Essays I've Written for School

Historic Essay

An Almost Forgotten Hero

Mildred Fish Harnack, the only American woman beheaded under Hitler's direct order. Quite the name, isn't it? But her story is even more surprising. A woman is deserving of respect for what she has done for us. She was a hero, a spy, and a hardworking progressive woman. Her story is amazing but gruesome. The story of a little girl living in Milwaukee Wisconsin, to a red orchestra spy. This is the story of Mildred Fish Harnack, with her husband Arvid Harnack, and how they fought against the Nazi's.

Mildred was born on September 16, 1902. Mildred was always a fun, energetic, confident young girl. She had a wonderful and loving family, who babied her. Her family includes her parents, Georgina and William Fish, her oldest sister Harriett, then the twins, Marion and Marbeu, leaving her with the spot as the youngest. Her family moved often because they couldn't pay rent. Her father kept on switching jobs that paid him less and less. When Mildred was 12 WWI had begun. The people of Milwaukee had started to discriminate against Germans that immigrated to the U.S. Mildred saw this and knew it was wrong, even as a child she had a strong sense of Justice.

While in High School, Mildred wrote for the school newspaper and joined a club that helped enhance women's rights. In Mildred's Senior year they had to move because her parents separated, they did not divorce, however. Georgina, Mildred's mother, taught herself to type and got a job as a secretary in Washington D.C. After High School Mildred enrolled in George Washington University in Washington D.C. But she wanted to go back to her native state, Wisconsin. She then switched schools to the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1921. Mildred had studied literature and worked as a journalist. Mildred had gotten a master's degree in literature from UW-Madison. After graduating she became a teacher, then later met a blue-eyed, blonde-haired boy named Arvid Harnack, who accidentally waltzed into her classroom. His sad pick-up line was: "I'm sorry I don't know English well." to which she replied with "I'm sorry I don't know German well". And then they taught each other their languages.

Arvid and Mildred had fallen in love, but Arvid had to move back to Germany because his followership had expired. In 1929 Mildred had moved to Germany to be with Arvid. She went to the University of Giessen to achieve a Ph.D. in Literature.

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She translated books, poetry, and essays from English to German. But soon after Hitler and the Nazi's started to rise to power. They sought to find people to join them and share the same beliefs. Mildred wouldn't submit though and ended up losing her teaching job in 1932. During that year Mildred took a road trip with Arvid and others from Berlin to the Soviet Union to learn about the country.

Hitler took charge of Germany in 1933. His laws were unjust, and the Harnacks hated them, so they started to work against him. Arvid had worked in the finance department of the German government, so that gave him access to secret Nazi documents. They shared the information with other countries to bring down Hitler. Mildred and Arvid teamed up with others and formed a resistance group the Gestapo, the German police force, dubbed the Red Orchestra. The Gestapo knew they were passing on information to the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union were communist, and red is what color communism is normally associated with. So, that is where the red part comes in, but the orchestra part comes from their codenames. Each member's codename was after an instrument, so they were called Die Rote Kapelle, or Red Orchestra. They wanted to rid of the Nazi's and bring back the peace Germany once had.

Mildred had to join in with the Nazi's to get a job. She had used her teaching job as a way to influence students to defy Hitler and the Nazi's. Mildred and the Red Orchestra had written down and shared radio reports about battles Hitler lost or information they tried to hide, to other countries. The Red Orchestra had handed out pamphlets that were anti-nazi, that Mildred helped to translate. In 1937, Mildred and Arvid went to visit the Fish family. Her family had not failed to notice the change of behavior in their beloved Mildred. From her normal happy, confident, and goofy personality, she had once had, to a quiet, reserved person. Her family had taken this as she was a Nazi. The family asked them to leave Germany, but they refused. They were too determined to continue their work in Germany.

In 1939, World War Two had begun in Europe. Mildred worked in the Red Orchestra and handed off secrets, and gave other spies Nazi information. She had also helped Jews to escape the wrath of Hitler, by giving them her American passport. Arvid, at one point, bought Mildred a one-way boat ticket to the U.S that didn't have an expiration date, because he felt it was too dangerous, but she refused. She said she had more work to do. She wanted to stay with Arvid and continue to work in Germany.

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Mildred and Arvid were on vacation in Northern Europe on September 7th, 1942. Arvid went outside alone but came back with three men that were well dressed. The men had been Gestapo officers in disguise, and took the Harnacks to a prison in Berlin where they would be tortured, and broke down. Apparently, during one radio transmission, someone had leaked the real names and addresses of Red Orchestra members. The Nazi's had always been listening to the radio transmissions, but by the codenames, they had no idea who was part of the Red Orchestra. Harnack's were one of the names leaked that day. Not only were the Harnacks in the prison but so were 100 other members as well.

Both Mildred and Arvid were put on trial. Arvid and Mildred were found guilty on December 19th, 1942. Arvid was to be hanged, and Mildred was to be put in prison for a six-year sentence. Arvid had taken the blame for what they did and said he forced her to do it. They believed him, and three days after the trial he was executed and died thinking Mildred was going to live on. Hitler heard Mildred's sentence and ordered Mildred another trial. The judge had been a close friend of Hitler and knew what he wanted. During this second trial, Mildred was found guilty and was sentenced to death. Hitler himself signed the death order for Mildred.

Mildred was thrown into a death row cell. Mildred was able to get one letter out to Arvid's family. Mildred, crazed and broken from the torture she had received, had tried to commit suicide by swallowing pins. She then got a cellmate to watch over her, they became friends, but then her friend was sent away to a concentration camp. On February 16th, 1943, a pastor had come to visit Mildred. The paster had given her a picture of her mother. She had kissed it and wrote on the back, "The face of my mother expresses everything I want to say at this moment. This face was with me through these last months.". At 6:57 p.m, Mildred Fish Harnack was put to death by a guillotine. The Nazi party had begun to lose a lot of battles, sometimes because of the remaining members of the Red Orchestra. The way the war was going changed and went against Germany. World War Two ended in 1945, two years after Mildred's death.

Mildred always fought for what she believed in. She knew what was right and what was wrong. She had always loved Germany and its culture. Mildred was honored in Germany, there was one school that they had named after her. During the 1950s the cold war was going on, and in the U.S anything even related to communism was judged as bad. The Nazi's had told the U.S that their reason for killing these people that were involved in the Red Orchestra, were communists. Though that wasn't completely true. They liked their thoughts, that everyone was

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equal, but just like any other government, they never saw the bad side. So until 1986, no one really knew anything of her. In 1986, Wisconsin declared September 16th, her birthday, Mildred Fish Harnack day. In Wisconsin, in eighth grade, students will learn about this amazing woman. Mildred Fish Harnack, the only American woman to be executed under Hitler's direct order.