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THE ROSENSTRASSE PROTEST - (submitted by jacoblurch2001)
The Rosenstrasse Protest may well be little more than a footnote in World War II history but it is a prime example of the effectiveness of non-violent action even in the face of the worst tyranny.
In early 1943 about 1700 Berlin Jews, mainly men married to non-Jewish women, were rounded up and herded into Rosenstrasse 2-4, a welfare office for the Jewish community in central Berlin pending deportation to extermination camps. However, the wives and other relatives got wind of their spouses eventual destination and appeared at Rosenstrasse, first in ones and twos, and then in ever-growing numbers.
Unarmed, unorganised, and leaderless, they faced down the most brutal forces at the disposal of the Third Reich. Although Joseph Goebbels, who was also Gauleiter of Berlin, was anxious to have the city racially cleansed, he was also in charge of the nation's public morale: rather than inviting more open dissent by shooting the women down in the streets and fearful of jeopardizing the secrecy of the Final Solution, he authorised the release of the Rosenstrasse prisoners and also ordered the return of twenty-five of them already sent to Auschwitz.
Almost all of those released survived the war. The women won an astonishing victory over the forces of destruction.
This link from the German “Topography of Terror” website provides further information including personal accounts of those taking part and extracts from Goebbels own diary.
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