Rosa Marie Burger by Lukas Leighton

Who was Rosa?

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Rosa was a young(ish) girl who was born and raised in a small Bavarian village in southern Germany called Gaukönigshofen. When she was 17 years old, she began studying at a trade school in Würzburg, a university town 25 miles away. She would then get a job with their government doing clerical work in Ochsenfurt, which was the country seat. In the mornings she worked for the school board, and in the afternoons she worked for a lawyer who was the administrative head of police departments throughout the county.

Picture of Rosa Marie Burger

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Her Resistance

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One evening, Rosa discovers a Gestapo file accusing their mother of listening to British broadcasts and sharing the information with Jews, which those actions were considered dangerous under Nazi rule. Another woman in the village was also accused of helping Jews by giving them food. Terrified, she rushes back to the village and discreetly questions people. A local woman denies knowing anything but seems scared. The village butcher initially lies but eventually admits the police chief had commented on the situation, suggesting sympathy for Rosa's mother. When Rosa speaks to the police chief who is also secretly anti-Nazi, he admits the accusation is real. The butcher had used his connection to a nephew in the Gestapo, bribing him with food and clothes in exchange for making the incriminating file disappear. Eventually, the file "gets lost," sparing Rosa's mother.

Picture of Rosa's Mother

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Picture of what a Bavarian village house looked like

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Video #1

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Video #2

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Video #3

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Another Picture of Rosa

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The Impact of the Resistance

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The impact of her resistance may have been small, but it did a lot. Obviously it saved her mother's life, but it also helped Rosa connect with others in her village. She also managed to show that the control of the Nazi's could still be broken, just by little acts. It also shows that just by her standing up and doing what's right can prove to be extremely beneficial.

Quotes by Rosa (dates are not known)

593285072 — 2025-04-11 12:18:06 UTC

#1: “I saw girls weeping—my friends, girls I had grown up with. Their bundles were placed in the last car and the people were herded onto the train. We lived not far from Dachau.”

#2: “One day I noticed that the lawyer I worked for treated me a bit differently. He was dictating a letter but did not mention any names in his correspondence. This was unusual. It made me nervous and suspicious.”

#3: “Hitler and his war—it was his fault. Germany changed, and the traditional way of life in the small villages was lost forever.”