Red Orchestra

Die Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra) was the name created by the Gestapo for two supposedly Communist resistance rings in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. The Gestapo used the name Red Orchestra to refer to the Schulze-Boysen group, a ring of anti-Hitler Germans with only a tenuous connection to the Soviet Union. The Gestapo also used the name Red Orchestra to refer to the Trepper espionage group of European Communists.

The Schulze-Boysen group

German counterintelligence also used the name "Red Orchestra" to denote a group engaged in resistance to the Nazi regime. This group was a friendship network centred on Harro Schulze-Boysen an intelligence officer for the German Air Ministry. This group included Arvid Harnack in the German Ministry of Economics, Alexander Erdberg, theatre producer Adam Kuckhoff, Grete Kuckhoff who worked for Alfred Rosenberg's race policy department, Horst Heilmann codebreaker in the Wehrmacht communications division, Günther Weisenborn German author, Herbert Gollnow in German military counterintelligence, and aircraft manufacturer Johann Graudens who reported on Luftwaffe airfields.

Related Topics:
Harro Schulze-Boysen - Arvid Harnack - Alexander Erdberg - Adam Kuckhoff - Grete Kuckhoff - Alfred Rosenberg - Horst Heilmann - Wehrmacht - Günther Weisenborn - Herbert Gollnow - Johann Graudens - Luftwaffe

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The main activity of the Schulze-Boysen group was collecting information about Nazi atrocities and distributing leaflets against Hitler rather than espionage. They also dealt with Soviet agents directly when they were parachuted into Germany. Before the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Schulze-Boysen had made contact with the Soviet Embassy.

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When the NKVD failed to contact Schulze-Boysen, Schulze-Boysen asked Trepper to find out what had happened. This was the only contact between Trepper and Schulze-Boysen.

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German intelligence chose to label the Schulze-Boysen group as the Red Orchestra, in order to justify their persecution of anti-Nazi Germans. Rudolf von Scheliha, who was in charge of countering foreign press reports about Nazi atrocities at the German Foreign Office, had irritated Gestapo officials by requesting details about actual atrocities, and became a target for annihilation because of his activities. The Gestapo claimed to have intercepted a message about NKVD agents coming to help von Scheliha and arrested him. Von Scheliha was sentenced to death and executed by hanging on December 22, 1942 together with actual members of the group around Harnack and Schulze-Boysen. Hilde Coppi's execution was delayed until her son was weaned, and she was executed immediately thereafter.

Related Topics:
Rudolf von Scheliha - Gestapo - December 22 - 1942 - Hilde Coppi

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After the war, Helmut Roeder, the Prosecutor in the trail against the Red Orchestra, was charged because of his rôle in that trial, and as a defence, invented the story of the Red Orchestra as an important Soviet espionage ring. Roeder became an informant for the CIC.

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