{{Short description|German Resistance member (1902–1981)}} {{Infobox person | name = Greta Kuckhoff | birth_name = Margaretha Lorke | image = Fotothek df pk 0000282 025 Greta Kuckhoff, Haber (München), Dr. Barbara v. Renthe (Berlin).jpg | caption = Greta Kuckhoff (1947) | image_size = | birth_date = 14 December 1902 | birth_place = Frankfurt (Oder), Province of Brandenburg, German Empire | death_date = 11 November 1981 (aged 78) | death_place = Frankfurt (Oder), Bezirk Frankfurt, East Germany | occupation = Politician<br>Bank President | political_party = KPD<br>SED | spouse = Adam Kuckhoff | children = Ule Kuckhoff }}
'''Margaretha "Greta" Kuckhoff''' ({{nee}} Lorke; 14 December 1902 – 11 November 1981) was a Resistance member in Nazi Germany, who belonged to the Communist Party of Germany and the NKVD spy ring that was dubbed the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr. She was married to Adam Kuckhoff, who was executed by the Third Reich. After the war, she lived in the German Democratic Republic, where she was president of Deutsche Notenbank from 1950 to 1958.
==Life== Kuckhoff was born Margaretha Lorke in Frankfurt on the Oder<ref name="forum">[http://www.geschichtsforum.de/f66/portr-ts-von-frauen-im-widerstand-20999/ "Porträts von Frauen im Widerstand"] geschichtsforum.de Retrieved January 29, 2012 {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref name="bsr">Bernd-Rainer Barth, Helmut Müller-Enbergs: [http://stiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=1943 Biographische Datenbanken: Kuckhoff, Greta]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Bundesunmittelbare Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts. ''Wer war wer in der DDR?'', 5th edition, Volume 1 Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-86153-561-4}} {{in lang|de}}</ref> into a poor Catholic family.<ref name="zeit-donate">Claus Donate, [http://www.zeit.de/1973/13/deutsche-linke-am-kreuzweg/komplettansicht ''Aus den Lebenserinnerungen einer Widerstandskämpferin''] ''Die Zeit'', No. 13 (March 23, 1973). Note: The article is an OCR scan of the original print version and has numerous typos. Retrieved January 29, 2012 {{in lang|de}}</ref> Her father was a carpenter<ref name="sayner">Joanne Sayner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r4yTK9pj3pUC&dq=%22greta+kuckhoff%22&pg=PA209 ''Women without a past?: German autobiographical writings and fascism''] Rodopi B.V. Amsterdam, New York (2007), pp. 209–210. {{ISBN|90-420-2228-0}}</ref> and built musical instruments;<ref name="bsr" /> her mother was a seamstress.<ref name="sayner" /> She later wrote warmly about her childhood; she attended Kleist School, wrote poems for the archbishop and attended the ''Lyzeum'' and ''Oberlyzeum'' in her hometown.<ref name="bsr" /><ref name="zeit-donate" />
== Education== After training to be a teacher, in 1924, Kuckhoff began to study sociology and economics at Humboldt University in Berlin and at the University of Würzburg.<ref name="bsr" /> From 1927 to 1929, she studied abroad in the United States at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where, at the "Friday Niters Club", Friday evening gatherings organized by John R. Commons, she met Mildred and Arvid Harnack.<ref name="forum" /><ref>[http://www.channel3000.com/news/14609478/detail.html "Reality, Fiction Blur In Mildred Fish-Harnack's Story"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813023711/http://www.channel3000.com/news/14609478/detail.html |date=2011-08-13 }} Channel 3000 (November 16, 2007). Retrieved February 16, 2012</ref> While in Madison, she became an honorary fellow of the sociology department. She graduated in 1929.
