Die rote Kapelle Page #2

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And I was in England with the Kindertransport.

Resistance in Berlin had no hierarchical system.

They were different circles of friends

who formed the resistance...

... these circles overlapped.

Loose groups coalesced

at the end of the 30s.

The centre point was (Harro) Schulze-Boysen,

an Air Force officer

and Arvid Harnack (A lawyer and economist)

Arvid Harnack worked at the Ministry of Economic Affairs

... And since the 30s he had been in

contact with people of the Soviet embassy.

In early 1941 SchuIze-Boysen and Harnack

went to the Soviet embassy.

There, they told someone

... that Hitler would probably attack the Soviet Union soon

Harnack did not see himself as a traitor.

.. he thought it his duty to warn others...

... that the Nazis were

criminals and traitors.

They were renegades, because of the policies of Hitler

... so they opposed Hitler

wherever they could.

... with information for the enemies

of Hitler, amongst other means

Just as there was contact with the Soviet embassy...

... there was also contact with the U.S.,

by Mildred Harnack.

... she came from Wisconsin and was the only American...

... who was executed for treason by the Nazis, in 1943.

My mother had met Mrs. Harnack

and my father was excited...

... that Harnack had been in to the U.S.

sought him out and asked:

maybe we can go to lunch sometime?

And Arvid said:
I would really like that.

Donald Heath befriended Arvid Harnack in 1938

Heath was 1st secretary of the

U.S. Embassy in Berlin.

But he was also gathering information

for Henry Morgenthau...

... The US Secretary for the Treasury

We went to Krumme Lanke,

a suburb of Berlin...

... and went for a long

walk with Arvid and Mildred.

I listened to the conversation and I thought, wow.

My father and Arvid were good friends and they argued and called each other names

... and this is secret. When we got home,

my father said:

... you must not tell where we are

going and with whom...

... or who's calling us.

What my father needed most...

... was as much detail as possible about the

Russian invasion

Through his job, SchuIze-Boysen had information

... about what reconnaissance aircraft had found...

... and about troop movements.

Harnack knew a lot about the economic preparations and stuff.

Morgenthau and Roosevelt let my father know that a priority was...

... to find people who would warn about

anything that Hitler and Mussolini might

do that could lead to

... Wall Street collapsing again.

Donald Heath and Arvid Harnack

became friends.

Arvid explained as we walked through

the Spreewald

I can be the bridge between the U.S.

and the Russians, here in Germany

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