Tuesday Tidbit: The Rosenstrasse Protest

“What if” is the crux of just about every story line created by an author. Historians sometimes explore the same question. What if the outcome of The Battle of the Bulge had been different? What if Julius Caesar hadn’t been assassinated? What if Thomas Dewey did or didn’t get elected? You get the picture.

The Rosenstrasse (Rose Street) incident, included in my latest release, Love’s Belief, occurred in Berlin, Germany during February and March 1943, and is one such moment in history that scholars ruminate over the outcome.

In 1935, the Nuremburg Laws were put into place in an effort to “protect German Blood and German Honour.” One of the associated mandates forbid marriage between Jewish and non-Jewish citizens, however, a later law protected those already married. As Hitler’s reign continued, more and more Jews were arrested, deported, and transported to labor and death camps. In Berlin, several hundred Jewish men married to Gentile women remained.

Eager to handle the “Jewish Question” and rid Germany, especially Berlin, of Jews, the Gestapo decided to circumvent the protection order and began to arrest Jews on various charges, including “impudence.” Most of those charged were men, and they were taken to a facility on Rosenstrasse where they were processed and held. Their wives immediately sprang into action and congregated outside the building where they indicated they would stay until their husbands were released.

Days went by with the soldiers sometimes threatening to shoot the protesters. News of the incident filter outside of Germany, and reports began to show up in newspapers around the globe. Realizing that he could neither shoot the women in cold blood which might cause further protests around the country, Goebbels released the prisoners during the first week in March, 1943.

German scholar Konrad Kwiet said of the protest, “the successful outcome of this late protest suggests that if similar actions at an earlier stage had been carried out throughout Germany, they might have halted the increasingly destructive course of the German anti-Jewish policy.” Do you agree with him?

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About Loves’ Belief:

Midwife Pia Hertz and her mother Sabine have been delivering babies long before the Nazis came to power. Now, the Third Reich has implemented mandates that require Jewish babies and other “undesirables” to be killed as part of The Final Solution. Is Pia’s new faith in Christ strong enough to defy the laws of man?

Despite the agony of the injury at the Battle of Drøbak Sound that took his arm, Dieter Fertig is relieved he’s no longer part of Hitler’s army. He returns to Berlin and discovers Jews are being deported by the thousands. When he realizes the Nuremburg Laws require his best friend’s baby girl to be killed, he must find a way to spirit the child out of Germany before the Nazis discover her existence. 

Inspired by the biblical story of Shiprah and Puah, the midwives who saved Jewish babies during Pharaoh’s reign, Love’s Belief shows how one person’s actions can change the world.

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2LNe2pI

Linda Shenton Matchett is an author, speaker and history geek. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry and has lived in historic places all her life. Linda is a member of ACFW, RWA, and Sisters in Crime. She is a volunteer docent and archivist for the Wright Museum of WWII. To find out more about Linda and her books, including her latest release, Love’s Belief, visit http://www.LindaShentonMatchett.com. Receive a free short story when you sign up for her newsletter.