Hilde Coppi was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 resistance fighter against the Third Reich. Together with her husband Hans Coppi

Hans Coppi

Hans Coppi was a German Red Orchestra resistance fighter against the Third Reich.- Life before World War II :...

, she belonged to the Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle).

Life

Hilde Rake grew up in Berlin-Mitte (downtown). Her mother ran a small leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

ware shop. After finishing vocational school, she worked as a language teaching assistant through much of the 1930s.

Hilde Rake was working in Berlin as a clerk at the Reich Insurance Institute for Clerical Workers when she got to know Hans Coppi, who had only just been released from prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

. Already by 1933, Rake had had contact with members of the Communist Party of Germany

Communist Party of Germany

The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...

 (KPD).

Together, Hilde and Hans Coppi — who wed on 14 June 1941 — hid persecution victims of the Nazi régime. During the war, Hilde Coppi listened to "Voice of Russia" (ie Radio Moscow

Voice of Russia

Voice of Russia is the Russian government's international radio broadcasting service owned by the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company. Its predecessor Radio Moscow was the official international broadcasting station of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.-Early years:Radio Moscow...

) and shared the information broadcast over the radio with the Red Orchestra and other resistance groups. She also unlawfully relayed greetings and any other signs of continued life heard on Radio Moscow from German prisoners of war to their kin. This was especially important, as Nazi propaganda had it that Soviet troops shot their enemies out of hand, and did not take prisoners. Moreover, she busied herself with broadcasting her group's messages through leaflets and stickers. She conducted a sticker campaign against the Nazis' anti-Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

 exhibition called "Soviet Paradise".

Hilde Coppi and her husband were both arrested on 12 September 1942, along with Hans's parents and brother, and Hilde's mother. Hilde was pregnant

Pregnancy

Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...

 by this time, later giving birth to the couple's son

Hans Coppi, Jr.

Dr. Hans Coppi, Jr. is a German historian. His parents, Hilde and Hans Coppi, were active in the German Resistance and were both executed by the Nazis.- Nazi victim at birth :...

 at the Berlin Women's Prison on 27 November. On 22 December 1942, her husband was put to death, and Hilde, too, was sentenced to death in the new year, on 20 January. A petition for clemency was made in her case in July, but Hitler refused to grant it. The execution was delayed until August, so that she could nurse her child. On 5 August 1943, Hilde Coppi was beheaded at Plötzensee

Plötzensee

Plötzensee is a small glacial lake in Berlin. It is situated near the Rehberge public park in the former borough of Wedding, now a part of Mitte. The name stems from Plötze, one name for the roach in German, as the lake formerly teemed with it....

 Prison in Berlin.

Source

• Brief biography (in German)
• Linked German article