European Union (, ) was an

antifascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

resistance group in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

, which formed around Anneliese and Georg Groscurth and

Robert Havemann Robert Havemann (; 11 March 1910 – 9 April 1982) was an East German chemist and dissident. Life and career He studied chemistry in Berlin and Munich from 1929 to 1933, and then later received a doctorate in physical chemistry from the Kaiser ...

. Other important members were

Herbert Richter Herbert Richter (born 26 April 1947) is a retired East German track cyclist. He had his best achievements in the 4000m team pursuit event, winning silver medals at the world championships in 1970 and 1971 and at the 1972 Summer Olympics ...

and Paul Rentsch.

Activity and purpose

The

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

-based resistance group was founded in 1939."Israel honours memory of anti-Nazi 'European Union'"
Reuters (June 20, 2006) Retrieved March 17, 2010 Founding members, Robert Havemann, a chemist and Georg Groscurth, a doctor, met each other at the beginning of the 1930s. Rentsch, a dentist, met Groscurth in 1934. Richter, an architect, was Richter's neighbor.Andrea Everwien

("Double Loss: how the family of a resistance fighter lost their property") Official website of rbb (Television station Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg). (May 30, 2007) Retrieved March 18, 2010 They became friends not because of politics, but because of common interests. They were intellectual, free spirits and came to their political views independently.Bernd Florath. "Die Europäische Union," essay in Johannes Tuchel, ''Der vergessene Widerstand — zu Realgeschichte und Wahrnehmung des Kampfes gegen die NS-Diktatur'', pp. 114-139. (2001) Wallstein Verlag. Three of the four core members of the EU had direct contact with high-level Nazis. When war broke out, both Havemann and Groscurth tried to extend their work in such a way that they wouldn't be called upon to serve in the military. They took on projects from the

Heereswaffenamt (WaA) was the German Army Weapons Agency. It was the centre for research and development of the Weimar Republic and later the Third Reich for weapons, ammunition and army equipment to the German Reichswehr and then Wehrmacht The ''Wehr ...

, biochemical research that was to put Germany in position to use chemical weapons, but neither they nor other scientists were terribly ambitious about the nominal goal. The architect, Richter, received contracts from the ''Reichshandwerkskammer'' and got to know and win the trust of

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

. He was already interested in the Communist Party and the information he learned from his personal contact with Göring filled him with hate for the Nazis and only pushed him further toward the idea of resistance. Groscurth, a doctor, had both

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician, Nuremberg trials, convicted war criminal and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer ( ...

and

Wilhelm Keppler Wilhelm Karl Keppler (14 December 1882 – 13 June 1960) was a German businessman and one of Adolf Hitler's early financial backers. Introduced to Hitler by Heinrich Himmler, Keppler helped to finance the Nazi Party and later served as one of Hi ...

as his patients.Lars von Törne
"Späte Versöhnung"
("Late Reconciliation") ''Der Taggesspiel'' (August 10, 2006) The European Union (EU) stood for the restoration of democratic rights and freedoms and a united, free and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. They tried to strengthen the domestic German resistance through contacts with the resistance groups of the foreign forced laborers. It was an international organization organized as a network of smaller groups of individual resistance fighters. They weren't trying to bring down the Nazi regime themselves, which they expected to collapse of its own, rather they worked to create a political structure that could step in, which would be necessary when the

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

-regime finally fell apart. In the meantime, the group produced anti-Nazi leaflets and hid Jews and others hunted by the Nazi regime and supplied them with new identification papers, food and information.Claudia Keller
"Späte Ehre für die selbstlosen Retter"
("Late Honor for the selfless Lifesaver") ''Der Taggespiel'' (July 6, 2005) Retrieved March 16, 2010 Many members were already hiding Jews before 1939, feeding and taking care of them and saving them from deportation to

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

s. Starting in 1942, they also helped foreign forced laborers. In addition, they stayed in contact with several other groups and individuals, through the various contacts of the core members of the group. The EU eventually numbered about 50 people and included many forced laborers from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, making it an international group with a larger perimeter than the Gestapo investigations reveal. This is underscored by the fact that even as the EU was brought down by the wave of arrests,

Konstantin Žadkevič The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name '' Constantinus'' (Constantine) in some European languages, such as Bulgarian, Russian, Estonian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman emperor ...

was able to keep working with the forced laborers for another month.

Excerpts from EU flyers

The EU wrote a number of leaflets, some with general political messages, others directed to their own group. Below, are excerpts from two leaflets.

The world of tomorrow will have a united, socialist Europe."

In Germany and countries occupied by Hitler, many anti-fascist groups are today still working without connections. Many valuable and skilled political people are still isolated. They're all striving for agreement. This agreement can today only be realized with the elimination of all ideological, dogmatic and religious prejudice. Today, we have no time for such discussions, which mean nothing to the practical political work. The goal is the overthrow of fascism in Europe.Excerpt from No. flyer. 35, The Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the European Union, July 1943

Further in Leaflet No. 35, the EU described their vision of European socialism. They defined what it did and did not mean. "...socialism does not mean the eradication of the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

, the suspension of private property and creation of a bloody dictatorship of dogmatic

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

s, ut rather the/nowiki> elimination of private interests from politics and economy," and a "liberation of the individual from economic paternalism."

