From time to time, I’m asked how I come up with my blog topics. Well, I do read a lot of books as well as periodicals and they provide a majority of my “inspirations.” However, we are fortunate that many of our readers (domestic and international) of the bi-weekly blogs correspond with us and occasionally, they introduce me to previously unknown people, topics, or events (at least unknown to me). Today’s blog topic is courtesy of Pat P. and the brief subject of his e-mail. Pat is doing some research and had a question about whether a particular British bombing mission over Berlin in July 1942 ever took place. The bombs from this unconfirmed bombing mission supposedly destroyed a building at Giesebrechtstraße 11, Berlin. However the “facts” may unfold, the activities within the walls of that building are legendary and undisputed.
Did You Know?
Did you know that I wrote a blog several years ago called “Rendezvous with the Gestapo?” (click here to read the blog.) It is the story of a B-17 that went down over northern France on 29 May 1943 with nine of its ten crew successfully bailing out of the aircraft. Two of the men (waist gunner George Smith and top turret gunner Hilton Hilliard) were betrayed to the Gestapo and taken to Paris where they were interrogated and likely tortured. After four months in solitary confinement, Smith and Hilliard were transferred to a POW camp where they waited out the remainder of the war. Three of the crew’s offspring contacted me after the blog was published. Hilliard’s daughter wanted me to find the prison and cell her father was kept in. He had carved a message in the cell wall, and she wanted to see it. Spoiler alert: After six months of research, I located his cell and the inscription. Smith’s son, Greg, sent me an e-mail and we have stayed in contact ever since. Greg has quite a collection of war memorabilia pertaining to his father including an original sketch of his father by a fellow POW. Greg found a German website where a photo of his father’s B-17 is posted. The plane had just arrived in England from the U.S. and only the tail number is painted on the aircraft. According to the research department at the Mighty Eighth Museum (click here to visit the museum web-site, it loads slowly), the photo was likely taken by a local citizen working for the Germans as a spy (refer to my blog, Agent Jack, “M” and the Fifth Column, click here to read the blog). Read More Salon Kitty
Historically, people have reacted in three primary ways to totalitarian and fascist regimes such as Hitler and his Nazi party: they support it, they oppose it but do nothing or, they oppose it and become a resistance fighter (in small or large ways).
We normally associate resistance to the Nazi regime as something that occurred in the occupied countries. As we saw in our last blog (Hitler’s Blood Judge, click here to read), there were organized resistance movements, albeit limited, within Germany (e.g., The White Rose Movement). Unfortunately, the Gestapo and other police units were able to effectively shut them down and turn the “traitors” over to the show-trials presided by judges such as Roland Freisler.
However, there were several well-known German resistance organizations which operated not only in Germany but in several of the occupied countries and one neutral country. As we’ll see, several of them were quite successful during the limited time they had. Because it was assumed the resistance groups reported to Moscow, the Gestapo gave them the collective name of Die Rote Kapelle or, The Red Orchestra.
Did You Know?
Another organization the Gestapo and the S.D. or, Sicherheitsdienst (the SS intelligence service) targeted was Die Swartz Kapelle or, The Black Orchestra. Led by General Ludwig Beck, the Black Orchestra was a loosely organized network of high-ranking German Wehrmacht and Abwehr officers. During the mid-1930s, they believed Hitler was rushing to war before Germany was adequately prepared. Their initial opposition was not based on replacing Hitler, rather trying to convince him to wait until the country was ready to wage a successful war.
However, by the late 1930s and in particular, after the Munich Agreement, the clandestine military opposition changed to a goal of overthrowing Hitler. During 1938 and 1939, numerous plans to assassinate Hitler were drawn up including the failed attempt to detonate a bomb on Hitler’s airplane. By spring 1940, Hitler’s successful strategies enhanced his reputation with the Germans and the conspirators began to dissipate because they felt the general public would not support a regime change.
However, by the summer of 1943, Operation Barbarossa (the invasion of the Soviet Union) had failed and Hitler didn’t look like the genius everyone thought he was only four years earlier. At that point, questions were beginning to be asked about Germany’s ability to win the overall war. The conspiracy to overthrow Hitler was revived albeit with less participation than before. By this time, the Gestapo and the S.D. had caught onto the discontent at the top of the military chain. One of the leaders of the Black Orchestra was Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr—the German intelligence organization which reported up through the high command of the Wehrmacht (as opposed to the competing intelligence agency, the S.D. which reported to Heinrich Himmler). Other members of the Black Orchestra or at least willing participants, included the German ambassador to Rome, the mayor of Leipzig, most of Canaris’s staff, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, General Ludwig Beck, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, General Carl-Heinrich von Stüpnagel (the German Military Governor of Paris), and other high-ranking officials. There were enough well-placed officers to support Colonel von Stauffenberg’s plot to kill Hitler on 20 July 1944.
Operation Valkyrie failed and the Gestapo had no trouble rounding up the Black Orchestra conspirators (and their families). Gestapo records indicated more than 7,000 people were executed as part of their role in the conspiracy. General Beck attempted suicide but only wounded himself—a soldier was sent into the room to finish off the job. The Black Orchestra ceased to exist at that point.
Die Rote Kapelle
East German (DDR) stamp honoring the leaders of Die Rote Kapelle. Arvid Harnack on the left, Harro Schulze-Boysen in the center, and John Sieg to the right. Photo by Radzuweit (2007). Stamp design by unknown (1983). Wikimedia Commons.
The Red Orchestra received its name because the Nazis considered these resistance groups to be run by Communists and the Soviet Union. Red Orchestra was an all-inclusive term used for three separate groups: the Lucy spy ring, the Trepper Group, and the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack Group. Members of these groups were predominately intellectuals who either were Communists or who leaned towards Communism. Resistance within Germany by the intellectual community was divided into three categories: “Inner Emigration” was the term given to the intellectuals who left the big cities and moved to a rural setting to wait out the war. The next step was Resistenzor, the daily act of resisting by noncompliance with certain expected behaviors. These might include refusing to give the Nazi salute or not contributing to fund-raising efforts for the war. The last and most dangerous act of overt resistance was called Widerstand or, “taking a stand against” the Nazi regime. The Red Orchestra was committed to Widerstand and each member knew the consequences if caught. Read More Die Rote Kapelle
“Informative and entertaining, Stew Ross’ newest work evokes a difficult and frightening time in the history of the City of Light. The detailed descriptions of sites such as the Vél’ d’hiv’ or Gestapo headquarters reminds us of the choices people made during those years.”
Cynthia Bisson, PhD, Professor of History, Belmont University, French Resistant Expert
Stewart Ross’ book is full of interesting documents and research, it put you well on the tracks of Marie Antoinette, Danton, Robespierre and many more, whether in Paris or in Versailles, extremely interesting and easy to read!
Raphaelle Crevet | Certified Tour Guide, Paris, France
