Greta Kuckhoff

Margaretha "Greta" Kuckhoff ( Lorke; 14 December 1902 – 11 November 1981) was a Resistance member in Nazi Germany, who belonged to the Communist Party of Germany and the NKVD spy ring that was dubbed the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr. She was married to Adam Kuckhoff, who was executed by the Third Reich. After the war, she lived in the German Democratic Republic, where she was president of Deutsche Notenbank from 1950 to 1958.

Life Kuckhoff was born Margaretha Lorke in Frankfurt on the Oder into a poor Catholic family. Her father was a carpenter and built musical instruments; While in Madison, she became an honorary fellow of the sociology department. She graduated in 1929.

Between 1930 and 1932, she lived in Zurich, Switzerland, working for R. Rosendorf, a lawyer

Through a professional contact, she began working freelance for the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, translating Nazi Party congress speeches and articles about Nazi racial policy. hoping the translation would educate the British public about Hitler.

The Red Orchestra's activities were discovered in 1942 and arrests began on 30 July. In the following weeks, the organization was crushed as dozens of people were arrested. Kuckhoff was arrested by the Gestapo at her apartment on 12 September 1942; her husband in Prague on the same day. Adolf Grimme and Günther Weisenborn attempted to gain legal redress against the former Nazi judge who had convicted them all, Manfred Roeder. After years of delays by the Lüneburg state's attorney, the case was dropped at the end of the 1960s.

Beginning in 1946, Kuckhoff worked in business and government within the German Democratic Republic (GDR), working within the SED and organizations. From 1949 to 1958, she was a representative in the provincial Volkskammer; from 1950 to 1958, she was the president of the central bank that preceded the GDR's Staatsbank. Leipzig, Aachen and Lützen named Kuckhoffstraße, after Greta and Adam Kuckhoff. The installation of a stolperstein for Greta Kuckhoff in Frankfurt on the Oder is planned for 5 May 2012.

Publications

Awards and honors 1955 Clara Zetkin Prize 1955 Patriotic Order of Merit in silver 1958 Medal for Fighters against Fascism 1965 Patriotic Order of Merit in gold 1967 Honorary citizen, City of Frankfurt (Oder) 1968 Carl von Ossietzky Prize of the 1972 Star of People's Friendship in gold 1973 Honorary doctorate from Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg 1977 Thomasius Plaque from Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg 1980 Karl Marx Order