Between 1930 and 1932, she lived in Zurich, Switzerland, working for R. Rosendorf, a lawyer <ref name="forum" /> and as a language teacher and freelance translator in the area of business law. Returning to Germany, she became Karl Mannheim's secretary at the Institut für Sozialforschung in Frankfurt am Main. In 1933, she studied briefly at the London School of Economics and made arrangements in preparation for Mannheim's escape from Germany.<ref name="bsr" />
In 1933, she met the writer Adam Kuckhoff. They were married on 28 August 1937. Their son, Ule, was born on 8 January 1938.<ref name="forum" />
==Resistance== Her first involvement in opposition activities was during this period, when she and her husband decided to work against the Third Reich. They got back in touch with the Harnacks<ref name="forum" /> and became involved with Harro and Libertas Schulze-Boysen and the Red Orchestra.<ref name="zeit-donate" /> In acts of civil disobedience working to convince others to oppose the Nazis, Kuckhoff held lectures and wrote articles analyzing politics and the economy.<ref name="forum" /> Within her sphere, she had contact with other Resistance groups, including the Herbert Baum group, who were Jewish; the Bonheffer brothers, Dietrich and Klaus; and the White Rose, whom she knew through Arvid Harnack's brother Falk. Also through Harnack, she met Hans von Dohnanyi from the Kreisau Circle. She was also friendly with others in her own group, such as Adolf Grimme.<ref name="zeit-donate" />
In 1935, she joined the Communist Party of Germany (''Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands'', or KPD).<ref name="forum" /><ref name="bsr" /> In fact she joined the KPD/SED after World War II and her move to east Berlin to facilitate a life in the nascent GDR. Party politics and the re-writing of history to fit the lore dictated by Moscow made officials pre-date her party membership to 1935.<ref>Nelson, Anne: ''Red Orchestra: the Story of the Berlin Underground'' (chapter 23)</ref>{{contradictory inline|date=July 2025}}
Through a professional contact, she began working freelance for the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, translating Nazi Party congress speeches and articles about Nazi racial policy.<ref name="forum" /> In 1939, she worked for James Vincent Murphy on the English translation of Hitler's ''Mein Kampf'',<ref name="forum" /><ref name="BBC">{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30697262 | title=Why did my grandfather translate Mein Kampf? | work=BBC News | date=14 January 2015 | access-date=20 April 2022 | author=Murphy, John }}</ref> hoping the translation would educate the British public about Hitler.
The Red Orchestra's activities were discovered in 1942 and arrests began on 30 July. In the following weeks, the organization was crushed as dozens of people were arrested.{{#tag:ref|Kuckhoff was one of 19 women from the Red Orchestra who were held at the police prison on Kantstraße in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf<ref name="sd-bz">Sabine Deckwerth, [http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/archiv/das-alte-justizgebaeude-in-der-kantstrasse-hat-ausgedient--einst-war-es-ort-dunkler-geschichte--jetzt-wird-ein-investor-gesucht-gefaengnis-zu-verkaufen,10810590,10718942.html "Gefängnis zu verkaufen"] ''Berliner Zeitung'' (26 May 2010). Retrieved 30 January 2012.{{in lang|de}}</ref> and in Berlin alone, there were 117 people arrested.<ref>Heinz von Höhne, [http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-45997502.html "Die Geschichte des Spionageringes "Rote Kapelle'"] ''Der Spiegel'' (8 July 1968). Retrieved 1 February 2012. {{in lang|de}}</ref>|group=note}} Kuckhoff was arrested by the Gestapo at her apartment on 12 September 1942; her husband in Prague on the same day.<ref name="forum" /> On 3 February 1943, she was sentenced to death as an "accomplice to high treason and [for] failure to report a case of espionage". Her sentence was lifted on 4 May. A few months later, however, in a second trial on 27 September 1943, her civil rights were revoked for "abetting the progress of an organization of high treason and encouraging the enemy". She was sentenced to 10 years in a labor prison and served her sentence first at the women's Zuchthaus in Cottbus; on 4 February 1945 she was sent to Waldheim Zuchthaus,<ref name="bsr" /> where she was liberated by the Red Army on 8 May 1945. Her husband was executed at Plötzensee Prison; she learned of his death from the prison chaplain.<ref name="zeit-donate" />
==After World War II == [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B0708-0014-004, Oberstes Gericht, Globke-Prozess, Publikum.jpg|thumb|Greta Kuckhoff (right) at the Globke trial, 1963. To her left is Eslanda Goode Robeson, wife of Paul Robeson]] In 1945, Greta Kuckhoff re-joined the KPD{{#tag:ref|Her admission date to the KPD was made retroactive to 1935, when she first joined.<ref name="forum" />|group=note}} and in May 1945, was appointed the leader of the postwar reconstruction Bureau of Denazified and Abandoned Factories (''Amtsstelle für die entnazifizierten und herrenlosen Betriebe'') in Berlin.<ref name="bsr" /> In April 1946, she became a member of the Socialist Unity Party (''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, or SED'') when the KPD leadership forced a merger with the East German Social Democrats.
