52 Facts About Harro Schulze-Boysen

In May 1933, Harro Schulze-Boysen trained as a pilot and started working in Ministry of Aviation.

Harro Schulze-Boysen arranged for the documents to be passed to Soviet embassy by Gisela von Pollnitz.

At the beginning of the war, Harro Schulze-Boysen met Arvid Harnack who was the leader of another political faction and they started to work together.

The espionage network, led by Harro Schulze-Boysen lasted slightly longer than a year, from just before June 1941 to August 1942 before a blunder by Soviet intelligence exposed their names and addresses to the German Funkabwehr, which resulted in the arrest of many members of the group, including Harro Schulze-Boysen who was arrested on 31 August 1942 and executed later the same year.

Harro Schulze-Boysen was born in Kiel as the son of decorated naval officer Erich Edgar Schulze and Marie-Luise.

Harro Schulze-Boysen had two siblings: a sister Helga, and a brother, Hartmut.

In 1913, Harro Schulze-Boysen attended primary school and later the Heinrich-von-Kleist-Gymnasium in the district of Schmargendorf in Berlin.

In 1922 his father was transferred to Duisburg, and Harro Schulze-Boysen followed him in the autumn.

Harro Schulze-Boysen had found that his experiences in the country did not match the perception of England within Germany.

Harro Schulze-Boysen passed the Abitur with the overall rating "good".

Harro Schulze-Boysen's dexterity was particularly emphasized in the written and oral expression.

In 1930, Harro Schulze-Boysen supported the intellectual-nationalist group called the Volksnationale Reichsvereinigung.

Harro Schulze-Boysen studied the Nazi Party's programme and read Mein Kampf in search of answers, describing it as a "jumble of platitudes" and commenting: "There's nothing here but nonsense".

In July 1931, during a stay in France, Harro Schulze-Boysen met French intellectuals associated with the magazine Plans, which sought the establishment of a Europe-wide collective economic system and whose influence resulted in him being reorientated politically to the left, though he still maintained his contacts with the nationalists.

Harro Schulze-Boysen tried to develop an independent German youth movement with the "Gegner-Kreis", which included Robert Jungk, Erwin Gehrts, Kurt Schumacher and Gisela von Pollnitz and began to organize Enemy Evenings in Berlin cafes.

Harro Schulze-Boysen took over the business as the new editor and gave the publication a new name, Gegner, but with the same network of the most diverse political camps.

Harro Schulze-Boysen had become the leading head and the centre of the "enemy circle".

Harro Schulze-Boysen considered the seizure of power by Adolf Hitler to be probable at that time, but believed that he would soon be overthrown by a general strike.

Harro Schulze-Boysen himself was severely abused and detained for several days.

The place was far away from Berlin and provided enough opportunity to allow Harro Schulze-Boysen to reflect on his past and enable him to prepare plans for the future.

Harro Schulze-Boysen read books that the rulers appealed to and tried to return with due caution to his published work.

Harro Schulze-Boysen published the magazine Wille zum Reich under a pseudonym and dealt with cultural policy issues but with the goal of undermining the Nazi movement with its own themes.

Harro Schulze-Boysen analysed tactics, organisation, training and technology by studying foreign magazines, lectures, photo collections and journals.

Harro Schulze-Boysen spent his honeymoon in Stockholm as a language study trip for his employer and he submitted a confidential report upon his return.

Harro Schulze-Boysen was fully aware of his activities in the resistance and supported the group by taking part in writing pamphlets, acting as a courier and helping to establish social contacts.

Harro Schulze-Boysen considered himself a libertine and the couple had an open marriage.

In 1937 Weisenborn had introduced the actor Marta Wolter to Harro Schulze-Boysen and became part of the group.

In February 1937, Harro Schulze-Boysen compiled a short information document about a sabotage enterprise planned in Barcelona by the German Wehrmacht.

The information that Harro Schulze-Boysen collected included details about German transports, deployment of units and companies involved in the German defence.

The group around Harro Schulze-Boysen did not know how to deliver the information to the Soviets, but discovered that Harro Schulze-Boysen's cousin, Gisela von Pollnitz, was planning to visit the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne that was held in Paris from 25 May to 25 November 1937.

Harro Schulze-Boysen was classified as a former editor of the Gegner and they were aware of his status.

Harro Schulze-Boysen provided him with information on current German aircraft and tank production, as well as deployment plans for a German submarine base in the Canary Islands.

On his 30th birthday on 2 September 1939, Harro Schulze-Boysen had talked with German industrialist Hugo Buschmann, with whom he had agreed to receive literature on the Russian Revolution, Lenin, Stalin, and Leon Trotsky.

Harro Schulze-Boysen was primarily concerned with questions of what alternatives there were to the capitalist system of the Western European countries, and he considered writing his thesis on the Soviet Union during his studies.

In 1941, Libertas Harro Schulze-Boysen became an English language lecturer to teach translators the language.

Harro Schulze-Boysen who lectured there and met three people at the institute that became important members of his group: student and interpreter Eva-Maria Buch; confirmed Nazi and Hitler Youth member Horst Heilmann and Luftwaffe officer Herbert Gollnow.

Heilmann was introduced to Albrecht Haushofer through Harro Schulze-Boysen; it was not the first meeting between Harro Schulze-Boysen and Haushofer but was perhaps the first political one.

Harro Schulze-Boysen pleaded for mutual collaboration between the two countries and believed that German communism would emerge as an independent political doctrine, while he anticipated a role for the Soviet Union in Europe.

In 1941, Harro Schulze-Boysen had access to other resistance groups and began to cooperate with them.

In January 1941, Harro Schulze-Boysen, promoted to lieutenant, was assigned to the attache group of the 5th department of the Reich Aviation Ministry.

On 27 March 1941 in a meeting at the apartment of Arvid Harnack, Harro Schulze-Boysen met the third secretary member of the Soviet embassy, Alexander Korotkov, who was known to Harnack as Alexander Erdberg.

On 2 April 1941, Harro Schulze-Boysen informed Korotkov that the invasion plans were complete and provided Korotkov with an initial list of bombing targets of railways.

Harro Schulze-Boysen stated that German generals in North Africa were hopeful of a victory over Great Britain, but the preparations for the invasion continued.

Harro Schulze-Boysen had a number of friends with links to the Communist Party of Germany including Kuchenmeister with whom he cut contact, but he continued to engage in politics.

On 6 June 1941, Schumacher was drafted into the German army and Harro Schulze-Boysen found a replacement radio operator in Hans Coppi.

Harro Schulze-Boysen persuaded Coppi to establish a radio link to the Soviet Union for the resistance organisation.

Around 13 June 1941, Harro Schulze-Boysen prepared a report that gave the final details of the Soviet invasion including details of Hungarian airfields containing German planes.

However, Rittmeister did not share the activist politics of Harro Schulze-Boysen, nor did he know about his espionage activities.

Heilmann tried to contact Harro Schulze-Boysen but was unsuccessful and left a message with him to phone him back.

Harro Schulze-Boysen returned the call, but Vauck answered the phone and when he requested the name of the caller to take a message, and was met with Harro Schulze-Boysen, the deception was revealed.

On 31 August 1942, Harro Schulze-Boysen was arrested in his office in the RLM, and his wife Libertas a few days later when she panicked and fled to a friend's house.

Harro Schulze-Boysen was executed by hanging on 22 December 1942 at 19:05 in Plotzensee Prison in Berlin.