Elisabeth Schumacher: Resistance fighter is honored in Tempelhof!

Elisabeth Schumacher: Resistance fighter is honored in Tempelhof!

In a significant decision, the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district office announced today that a green area will be named after resistance fighter Elisabeth Schumacher. This is done in memory of her courageous work during the National Socialist dictatorship from 1933 to 1945. Elisabeth Schumacher, born on April 28, 1904 in Darmstadt, was not only a talented graphic artist, but also an important figure in the resistance who opposed the Nazi regime and risked her life for it. According to the Nuremberg Laws, she was considered a “half-Jew” due to her Jewish origins and was therefore severely limited in her professional opportunities. She was denied a permanent position, so she worked freelance, including for the German Occupational Safety and Health Museum.

Schumacher was a member of the “Red Chapel” resistance group, which passed information on to the Allies and documented Nazi crimes. Her activities also included supporting Jewish relatives, providing them with food and trying to protect them from persecution. In a dramatic twist of fate, she was arrested after the resistance circle was uncovered in September 1942 and sentenced to death by the Reich Court Martial on December 19, 1942. On December 22, 1942 she was executed in the Berlin-Plötzensee prison.

Appreciation and commemoration

The Tempelhof-Schöneberg district has historically placed a value on honoring women in society, culture and history. Currently only around four percent of all streets are named after women. The new project to name a green space after Elisabeth Schumacher is therefore an important step towards equality and recognition of the contribution of women to our history. As part of these efforts, several streets in Germany have already been named after Schumacher, for example in Leipzig and Darmstadt. There are also memorials, such as a stumbling block laying on September 25, 2015 in Berlin-Tempelhof and a bronze plaque in Frankfurt at Kettenhofweg 46 that commemorates her life.

Elisabeth Schumacher was the daughter of an engineer and came from a former Jewish banking family. Her childhood was marked by moves that took her family from Strasbourg to Frankfurt am Main. She studied in Offenbach and Berlin before joining the resistance movement. Her marriage to the sculptor Kurt Schumacher led her into the circle of friends of Libertas and Harro Schulze-Boysen, which eventually became the “Red Orchestra,” one of the bravest groups in the resistance against National Socialism.

The posthumous honoring of Elisabeth Schumacher with the Soviet Order of the Patriotic War, First Class, in 1969 illustrates the significance of her contribution to the resistance. Her life and work remain recognized and valued not only in Berlin, but also beyond its borders. Her story is an impressive example of the courage and determination of women in resistance against the injustice of the National Socialist dictatorship, as also noted by Medienwerkstatt Franken.