Gisela von Poellnitz

Gisela von Pöllnitz (12 January 1911 – 14 September 1939) was a German journalist, communist, and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. During the Nazi regime, she was a notable member of the Berlin-based anti-fascist resistance group around Harro Schulze-Boysen, later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr. Throughout her life von Pöllnitz had a lung condition that progressively worsened after being arrested several times by the Gestapo. On her final arrest by the Gestapo she contracted tuberculosis after 5 months in custody. Her physician Elfriede Paul arranged a sanitarium in Switzerland, but she never recovered. Because of her aristocratic background and extensive travel experience, she was not taken seriously by her peers in the communist group. In 1934, von Pöllnitz was again under scrutiny and was searched by a Gestapo official. A banned Rote Hilfe organisation booklet was found stuffed down her underpants but she managed to grab it, tear it up and swallow the small pieces of paper. Von Pöllnitz, a rebel and adventurer, and Weisenborn, an anti-fascist, were not content to just meet in small groups or stay silent about Hitler's tyranny. During the same period, Schulze-Boysen's belief in the national German revolutionary fervour changed to a belief in communist ideology.

Also in 1937, Schulze-Boysen had compiled a short information document about a sabotage enterprise planned in Barcelona by the German Wehrmacht. It was an action from "Special Staff W", an organisation established by Luftwaffe general Helmuth Wilberg to study and analyse the tactical lessons learned by the Legion Kondor during the Spanish Civil War. The "Special Staff W" unit also directed the German support operations that consisted of volunteers, weapons and ammunition for General Francisco Franco's FET y de las JONS Party. The information that Schulze-Boysen collected included details about German transports, deployment of units and companies involved in the German defense. In due course, von Pöllnitz fulfilled her mission and placed the letter in the mailbox of the Soviet Embassy on the Bois de Boulogne. The apartment of the Schulze-Boysen's was searched and although the Gestapo had demanded the dismissal of Harro Schulze-Boysen, he only received an official reprimand at the Ministry of Aviation.

On 5 July 1938, von Pöllnitz was released from Gestapo imprisonment after five months. Once she was released, the group found that she was emaciated. Despite torture, she had kept silent and not revealed the reason for her trip to Paris.

Literature