 "Photo: Lindsey Jaffin / DFP STAFF")
Narrating real-life accounts of her family resisting the Nazis during the Holocaust, Shareen Blair Brysac, historian and author of the recently published “Resisting Hitler: Mildred Harnack and the Red Orchestra,” spoke to a crowd of about 65 students and faculty members at the School of Management yesterday.
Brysac read passages from her book, which details the heroic resistance efforts of Mildred Harnack and her husband Arvid.
Brysac researched the plight of Holocaust resistors often by seeking out family members.
“I was extremely happy about Brysac’s decision to write about the Red Orchestra,” said Hartmut Schulze-Boysen, brother of leftist resistance member Harrow Schulze-Boysen. Schulze-Boysen said the group “still has not received the recognition it deserves.”
Schulze-Boysen remained in contact with Brysac for 13 years throughout the research and writing of her book. He praised her for “the time, energy and intellectual curiosity that she put into the book.”
From the outset of her lecture, Brysac held the attention of her audience by reading the opening paragraph of her book, which graphically details the grim final hours of Harnack’s life before being executed by the guillotine.
Brysac’s account of Harnack’s life was the product of seven years of research. In-depth interviews with family and friends of the Harnacks — as well as information obtained from the Russian secret police, the KGB and CIA documents — provided the background used to retell the story of Harnack and the Red Orchestra.
“When I first thought of writing the book I was unaware of all the research that would have to be done,” Brysac said. “I felt privileged to help correct the injustice that occurred.”
Brysac concluded the lecture by reading the final letter written by Arvid Harnack to his wife Mildred before he was executed for high treason and espionage for resisting the Nazis.
In addition to the Harnack letter read by Brysac, Schulze-Boysen read the final note his brother sent to his parents before his execution for war crimes.
“I am completely calm and ask that you accept this with composure. Such important things are at stake today all over the world that one extinguished life does not matter very much,” the letter read.
College of Arts and Sciences junior Lorena Cueller said she “felt it was good that the truth about the Red Orchestra was finally coming out.”
For CAS sophomore Jen Leisner, the lecture hit home.
“My grandfather was German and it was important to look at where you came from,” Leisner said.
Sponsored by the German Consulate General, the International History Institute and the International Relations Department, the event was “a huge success,” according to Lutz Gorgens, the director of the German Consulate General.
“I hope that more events of the German Consulate would take place at Boston University,” Gorgens said.
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