Hitler's resettlement operations and the abduction of foreign workers to Germany in huge masses have prepared the ground for a pan-European solution.

Without overcoming the nationalist, private capitalist and imperialist structure of modern Europe, the present victims and the nameless misery of the masses will again be in vain.

Arrest and punishment

The EU was stopped by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

, not for its activities, but because one of the leading members of the EU, Paul Hatschek had been under heavy surveillance for years. In 1943, the Gestapo observed Hatschek meeting two parachute landings. After they had enough information from their investigations, they arrested Hatschek on September 3, 1943, subjecting him to intensive interrogation that same day. Two days later, the Gestapo arrested every single person Hatschek had named, big and small. After weeks of interrogation, sometimes brutal, they arrested the core group of the forced laborers working with Žadkevič. By the end, they had over 40 members of the EU; the number of forced laborers arrested, but not brought before a court, is unknown. The Jews being hidden by the EU were sent to Auschwitz, where about half of them were killed. There were more than 12 trials before the People's Court. Of those, 15 were sentenced to death and 13 were executed. Two died while being interrogated. Havemann survived because his execution kept being postponed, due to intervention from the biochemists he had earlier worked with. His execution was postponed often enough that he was eventually freed by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. Groscurth, Herbert Richter (also known as Richter-Luckian) and Rentsch were executed at

Brandenburg-Görden Prison Brandenburg-Görden Prison is located on Anton-Saefkow-Allee in the Görden quarter of Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany. Erected between 1927 and 1935, it was built to be the most secure and modern prison in Europe. Both criminal and political pr ...

on May 8, 1944. Other group members were indicted before other courts. In his farewell letter to his wife, written half an hour before his execution, Groscurth wrote, "Dwell on this, that we're dying for a better future, for a life without man's hatred for man.""Platz nach Anneliese und Georg Groscurth benannt"
("Square named after Anneliese and Georg Groscurth"). ''Die Welt'' (August 12, 2006). Retrieved March 19, 2010

Postwar politics and suppression

After the war, the story of the EU was widely heralded by the communist government of the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

(GDR), and Havemann became a representative in the

Volkskammer The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initia ...

. However, in 1956, after

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

made his "

secret speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" () was a report by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, made to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 25 Februa ...

" revealing the purges and mistakes of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, Havemann began to find himself increasingly opposed to the government and became a thorn in their side.Hartmut Jäckel
"Der Dissident der aus der Kälte kam"
("The dissident who came out from the cold") ''Die Welt'' (March 10, 2010). Retrieved March 18, 2010 The Socialist Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED) government began suppressing information about the EU. In 1963, he was forced to give up his teaching position at

Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...

and in time, became a leading dissident in the GDR. The SED government was in possession of all the documents relating to the Nazi's investigation of the EU and kept them under lock and key, hoping to ruin Havemann's reputation by finding evidence of betrayal of his comrades. They never found any.Jochen Staadt
"Arbeit am Mythos"
Book review of four books on the politics of the

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

. ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'' (Feb. 20, 2002), p. 8 Annelise Groscurth also experienced difficulties. In 1951, she was fired from her job as a doctor, also for political reasons. She spoke out against the rearmament of Germany and although she was not a member of any political party, she was defamed as a Communist, a severe charge in the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

era. As former Nazis returned to their old jobs, they made her life difficult. She was unable to get a passport until the 1960s, out of fear of what she might say about Germany while abroad. EU survivors were denied ''

Wiedergutmachung ''Wiedergutmachung'' (; German: "compensation", "restitution", lit: "make good again") refers to the reparations that the German government agreed to pay in 1953 to the direct survivors of the Holocaust, and to those who were made to work at ...

'' (reparations payments), as mandated by the 1949

German Restitution Laws The German Restitution Laws were a series of laws passed in the 1950s in West Germany regulating the restitution of lost property and the payment of damages to victims of the Nazi persecution in the period 1933 to 1945. Such persecution included wid ...

. They were even denied or experienced delays receiving money that would normally have been due, such as pension and death benefits or the return of property after the war.

Memorials and posthumous awards

On 7 April 1995, Georg Groscurth was honored with a memorial plaque at the hospital where he had worked, Moabiter Krankenhaus.Dr. Friedhelm Röder
"Das Gedenken an den Wiederstandskämpfer – Dr. Georg Groscurth aus Unterhaun"
''Mein Heimatland — Zeitschrift für Geschichte, Volks- und Heimatkunde'' Bad Hersfeld (October 2007) No. 10, Vol. 46. Retrieved March 18, 2010 On 23 August 2001, the city legislature of Arolsen decided to name a street after Groscurth. In 2006, five members of the EU, Anneliese and Georg Groscurth, Robert Havemann, Paul Rentsch and Herbert Richter were awarded the title, "

Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...

