Red Orchestra (62 page)

Greta and Adam Kuckhoff's son Ule was born in 1938. After Ule's birth, Greta's husband and friends were more cautious about involving her in resistance activities.

Harro Schulze-Boysen and his wife met the Kuckhoffs at a dinner party hosted by film producer Herbert Engelsing. Harro was the scion of one of Germany's leading military families. He was also a passionate anti-Nazi.

Schulze-Boysen's aristocratic wife, Libertas, began her career as a publicist in MGM's Berlin office. The Kuckhoffs soon introduced the Schulze-Boysens to their friends the Harnacks.

Listening to Hitler's speeches was part of the job for Libertas (fourth from the right) and her fellow MGM employees.

The Gestapo headquarters on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse was once the School for Industrial Arts and Crafts, where Libertas Schulze-Boysen's father taught. The Gestapo took it over in 1933. The basement held a warren of cells to hold political prisoners for torture and interrogation.

In 1937, John Sieg got a job with the Reich railways, which offered unique opportunities to work against the Nazis. His Berlin neighborhood of Neukölln served as a base for Communist underground activities and the production of anti-Nazi flyers.

John Sieg and his circle hid one of their hectograph machines in this paint and carpet supply shop on the outskirts of Berlin.

Film producer Herbert Engelsing often socialized with Libertas (left) and Harro Schulze-Boysen. He also used his position to assist Libertas's resistance work.

Marta Wolter Husemann was another member of the Schulze-Boysen salon. Before the Nazi takeover she was a promising young actress, shown here in Brecht's 1932 film
Kuhle Wampe.
In 1937, she was sent to the Moringen concentration camp.

Germany's UFA film conglomerate was the secret home of the Antiwelle, a movie industry anti-Nazi network. This feature film, made as anti-British propaganda entertainment, was produced by Herbert Engelsing with dialogue by Adam Kuckhoff. The star, Olga Tschechowa, was a Nazi favorite, but spent the war secretly assisting Soviet intelligence.

Ingeborg Engelsing became a close friend of Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen. Her husband and friends left her in the dark about political activities, since her status as the half-Jewish mother of young children made her particularly vulnerable.

Günther and Joy Weisenborn's wedding on January 25, 1941, provided a rare opportunity for the Schulze-Boysen group to gather in public. The wedding couple is in the foreground, while Libertas Schulze-Boysen stares anxiously into the camera on the lower right. Harro, in uniform, is seated at left. Walter Husemann celebrates in a desert helmet.