Mildred Harnack
Encyclopedia
Mildred Fish-Harnack was an American
-German
literary historian
, translator, and resistance fighter in Nazi Germany
.
in Washington D.C. In 1926, she was studying and working as a lecturer on German literature
at the Milwaukee State Normal School (now the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee). She met the jurist
Arvid Harnack
, a Rockefeller Fellow from Germany, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. They were later married in a ceremony at her brother's farm near Brooklyn, Wisconsin
. She finished her senior thesis in 1928: "A Comparison of Chapman’s and Pope’s translations of the Iliad with the Original". During her time at Madison, she also worked on the Wisconsin Literary Magazine. In 1928-1929, she taught English at Goucher College
in Baltimore, Maryland.
.
In 1930 she moved from Gießen
to Berlin
to be with her husband, and to study at the University of Berlin
on a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
. She also worked as an assistant lecturer (English
and American literature
and language
) and a translator. She was also involved with the American Student Association, the American Women’s Club, where she served as president, the Berlin chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
, where she served as secretary, and the American Church.
and Communism
, seeing them as a solution to poverty
. In 1932, however, she was let go from her teaching position, as were many other women and foreigners. She toured the Soviet Union later that year with her husband and leading academics.
In 1933, Fish-Harnack began teaching English literature at the Berliner Abendgymnasium (evening secondary school). She sometimes discussed economic and political ideas from the United States
and the Soviet Union with her students. She also joined the National Socialist teachers’ organization, as required by law.
She also busied herself editing a book column in an English-language newspaper Berlin Topics along with the US Ambassador
's daughter Martha Dodd. She also wrote in German
for Berliner Tageblatt and Die Literatur until 1935, when the Nazis' strictures made this too difficult.
In 1936, she published her German translation of Irving Stone
’s biography of Vincent van Gogh
, Lust for Life
. She also continued to work as a translator for various publishing companies.
In 1937, Mildred Fish-Harnack visited the United States and went on a campus lecture tour whose theme was "The German Relation to Current American Literature".
and his wife Greta, Fish-Harnack brought together a discussion circle which debated political perspectives on the time after the National Socialists
' expected downfall or overthrow. From these meetings arose what the Gestapo
would call the Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle) resistance group.
In 1940-1941, the group was in contact with Soviet agents, trying to thwart the forthcoming German attack upon the Soviet Union
. Fish-Harnack even sent the Soviets information about the forthcoming Operation Barbarossa
.
Meanwhile, Fish-Harnack was making contact with people who were against the Nazi régime, recruiting some for the resistance, and serving as go-between for her husband, other members of the Orchestra, and Soviet agents.
In July 1942, the Decryption Department of the Oberkommando des Heeres
managed to decode the group's radio messages, and the Gestapo
pounced. On 7 September, Arvid Harnack and Mildred Fish-Harnack were arrested while on a weekend outing. At this time, Mildred had been teaching English at the Foreign Studies Department of the University of Berlin. Arvid Harnack was sentenced to death on 19 December after a four-day trial before the Reichskriegsgericht ("Reich Military Tribunal
"), and was put to death three days later at Plötzensee Prison
in Berlin. Mildred Fish-Harnack was given six years in prison, although Hitler shortly afterwards cancelled that sentence and ordered a new trial, which ended with a death sentence on 16 January 1943. She was beheaded on 16 February 1943. Her last words were purported to have been: "Und ich hatte Deutschland so geliebt" ("And I had loved Germany so much"). She was the only American woman executed on the order of Adolf Hitler.
When her friend and colleague Clara Leiser learned of the execution, she wrote the poem To and from the guillotine in remembrance of her friend.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-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...
literary historian
History of literature
The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry which attempts to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/hearer/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques used in the communication of these pieces. Not all...
, translator, and resistance fighter in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
.