She,<ref>[http://www.channel3000.com/news/14600655/detail.html "Hitler Ordered Death Of Wisconsin Woman Who Led Nazi Resistance"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316211945/http://www.channel3000.com/news/14600655/detail.html |date=2008-03-16 }} Channel 3000 (15 November 2007). Retrieved 16 February 2012.</ref> Adolf Grimme and Günther Weisenborn attempted to gain legal redress against the former Nazi judge who had convicted them all, Manfred Roeder. After years of delays by the Lüneburg state's attorney, the case was dropped at the end of the 1960s.<ref>Eva Liebchen, [http://www.friedenau-netzwerk.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=97%3Aguenther-und-joy-weisenborn&catid=4%3Aberuehmte-friedenauer&Itemid=1 "Günther und Joy Weisenborn"] Friedenau Netzwerk. Retrieved 28 January 2012.{{in lang|de}}</ref>
Beginning in 1946, Kuckhoff worked in business and government within the German Democratic Republic (GDR), working within the SED and organizations. From 1949 to 1958, she was a representative in the provincial Volkskammer; from 1950 to 1958, she was the president of the central bank that preceded the GDR's Staatsbank.<ref name="bsr" /> In 1958, she had a disagreement within the SED and was forced out of the bank, though officially, she stepped down for her health. Following her removal from the bank, she became active in the {{ill|Peace Council of the GDR|de|Friedensrat der DDR}}. In 1964, she became vice president of the Council and a member of the World Peace Council.<ref name="forum" /><ref name="bsr" /> In 1972, she published her memoirs under the title, ''Vom Rosenkranz zur Roten Kapelle''.<ref name="zeit-donate" />
Kuckhoff died in Wandlitz, aged 78.<ref name="sd-bz" /> She was cremated and honoured with burial in the ''Pergolenweg'' Ehrengrab section of Berlin's Friedrichsfelde Cemetery.
== Legacy == There are streets in Berlin,<ref>[http://berlin.kauperts.de/Strassen/Kuckhoffstrasse-13156-Berlin Kuckhoffstraße] Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin. Retrieved January 30, 2012 {{in lang|de}}</ref> Leipzig, Aachen and Lützen named Kuckhoffstraße, after Greta and Adam Kuckhoff. The installation of a stolperstein for Greta Kuckhoff in Frankfurt on the Oder is planned for 5 May 2012.<ref>[http://www.stolpersteine-ffo.de/7.html Verlegung 2012] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206030056/http://www.stolpersteine-ffo.de/7.html |date=2012-02-06 }} Stolpersteine Frankfurt (Oder). Retrieved January 30, 2012 {{in lang|de}}</ref>{{update after|2012|06|05|reason=installation should have taken place}}
== Awards and honors == * 1955 Clara Zetkin Prize * 1955 Patriotic Order of Merit in silver * 1958 Medal for Fighters against Fascism * 1965 Patriotic Order of Merit in gold * 1967 Honorary citizen, City of Frankfurt (Oder) * 1968 Carl von Ossietzky Prize of the {{ill|Peace Council of the GDR|de|Friedensrat der DDR}} * 1972 Star of People's Friendship in gold * 1973 Honorary doctorate from Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg * 1977 Thomasius Plaque from Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg * 1980 Karl Marx Order
