Mildred Harnack was beheaded by Hitler's order at age 40. This writer, born in the United States, moves from young to living in Germany. During his stay in Berlin, he witnessed the rise of Hitler. In 1928 the Nazi party obtained 3% of the votes in the Reichstag elections; in 1930 18% and in 1932 37%. Harnack lived internally the evolution of Germany and together with her husband began organizing meetings against Hitler in his apartment.
In this resistance network, the Jews, Catholics and atheists were all organized and 40% were women. What unites them was to think that Hitler had to be stopped. Harnack, for the resistance he recruited the Germans, helped the Jews escape, wrote hand sheets against the Hitler regime and shared his intentions with the United States and the Soviet Union, among others, on the Nazi Barbaric Operation to invade the USSR.
When Gestapo arrested her, on 7 September 1942, she entered the Berlin women's prison, and the documents published after her death capture the questions and torture suffered daily by the prisoners of this group. Finally, Plötzensee was guillotined in prison. Below, NYTimes published the news.