Life in the United States
Mildred Fish-Harnack was born in Milwaukee, the youngest child of William C. Fish and Georgina Hesketh Fish. Her siblings were Harriette, Marion Hesketh, and Marbeau (Bob). She attended West Division High School (now Milwaukee High School of the Arts) in Milwaukee, but finished up her last year at Western High SchoolDuke Ellington School of the Arts
The Duke Ellington School of the Arts is a high school located at 35th Street and R Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C., and dedicated to arts education. One of the high schools of the District of Columbia Public School system, it is named for the American jazz bandleader and composer Edward...
in Washington D.C. In 1926, she was studying and working as a lecturer on German literature
German literature
German literature comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German part of Switzerland, and to a lesser extent works of the German diaspora. German literature of the modern period is mostly in Standard German, but there...
at the Milwaukee State Normal School (now the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee). She met the jurist
Jurist
A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
Arvid Harnack
Arvid Harnack
Arvid Harnack was a German jurist, economist, and resistance fighter in Nazi Germany.- Early years :...
, a Rockefeller Fellow from Germany, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. They were later married in a ceremony at her brother's farm near Brooklyn, Wisconsin
Brooklyn, Wisconsin
Brooklyn is the name of some places in the U.S. state of Wisconsin:*Brooklyn , Wisconsin, a village*Brooklyn, Green County, Wisconsin, a town*Brooklyn, Green Lake County, Wisconsin, a town*Brooklyn, Washburn County, Wisconsin, a town...
. She finished her senior thesis in 1928: "A Comparison of Chapman’s and Pope’s translations of the Iliad with the Original". During her time at Madison, she also worked on the Wisconsin Literary Magazine. In 1928-1929, she taught English at Goucher College
Goucher College
Goucher College is a private, co-educational, liberal arts college located in the northern Baltimore suburb of Towson in unincorporated Baltimore County, Maryland, on a 287 acre campus. The school has approximately 1,475 undergraduate students studying in 31 majors and six interdisciplinary...
in Baltimore, Maryland.
Life in Germany
In 1929, she and her husband moved to Germany, where she worked on her doctorate at the University of GiessenUniversity of Giessen
The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...
.
In 1930 she moved from Gießen
Gießen
Gießen, also spelt Giessen is a town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of both the district of Gießen and the administrative region of Gießen...
to 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...
to be with her husband, and to study at the University of Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
on a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is a foundation set-up by the government of the Federal Republic and funded by the German Foreign Office, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and others for the promotion of international co-operation...
. She also worked as an assistant lecturer (English
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
and American literature
American literature
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
and language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
) and a translator. She was also involved with the American Student Association, the American Women’s Club, where she served as president, the Berlin chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
, where she served as secretary, and the American Church.
Political activities
It was during her time in Berlin that she became interested in the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, seeing them as a solution to poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
. In 1932, however, she was let go from her teaching position, as were many other women and foreigners. She toured the Soviet Union later that year with her husband and leading academics.
In 1933, Fish-Harnack began teaching English literature at the Berliner Abendgymnasium (evening secondary school). She sometimes discussed economic and political ideas from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Soviet Union with her students. She also joined the National Socialist teachers’ organization, as required by law.
She also busied herself editing a book column in an English-language newspaper Berlin Topics along with the US Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
's daughter Martha Dodd. She also wrote in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
for Berliner Tageblatt and Die Literatur until 1935, when the Nazis' strictures made this too difficult.
In 1936, she published her German translation of Irving Stone
Irving Stone
Irving Stone was an American writer known for his biographical novels of famous historical personalities, including Lust for Life, a biographical novel about the life of Vincent van Gogh, and The Agony and the Ecstasy, a biographical novel about Michelangelo.-Biography:In...
’s biography of Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
, Lust for Life
Lust for Life (novel)
Lust for Life is a biographical novel written by Irving Stone and is based on the life of the famous Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh and his hardships....
. She also continued to work as a translator for various publishing companies.
