Hilde Radusch

Hilde Radusch was born on November 6, 1903 near Stettin (today Szczecin in Poland) into a bourgeois-conservative, non-Jewish family. Beginning in 1913, she attended a lyceum for girls in Aschersleben and later in Weimar. She then spent a year at a boarding school intended to prepare her for marriage and domestic life, a future she rejected. Her father, a postal civil servant, died in the First World War in 1915. Radusch later identified this as formative for both her emotional independence and her strained relationship with her mother. Hilde gained a lot from her father before his passing: his strong sense of independence, a spirit of determination, and training in firearms. She struggled to fit into the role that society demanded of women at the time. Later in life, she reflected, “I never felt like a woman - but don't ask me what else I felt like.” This sense of distance from prescribed femininity shaped her personal relationships and her political orientation.

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At the age of 18, Hilde moved to Berlin, seeking both physical distance from her mother and greater social freedom. She trained as a childcare worker at the Pestalozzi-Fröbel Institute, and in the same year joined the Communist Youth Association. After failing to secure permanent employment in childcare, she took a position as a telephone operator at the postal service in 1923. It was a workplace full of young, unmarried women. Hilde felt that it was, “A respectable job, not all too much money, but something for life.” It was there that she met her first long-term girlfriend, Maria. They soon moved in together. Hilde found herself truly happy for the first time. 

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Radusch’s political career developed rapidly within the structures of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). She took a leading role in the Red Women's and Girls' League, trained women for demonstrations, spoke at party events, and wrote articles for Women’s Watch. Through these organizations, she became known for her commitment to women’s and workers’ rights. In 1929 she was elected as a KPD representative to the Berlin city council, serving until 1932.

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Her position within the party was never secure. As an openly lesbian and self-assertive woman, she sometimes clashed with party officials. When Hilde refused to comply with sexualized demands from her supervisors, for example, party leaders tried to limit how far she could rise in the party. 

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Now the cold days are coming

The test

The country holds its breath

-First Frost (excerpt), Hilde Radusch

As the Nazi party came to power in 1933, Hilde feared for her safety as a well-known communist. But her fighting spirit pushed her to set up illegal communication networks. She was caught and arrested by the Nazis on April 6, 1933. She had already moved out of her apartment to try to protect her girlfriend Maria. “There was no future for our relationship,” Hilde later recalled, “since Maria suddenly hated communists.”

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Hilde had a secret affair while in prison, which she felt was necessary to help herself make it through her imprisonment. After her release, she remained under Gestapo surveillance and struggled to secure stable employment. Between 1934 and 1939, she remained active in resistance networks, secretly distributing anti-Nazi leaflets. She found affirmation in her resistance activities. “In a certain way we felt like heroes since being imprisoned by the Nazis ‘acknowledged’ us as political opponents.”

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In 1939, Hilde met her neighbor, Else “Eddy” Klopsch, who became her life partner. They attempted to open a restaurant together. The permit request from Eddy was initially denied due to Hilde’s “political unreliability,” but Eddy fought for the permit. In 1941 the restaurant opened under the name of Eddy’s father to disguise Hilde’s participation. Hilde and Eddy ignored the rules when they could. The Nazis mandated that businesses display a “No Jews Allowed” sign. Hilde and Eddy placed it directly behind the menu, where it could not be seen. The restaurant became a refuge for women who had been released from prison or were living in hiding. Despite the antisemitic ordinances, Hilde and Eddy continued to serve Jews in their restaurant, too.

In August 1944, Hilde fled Berlin to Prieros, a village in the vicinity of Berlin, when she was warned that the Gestapo were preparing to arrest political opponents. Eddy joined her shortly afterwards, and the couple lived for several months without ration cards, largely isolated and close to starvation. While there, Hilde wrote an extensive diary, in which he documented daily life under illegality, hunger, fear, and the physical and psychological collapse of her partner. She also reflected on the course of the war and on the political responsibilities of the future.