he told her; she should get involved. Greta had returned to Germany intent on joining opposition activities, but she was still taken aback to find that her love affair was contingent on political action. 5
Greta found a room to sublet, in a boathouse on a lake in the far western suburb of Pichelswerder. She remained in close touch with Arvid Harnack, who also pressed her to join anti-Nazi activity. Greta visitedthe Harnacks at their Tempelhof apartment once, but usually they met in out-of-the-way spots near her rented room. 6 Arvid told Greta about his recent visit to the Soviet Union, and worried aloud that the Nazis would go to war against the Soviets in order to acquire lebensraum in the East. It was up to Germans like them, he argued, to thwart those plans. Resistance would require new lines of social communication, cutting across class divisions and prejudices.
Arvid pressed Greta for her working-class contacts even though she was uncertain of what she could offer. The key to their future work, Arvid replied, lay in expanding their circles of acquaintances, their
Bekanntenkreise.
He urged her to find a job that would reach into new communities. Arvid had connections to opposition circles that produced antifascist literature, and he shared their goal of warning German workers not to be seduced by the Nazi propaganda. Both Arvid Harnack and Adam Kuckhoff had early connections to the Soviets, but their origins are not entirely clear. Arvid's government work brought him into contact with officials in both the Soviet and the U.S. embassies, and as his antifascist convictions grew, he strengthened his foreign ties. Adam Kuckhoff had a broad range of political contacts through his former authors for
Die Tat,
among them KPD member John Sieg, but German Communists and Soviet intelligence agents did not necessarily overlap.
Whether or not Harnack and Kuckhoff attempted to contact Moscow directly at this point, Moscow was clearly trying to reach people like them. One indication came to light recently with the release of Soviet intelligence files.
On May 20, 1933, a Moscow official named Karl Radek sent a message to Boris Vinogradov, a Soviet intelligence agent and embassy official in Berlin. Radek, one of the founders of the German Communist Party, had settled in Moscow to work with the Communist International, and was recruited for intelligence functions. 7 Radek instructed Vinogradov to hold “discreet talks” with several individuals, including Oskar von Niedermayer, “Grabovski,” and “the people from ‘
Tat Kreuz.
' ” He urged Vinogradov to proceed “whether Faigt and Ku are in Berlin or not.” 8
With their KPD contacts scattered, the Soviets were struggling to assemble alternate sources of information. The Oskar von Niedermayermentioned by Radek was a German army intelligence officer who had overseen joint German-Soviet training exercises in the 1920s. 9 Far from being a Communist ideologue, he served the Nazi regime throughout the war. “Grabovski” was probably Adolf Grabowski, a prominent political science professor from Berlin and a member of Arvid's study tour of the Soviet Union. The “
Tat Kreuz
” was a mistranscription of
Tatkreis
(Tat Circle). This was the group of conservative intellectuals that formed around Adam Kuckhoff's former magazine
Die Tat.
(At least one author, Stephen Koch, believes that “Ku” signified Adam Kuckhoff. 10 )
There is no record of Vinogradov's response to Radek's instructions, but they would have been simple to implement. The Russian diplomat could have encountered many of the individuals listed on his usual rounds. Diplomats also encountered the Harnacks and Greta Lorke on the circuit, as well-connected members of Berlin's intellectual elite.
John Sieg's connections were of a different sort, and they demonstrated the risks and benefits of Communist Party membership. His KPD affiliation had led to his arrest and imprisonment, but it also offered him an avenue for
Greta found a room to sublet, in a boathouse on a lake in the far western suburb of Pichelswerder. She remained in close touch with Arvid Harnack, who also pressed her to join anti-Nazi activity. Greta visitedthe Harnacks at their Tempelhof apartment once, but usually they met in out-of-the-way spots near her rented room. 6 Arvid told Greta about his recent visit to the Soviet Union, and worried aloud that the Nazis would go to war against the Soviets in order to acquire lebensraum in the East. It was up to Germans like them, he argued, to thwart those plans. Resistance would require new lines of social communication, cutting across class divisions and prejudices.
Arvid pressed Greta for her working-class contacts even though she was uncertain of what she could offer. The key to their future work, Arvid replied, lay in expanding their circles of acquaintances, their
Bekanntenkreise.
He urged her to find a job that would reach into new communities. Arvid had connections to opposition circles that produced antifascist literature, and he shared their goal of warning German workers not to be seduced by the Nazi propaganda. Both Arvid Harnack and Adam Kuckhoff had early connections to the Soviets, but their origins are not entirely clear. Arvid's government work brought him into contact with officials in both the Soviet and the U.S. embassies, and as his antifascist convictions grew, he strengthened his foreign ties. Adam Kuckhoff had a broad range of political contacts through his former authors for
Die Tat,
among them KPD member John Sieg, but German Communists and Soviet intelligence agents did not necessarily overlap.
Whether or not Harnack and Kuckhoff attempted to contact Moscow directly at this point, Moscow was clearly trying to reach people like them. One indication came to light recently with the release of Soviet intelligence files.
On May 20, 1933, a Moscow official named Karl Radek sent a message to Boris Vinogradov, a Soviet intelligence agent and embassy official in Berlin. Radek, one of the founders of the German Communist Party, had settled in Moscow to work with the Communist International, and was recruited for intelligence functions. 7 Radek instructed Vinogradov to hold “discreet talks” with several individuals, including Oskar von Niedermayer, “Grabovski,” and “the people from ‘
Tat Kreuz.
' ” He urged Vinogradov to proceed “whether Faigt and Ku are in Berlin or not.” 8
With their KPD contacts scattered, the Soviets were struggling to assemble alternate sources of information. The Oskar von Niedermayermentioned by Radek was a German army intelligence officer who had overseen joint German-Soviet training exercises in the 1920s. 9 Far from being a Communist ideologue, he served the Nazi regime throughout the war. “Grabovski” was probably Adolf Grabowski, a prominent political science professor from Berlin and a member of Arvid's study tour of the Soviet Union. The “
Tat Kreuz
” was a mistranscription of
Tatkreis
(Tat Circle). This was the group of conservative intellectuals that formed around Adam Kuckhoff's former magazine
Die Tat.
(At least one author, Stephen Koch, believes that “Ku” signified Adam Kuckhoff. 10 )
There is no record of Vinogradov's response to Radek's instructions, but they would have been simple to implement. The Russian diplomat could have encountered many of the individuals listed on his usual rounds. Diplomats also encountered the Harnacks and Greta Lorke on the circuit, as well-connected members of Berlin's intellectual elite.
John Sieg's connections were of a different sort, and they demonstrated the risks and benefits of Communist Party membership. His KPD affiliation had led to his arrest and imprisonment, but it also offered him an avenue for
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