In 1937, Mildred Fish-Harnack visited the United States and went on a campus lecture tour whose theme was "The German Relation to Current American Literature".
The Red Orchestra
Together with her husband Arvid, the writer Adam KuckhoffAdam Kuckhoff
Adam Kuckhoff was a German writer, journalist, and resistance fighter in the Third Reich....
and his wife Greta, Fish-Harnack brought together a discussion circle which debated political perspectives on the time after the National Socialists
National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
' expected downfall or overthrow. From these meetings arose what 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...
would call the Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle) resistance group.
In 1940-1941, the group was in contact with Soviet agents, trying to thwart the forthcoming German attack upon the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Fish-Harnack even sent the Soviets information about the forthcoming Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
.
Meanwhile, Fish-Harnack was making contact with people who were against the Nazi régime, recruiting some for the resistance, and serving as go-between for her husband, other members of the Orchestra, and Soviet agents.
Arrest, trial, and death
Oberkommando des Heeres
The Oberkommando des Heeres was Nazi Germany's High Command of the Army from 1936 to 1945. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht commanded OKH only in theory...
managed to decode the group's radio messages, and 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...
pounced. On 7 September, Arvid Harnack and Mildred Fish-Harnack were arrested while on a weekend outing. At this time, Mildred had been teaching English at the Foreign Studies Department of the University of Berlin. Arvid Harnack was sentenced to death on 19 December after a four-day trial before the Reichskriegsgericht ("Reich Military Tribunal
Military tribunal
A military tribunal is a kind of military court designed to try members of enemy forces during wartime, operating outside the scope of conventional criminal and civil proceedings. The judges are military officers and fulfill the role of jurors...
"), and was put to death three days later 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. Mildred Fish-Harnack was given six years in prison, although Hitler shortly afterwards cancelled that sentence and ordered a new trial, which ended with a death sentence on 16 January 1943. She was beheaded on 16 February 1943. Her last words were purported to have been: "Und ich hatte Deutschland so geliebt" ("And I had loved Germany so much"). She was the only American woman executed on the order of Adolf Hitler.
When her friend and colleague Clara Leiser learned of the execution, she wrote the poem To and from the guillotine in remembrance of her friend.
Translations
- Irving Stone: Lust for Life (Vincent van Gogh. Ein Leben in Leidenschaft) Berlin 1936, Universitas.
- Walter D. Edmonds: Drums along the Mohawk (Pfauenfeder und Kokarde) Berlin 1938, Universitas.
Writings
- Mildred Harnack: Die Entwicklung der amerikanischen Literatur der Gegenwart in einigen Hauptvertretern des Romans und der Kurzgeschichte (The Development of Contemporary American Literature with some Main Representatives of the Novel and Short Story) (typewritten dissertation), Philosophische Fakultät der Ludwigs-Universität zu Gießen, Gießen 1941
- Mildred Harnack: Variationen uber das Thema Amerika: Studien zur Literatur der USA, Berlin: Aufbau Verlag, 1988
Literature
- Shareen Blair Brysac: Resisting Hitler. Mildred Harnack and the Red Orchestra. Oxford University Press 2000. ISBN 0-19-515240-9
- Shareen Blair Brysac: Mildred Harnack und die "Rote Kapelle". Die Geschichte einer ungewöhnlichen Frau und einer Widerstandsbewegung. Scherz-Verlag, Bern 2003, ISBN 3-502-18090-3
- Anne Nelson: Red Orchestra: the Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler. Random House 2009. ISBN 978-1-4000-6000-9
- Stefan Roloff: Die Rote Kapelle. Die Widerstandsgruppe im Dritten Reich und die Geschichte Helmut Roloffs. Ullstein, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-548-36669-4
External links
- Mildred-Harnack-Oberschule, a school named for the resistance fighter
- Honoring Mildred Harnack - UW Madison Archives Collection
- "Conducting Resistance", New York Times, June 26, 2009