throne.-Early life and education:...
.
See also
- Arvid HarnackArvid HarnackArvid Harnack was a German jurist, economist, and resistance fighter in Nazi Germany.- Early years :...
- Hans CoppiHans CoppiHans Coppi was a German Red Orchestra resistance fighter against the Third Reich.- Life before World War II :...
- List of Germans who resisted Nazism
- Resistance during World War IIResistance during World War IIResistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns...
Further reading
- Silke Kettelhake, '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 (2008) ISBN: 978-3-426-27437-8