Liane Berkowitz

Liane Berkowitz (7 August 1923 – 5 August 1943) was a German resistance fighter and was most notable for being a member of the Berlin-based pro-Soviet resistance group that coalesced around Harro Schulze-Boysen, that was later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr. Arrested and sentenced to death, she was executed shortly after she gave birth to a daughter in custody.

Life Liane Berkowitz was born in Berlin, the daughter of conductor Victor Vasilyev The family lived on Viktoria-Luise-Platz in the Schöneberg district. Henry Berkowitz reportedly emigrated abroad after his divorce in 1939. The fate of Liane's mother is unknown.

Red Orchestra Liane was fluent in German and Russian.

Together with Otto Gollnow, while her fiancé was severely wounded in the hospital, Berkowitz pasted about 100 adhesive stickers saying

Permanent Exhibition The Nazi Paradise War, Hunger, Lies, Gestapo How much longer?

on the evening of 17 May 1942 in the busy area between Kurfürstendamm and Uhlandstrasse. This was intended as a protest against The Soviet Paradise exhibition organised by the Nazi Party Propaganda Office, that took place at the Berlin Lustgarten. They also wanted to show that anti-National Socialist resistance in Germany was still active. It is not certain whether during this action Berkowitz and Gollnow were discreetly accompanied and protected by Harro Schulze-Boysen. The stickers were created by Fritz Thiel and his wife Hannelore who printed stickers using a child's toy rubber stamp kit. Friedrich Rehmer had already been executed as early as on 13 May 1943. In 2013 it was revealed by the BBC that her body, like thousands of others, was delivered to anatomist Hermann Stieve to be dissected for research. Her final resting place is unknown. Her daughter Irina died on 16 October 1943 in the hospital in Eberswalde under unclear circumstances. Her letters from death row are marked by a deep faith. The Catholic prison chaplain Peter Buchholz enabled her to receive the Holy Communion on the day of her death.

Honours

A memorial stele in the honour of Liane Berkowitz and other resistance fighters was erected in the courtyard of the Berlin Humboldt University on Unter den Linden in 1976 A memorial plaque marks her former residence on Viktoria-Luise-Platz No. 1 in Berlin-Schöneberg On 18 January 2000, a square in the Berlin district of Friedenau was named Liane-Berkowitz-Platz.

Literature

(In this volume, the prison letters and secret messages from Liane Berkowitz were printed).