" from the Israeli

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

memorial,

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

. Also in 2006, a square in the

Westend Westend may refer to: * Westend (Trevilians, Virginia), an historic house in Virginia listed on the NRHP * Westend (Berlin), a locality of Berlin in Germany * Westend (Frankfurt am Main), a borough of Frankfurt am Main in Germany * Westend, Espoo, ...

section of Berlin was renamed for the Groscurth couple. On 15 May 2008, the city of

Diensdorf-Radlow Diensdorf-Radlow is a municipality in the Oder-Spree district, in Brandenburg, Germany. History On 1 January 1962, the municipality of Diensdorf-Radlow was formed by merging the municipalities of Diensdorf and Radlow. From 1815 to 1947, the const ...

, dedicated a memorial plaque for Paul Rentsch and Herbert Richter "to commemorate the Richter couple and Rentch, who hid Jews ncluding/nowiki> Elisabeth von Scheven, and to remember the crimes that claimed these victims, which began in Diensdorf with the arrest by the Gestapo in the spring of 1943." Elisabeth von Scheven was deported to Auschwitz after her arrest, but survived and was able to emigrate to the US in 1945.

Other members

* Members of the group who were executed: **Vladimir Boisselier (19 September 1907 - 30 October 1944), electrician, Moscow-born Frenchman ** Walter Caro (resistance fighter) (1899–1945), executed at Auschwitz **Jean Cochon (b. 29 July 1916 in

Gensac-la-Pallue Gensac-la-Pallue () is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Charente department The following is a list of the 359 communes of the Charente department of France on 1 January ...

(Charente); d. 30 October 1944), electrician,

Résistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the Nazi occupation and the collaborationist Vichy regime in France during the Second World War. Resistance cells were small groups of armed men and women (called the Maquis ...

Elli Hatschek Elli Hatschek (July 2, 1901 – December 8, 1944) was a member of the German resistance to Nazism, German Resistance against Nazism. She was married to Paul Hatschek, a leading member of the resistance group, the European Union (resistance group), ...

(2 July 1901 - 8 December 1944), second wife of Paul Hatschek ** Krista Lavíčková (15 December 1917 - 11 August 1944), née Hatschek, daughter of Paul Hatschek, secretary ** Paul Hatschek (11 March 1888 - 15 May 1944), engineer, Czech **

Kurt Müller (resistance fighter) Kurt Müller may refer to: * Kurt Müller (field hockey) (born 1928), Swiss Olympic hockey player * Kurt Müller (footballer) (born 1948), Swiss former footballer * Kurt Müller (sport shooter) (born 1934), Swiss sports shooter * Kurt Müller (offi ...

(1903–1944), executed at Brandenburg Prison **Nikolai Savitsch Romanenko (1 May 1911 - 30 October 1944), technician, from the USSR, Kherson region, s. Blakitne. Executed in Brandenburg-Görden Prison. ** Galina RomanovaShort biography of Galina Romanova
German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved March 18, 2010 (1918–1944), doctor, from

, executed at Berlin-Plötzensee **Alexander Westermayer (29 October 1894 in Goslar - 19 June 1944), carpenter **

(also spelled Shadkevitsch or Zadkievicz; 3 August 1910 - 30 October 1944) chemist, Czech *Not executed due to illness: **Heinz Schlag (b. 23 October 1908; d. 1961), doctor *Other known members: ** Miron Broser (b. 20 December 1891 in Tula, Russia), translator, sentenced to two years in prison, liberated by U.S. troops; last known translation into German, 1949 **

Oskar Fischer Oskar Fischer (12 April 1876 – 28 February 1942) was a Czech academic, psychiatrist and neuropathologist whose studies on dementia and Alzheimer's disease were rediscovered in 2008. Early life and education Fischer was born into a German ...

(1892–1955), released ** James Frichot (b. 2 March 1918 in Boulogne (Seine)), electrician, French, released ** Helmut Kindler (1912–2008), journalist and publisher, released ** René Peyriguére (b. 1 June 1917 in Paris), chemist, French, released ** Wilhelm Hartke (1879–1966), philologist and theologian

References

External links

Brief biography of Robert Havemann
Retrieved March 18, 2010
Brief biography of Georg Groscurth
Retrieved March 18, 2010
Brief biography of Herbert Richter
Retrieved 2013-05-19

Official website, German resistance memorial center. Retrieved March 18, 2010
Originaldokumente (click to enlarge)
. Photo of Georg Groscurth and friends, spring 1943; and original EU political flyers. Retrieved March 18, 2010

Document detailing sentences, including death, of EU members, none of whom were German. Retrieved March 18, 2010

.

photos of Galina Romanova and Elli Hatschek; farewell letter from Krista Lavickova, sentence document, execution document. Retrieved March 18, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:European Union German resistance members Resistance members who died in Nazi concentration camps German Righteous Among the Nations