== Literature == * ''Rote Kapelle.'' In: ''Aufbau'', Aufbau-Verlag, East Berlin 1948, Heft 1, pp. 30–37 {{in lang|de}} * {{cite book |last1=Kuckhoff |first1=Greta |title=Vom Rosenkranz zur Roten Kapelle |date=1986 |publisher=Verlag Neues Leben |location=Berlin |edition=7th |language=German|oclc=74777195}} * {{cite book |last1=Müller-Enbergs |first1=Helmut |last2=Reiman |first2=Olaf W |title=Wer war wer in der DDR? : ein Lexikon ostdeutscher Biographien |date=2010 |publisher=Links |location=Berlin |isbn=9783861535614 |edition=5th Updated and enlarged|volume=1 [A - L] }} * {{cite book |last1=Robin |first1=Régine |title=Un roman d'Allemagne |date=2016 |location=Paris |isbn=9782234077904 |pages=128–132 |language=French}} * {{cite journal |last1=Reitel |first1=Axel |title=Vertrauen gegen Beschwichtigung Anmerkungen zu Greta Kuckhoff und der "Roten Kapelle" |journal=Gerbergasse |date=2018 |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=32–35 |url=http://www.geschichtswerkstatt-jena.de/index.php/projekte/gerbergasse-18/archiv-zeitungen/355-heft-89-ausgabe-iv-2018 |access-date=18 September 2021 |publisher=Thüringer Vierteljahresschrift für Zeitgeschichte und Politik |location=Jena |language=German |issn=1431-1607}}
== Sources == * {{cite book |last1=Griebel |first1=Regina |last2=Coburger |first2=Marlies |last3=Scheel |first3=Heinrich |author4=Gedenkstätte der Deutscher Widerstand |author5= Senatsverwaltung für Kulturelle Angelegenheiten| author6= Geheime Staatspolizei |title=Erfasst? : das Gestapo-Album zur Roten Kapelle : eine Foto-Dokumentation |date=1992 |publisher=Audioscop |location=Halle |isbn=9783883840444 |language=German}} * {{cite book |last1=Rosiejka |first1=Gert |title=Die Rote Kapelle : "Landesverrat" als antifaschist. Widerstand |date=1986 |publisher=Ergebnisse-Verl |location=Hamburg |isbn=3-925622-16-0 |edition=1st |language=de|oclc=74741321|series=Ergebnisse, 33.}} * {{cite book |last1=Brysac |first1=Shareen Blair |title=Mildred Harnack und die Rote Kapelle : die Geschichte einer ungewöhnlichen Frau und einer Widerstandsbewegung |date=2003 |publisher=Scherz |location=Bern |isbn=3-502-18090-3 |edition=1st}} * {{cite book |last1=Nelson |first1=Anne |title=Die Rote Kapelle die Geschichte der legendären Widerstandsgruppe |date=2010 |publisher=Bertelsmann |location=Munich |isbn=978-3-570-10021-9 |edition=1. Aufl |language=German}} * {{cite news |last1=Puttbus |first1=Joachim |title=Greta Kuckhoff |url=https://www.zeit.de/1952/04/greta-kuckhoft |access-date=18 September 2021 |agency=Die Zeit Online |issue=4 |publisher=Zeit-Verlag Gerd Bucerius GmbH & Co. KG |date=24 January 1952 |language=German}}
== Footnotes == {{Reflist|group=note}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{DNB-Portal|118567446}} * [http://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/recess/biographies/index_of_persons/#K Short biography of Greta Kuckhoff], German Resistance Memorial Center * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080720171900/http://marsu.wordpress.com/2008/05/13/greta-kuckhoff/ Biography] My History-Blog. Retrieved January 29, 2012 {{in lang|de}}
{{People of the German Rote Kapelle resistance group}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuckhoff, Greta}} Category:1902 births Category:1981 deaths Category:People from Frankfurt (Oder) Category:People from the Province of Brandenburg Category:Communist Party of Germany politicians Category:Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Category:Members of the Provisional Volkskammer Category:Members of the 2nd Volkskammer Category:Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime members Category:Communists in the German Resistance Category:German prisoners sentenced to death Category:Red Orchestra (espionage) Category:People condemned by Nazi courts Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Category:Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp) Category:Women sentenced to death Category:German women memoirists