F10_P03: Anti-Nazi Resistance: Rote Kapelle (“Red Orchestra”), Illustration
c. 1944, Front side - Illustration from the German postal service.
White paper with drawn or printed illustration. Depicted are four baskets. The furthest basket is tan and woven, containing flowers and decorated eggs. To the right, a tan woven basket containing pine branches, snowflakes, and a German seasonal treat in the shape of a heart. In the front, a grey woven basket contains bread and wheat. To the left a brown woven basket contains seasonal fruits like pears and tomatoes. In the foreground is a white tag with German text on it which reads, "ein gutes Jahr".
Name/Title
F10_P03: Anti-Nazi Resistance: Rote Kapelle (“Red Orchestra”), IllustrationEntry/Object ID
2007.10.3.aScope and Content
c. 1944, illustration from the German postal service.Context
"Had anyone called them spies, they would have rejected the label; they regarded themselves as revolutionaries" Gilles Perrault, The Red Orchestra Of all the anti-Nazi resistance organizations in Germany, the most effective was the Schulze-Boysen/ Harnack group in Berlin, known to the Gestapo as "Rote Kapelle" (Red Orchestra). Harro Schulze-Boysen was deputy to Hermann Göring, chief of the Luftwaffe (German air force) and thus had access to Germany's most important military secrets, which were passed along to the Soviet Union. The group also published illegal anti-Nazi propaganda, including a fortnightly newsletter, Die Innere Front (The Home Front) in six languages. Among the leaders who worked on the newsletter were Adam and Grete Kuckhoff, who sent the telegram, shown here (left and right) to Ühr Lorke, Grete Kuckhoff's brother, on March 27, 1940. Even at that time, when the German-Soviet non- aggression pact was in force, this secret group of Communists was preparing to oppose Germany's war effort and to rally the German people against Adolf Hitler. Most members of the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack group, including Adam Kuckhoff, were captured and executed by the Nazis in 1942. Ühr Lorke was conscripted into the German army and killed in battle. The Nazi provincial governor's May 19, 1944 condolence letter to his widow is shown here (far right). Grete Kuckhoff survived the war and headed the economics ministry of the German Democratic Republic.Collection
Nazi Scourge I: Primary ExhibitionCategory
Illustration
Philatelic Material