Witness Accounts
Ursula Braun was a participant in the Rosenstrasse protest.
"We didn't do anything at all in the Rosenstrasse. I walked up and down. One talked [...]. To be sure, one also kept an eye on the gate in order to see whether anything was happening. But otherwise we were unable to do anything but mill around or walk up and down. And at all times there were people there. At times only a few, at times more, but at all times there was a noticeable gathering of people. That’s what was amazing."
Ruth Andreas-Friedrich was an author and journalist who was involved in resisting National Socialism. Though she did not participate in the protest, she recorded an account of the events in her journal.
“The Jewish partners in racially mixed marriages. Separated from the others, one took them last Sunday to a collection point. For investigation and final resolution. On that very day the wives of these men set out to look for their arrested husbands. Six thousand non-Jewish women pushed into the Rosenstrasse, in front of the gates of the building where the Aryan-related were held. Six thousand women called for their men, screamed for their men, wailed for their men. Stood like a wall. Hour after hour. Night and day. The headquarters of the SS are in the Burgstrasse. Only a few minutes from the Rosenstrasse. In the Burgstrasse one was made uncomfortable by the situation. One did not consider it wise to fire machine guns at six thousand women. SS-leadership deliberation. The women are rebelling in the Rosenstrasse. Demand, menacingly, that their men be freed."
Hans Ullstein was imprisoned in Rosenstrasse and his wife participated in the protest. Their testimonies regarding the event were incorporated into an article called "Aufstand der Frauen (Uprising of the Women)" written by Georg Zivier. The article appeared in the December 1945 issue of Sie magazine.
“The Gestapo had decided on a mass raid. The convoy of tarp-covered trucks stopped at the gate of the industrial plants. They also stopped in front of many private homes. Throughout an entire day, one could observe them driving through the streets, closely escorted by SS armed with rifles [. . .]. And the public failed to notice the lighting of a small torch that could have started a fire of general resistance against the arbitrary actions of tyrants. From the vast collection places where Berlin’s Jewish inhabitants had been gathered, the secret police had singled out Jews with Aryan relatives and had brought them under special custody (Sondergewahrsam) to the Rosenstrasse. What was to happen to them was totally unclear. It was then that the women intervened. They had found out where their men were kept. Early on the next day, and as if on cue, they appeared en masse in front of the improvised prison. The officials of the ordinary police (Schutzpolizei) tried in vain to push back or disburse the approximately six thousand demonstrators. They rallied again and again, pushed forward, called for their men who, against strict orders, came to the window and demanded their release. [. . .] The Gestapo headquarters were located in the Burgstrasse, not far from the place of the demonstration. The rebellious women could easily have been swept away by a few machine guns, but the SS did not shoot, not this time. Alarmed by an episode that during the period of the Third Reich had no parallel, one agreed to negotiations; one soothed, made promises, and eventually let the men go.”