We remember…
110. Birthday of Ursula Goetze (March 29, 1916 – August 5, 1943)
Ursula Goetze had come under the scrutiny of the fascist persecutors as part of the investigation dubbed the “Red Orchestra” by the Gestapo. The group of nearly 120 anti-Nazi activists from across Germany and Europe, centered around Arvid Harnack and Harro Schulze-Boysen, was arrested after being exposed, and many of them were sentenced to death in summary trials. They lost their young lives on August 5, 1943, at the Plötzensee execution site. On the same day, Hilde Coppi, Liane Berkowitz, Cato Bontjes van Beek, Eva-Maria Buch, and Maria Terwiel also met violent deaths in Plötzensee. They, too, are counted among the circle around Harnack and Schulze-Boysen.
A street in the Karlshorst neighborhood has been named after Ursula Goetze since 1976. A commemorative plaque at Hornstraße 3 in Kreuzberg has honored the anti-fascist since 1987. A memorial stone on the grounds of Humboldt University also bears her name, alongside those of Arvid and Mildred Harnack and Liane Berkowitz, among others.