“Give us our husbands back” – Civil Resistance Born out of Love in Nazi-Era Berlin

“Give us our husbands back”

Civil Resistance Born out of Love in Nazi-Era Berlin

The German Embassy, the Rosenstrasse Foundation, and the Goethe-Institut have dedicated an exhibit to the Rosenstrasse Protest, the largest public demonstration against the deportation of Jews in the Third Reich. The exhibit highlights the courageous women at the center of the protest who fought for their husbands.

At the end of February 1943, the Nazis arrested thousands of Jews in Berlin for deportation to concentration camps. Among those arrested were 1,800 Jewish men who were married to “Aryan” women. These men were held in a building at Rosenstrasse 2-4 in Berlin-Mitte. Their wives and family members protested in front of the building on Rosenstrasse from late February into early March of 1943, demanding the men’s release. The imprisoned men eventually returned home. To this day, the women of Rosenstrasse are inspiring role models for civic engagement.

Background: During the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945, 6 million Jews were murdered across Europe. In 1933, there were over 500,000 Jews living in Germany. More than 165,000 of them were murdered in the years leading up to 1945. The vast majority of the Jewish people who survived in Germany were married to “Aryan” Germans in so-called “mixed marriages”, including the husbands of the women who protested on Rosenstrasse.

From March 8th -16th, 2023, an exhibit depicting these women’s civil courage and their family stories will be on display at the Goethe-Institut Washington. Accompanying the physical display, a collection of articles will be available online.

We cordially invite you to celebrate the exhibit opening with us on March 8th, International Women’s Day. (Doors open at 6:00 pm. The event will begin at 6:30 pm.)

Opening Night Program

• Opening remarks from the Director of the Goethe-Institut Washington Klaus Krischok
• Keynote speech from the German Ambassador to the United States Dr. Emily Haber
• Speech from Dr. Susan Neiman, Rosenstrasse Foundation
• Speech from Dr. Edna Friedberg, USHMM

Panel Discussion

• Ruth Wiseman, daughter of Rosenstrasse Protest survivors
• Dr. Nathan Stoltzfus, historian and author of the book Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany
• Moderation: Dr. Michael Brenner, LMU Munich & American University

Q&A

Following the panel, historian Dr. Mordecai Paldiel will offer a guided tour through the exhibit.

This event is a cooperation between the German Embassy, the Rosenstrasse Foundation, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Goethe-Institut Washington.