Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany [Hardcover]

Nathan Stoltzfus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996

This story of resistance to the Nazis took place in Berlin in 1943. In February some 10,000 Jews were rounded up by the Gestapo, and most were transported to Auschwitz. Nearly 2000, however, who were married to Aryan Germans, were imprisoned in a detention centre on the Rosenstrasse. They were saved by a protest vigil by their spouses, who, in spite of threats by the police and the Gestapo, maintained their vigil until the authorities relented and released their Jewish captives. This book is an examination of the reasons why this volte-face took place, providing insights into Nazi policy. Focusing on this heroic incident, Stoltzfus also tells the story of other Aryans who faced hostility, persecution or worse because they had married Jews. Jewish-German intermarriage was against Nazism's basic race creed, and was particularly problematic to the regime as it strove to maintain the secrecy around the Final Solution. Working from hitherto unseen records and interviews with some of the survivors, this book reveals the true extent of this little-known stand against tyranny in the heart of the Nazi capital.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In early 1943, the Gestapo rounded up most of the Jews remaining in Berlin, the majority of whom were married to German gentiles, and interred them in a facility on Rosenstrasse, a street in the heart of the city. In the following days, their non-Jewish spouses congregated spontaneously on Rosenstrasse and demanded the return of their mates. Despite threats from the SS to shoot anyone gathering around the building, the spouses held their ground, and eventually Joseph Goebbels agreed to release the 1700 intermarried Jews. Stoltzfus, who teaches history at Florida State University, has written a powerful, exhaustively researched report on that rare episode of open, successful resistance to the regime and reaches a telling conclusion: the Nazi state was so concerned with popular acceptance that public protest could have stopped many of its murderous policies. For a significant example, he cites the Catholic Church's successful opposition to the Nazi's euthanasia program: "[I]t seems beyond any doubt that if the churches had opposed the killing... of the Jews as they opposed the killing of the congenitally insane and sick, there would have been no Final Solution." Interwoven here are the poignant, compelling histories of couples from mixed marriages who opposed the Nazis?and survived the regime.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Stoltzfus (history, Florida State Univ.) has written about an unusual and striking episode of the Holocaust. In February 1943, the remaining 10,000 Jews of Berlin were rounded up by the Gestapo; of these, about 2000 were married to non-Jews. These 2000 were herded to a collection center on the Rosenstrasse, the street that was a former center of Jewish life. Word spread quickly among the Christian spouses and relatives, and a public protest ensued, lasting a week. The author's work is groundbreaking in documenting the sensitivity of the Hitler regime to public opinion. After initial vacillation, a decision was made to release the prisoners. Stoltzfus has done an impressive job of presenting this unusual episode. He emphasizes that if the church had protested against the treatment of the Jews as it did, successfully, against the euthanasia program, the Holocaust would not have occurred. He examines issues pertaining to, among other things, intermarriage between gentile and Jewish Germans and adds an extra dimension to his account with poignant, compelling interviews with survivors, which provide the backbone of the book and make it very readable for generalists. Highly recommended for large public and academic libraries.?Paul Kaplan, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., Ill.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 386 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1st edition (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393039048
• ISBN-13: 978-0393039047
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,438,739 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best book on Mischehen and Mischlinge in Nazi Germany, March 24, 1999

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[e-mail] (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany (Hardcover)

This is an excellent explanation of how mixed marriages between Aryans and non-Aryans (Jews as well as Christians with "Jewish blood") were affected by the Nazi laws. The offspring of these marriages were half-Aryans, half-Jews or Mischlinge. My father, a pure Aryan lost his job as a high school teacher in 1937, my brother was killed in Auschwitz.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true MUST-READ and I don't say that often, March 6, 2001

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K. Corn "reviewer" (midwest, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany (Hardcover)

A fascinating account of one of the most successful protests during the Nazi regime,spurred by the many couples who were intermarried Germans (one spouse Jewish, one not). When the Jewish partners in the marriage were taken away by the Germans, the remaining spouses reacted angrily, culminating in the Rosenstrasse protest of February 1943. This book is a very detailed and powerful look at the heart of a nation - and its peoples. The author interviewed survivors and looked at literally thousands of Nazi records that had never before been examined. I found this book to be very inspiring and couldn't help wondering: what if more people had protested the injustices of Hitler's regime even earlier- could the Holocaust actually have been prevented?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Resistance of the Heart, October 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany (Paperback)

An account of the protest wages by the Protestant spouses of German Jews. Because of the tumultuous emotions of my surviving relatives, so much of this history was never discussed in my home. Now I know that the reason for my grandfather's survival was the protest in which my grandmother participated. This book created a starting point to open discussion with my mother on this part of her life. I found the book so powerful that I am purchasing another as a gift.