Research Symposium

BIO

Isabelle is from Tampa, Florida, and is a sophomore at Florida State University, where she majors in History. She plans to attend law school after graduation.

Civil Courage in Nazi Germany: The Pisarek Family and The Rosenstrasse Protest

Abstract

On February 27th, 1943, the Nazi regime initiated mass arrests of the remaining Jewish individuals in Berlin with the goal of deportation. 2,000 of these individuals included men who were married to non-Jewish women, who had received deferrals from deportation due to their “mixed marriage" status (Rosenstrasse Civil Courage Foundation). However, they were now being held at a deportation center at Rosenstrasse. Upon hearing that their husbands were being held at Rosenstrasse, hundreds of women began to gather outside the building protesting that their spouses be released. The protest lasted until March 6th, when the regime ordered the release of the men. In collaboration with the Rosenstrasse Civil Courage Foundation, I worked to uncover the histories of these courageous women who participated in the protest by researching these women and their families' lives. This research serves to honor the women at the protest and to educate on how ordinary individuals can challenge injustice and defy dictatorship, ultimately demonstrating civil courage. Through creating biographies using genealogical records, Ancestry.com, and testimonies from women at the protest, these women's stories are brought to light. This research project specifically highlights the Pisarek family, whose family testimony provides an eyewitness account of how ordinary individuals bravely resisted the Nazi regime at the Rosenstrasse Protest and exemplifies civil courage. By creating and publishing a biography on the Pisarek family on the Rosenstrasse Civil Courage Foundation website, which is grounded in survivor testimony and genealogical research, their defiance and bravery can be honored and remembered.

Keywords: Rosenstrasse, History, WWII