Anna Rosmus' Resume

Anna Rosmus, Master’s Degree in Sociology, German Literature and Art

Anna Rosmus, from Passau, Germany, who as a teenager discovered her hometown’s hidden Nazi past, is the real-life heroine of the film “The Nasty Girl.” For 24 years she has dedicated her life to uncovering anti-Semitism and the Nazi past of her hometown in Bavaria and to combatting the neo-Nazis and extreme right in Germany. Anna Rosmus has located and published the stories and the artwork of Jews who once lived in the Passau area and were exiled from their hometown. Her struggle led to threats against her life. She now lives at the Chesapeake Bay.

Anna Rosmus was awarded the highest honor of the German Jewish Community, the 1995 Galinski Prize. Her recent work is the subject of a documentary film which was shown throughout Germany, Passau-Washington: The Nasty Girl in America, available in English. Morley Safer interviewed Anna Rosmus for two 60 minutes profiles. Anna Rosmus sponsored 50th anniversary commemorations in Germany, bringing survivors and liberators together to preserve this memory and to restore the defaced names to the monument in Pocking. She succeeded and managed to build two more.

As a free lance writer, Anna Rosmus has contributed numerous essays to various magazines and newspapers, such as La Pensée et les Hommes, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, The New York Times, The European and Aufbau.

Professor Robert E. Herzstein writes in “The Journal of The Historical Society II: “Senior German historians wrote dense prose devoted to leaders and institutions, to structures, and to cumulative radicalization.. It was all appropriate - and impersonal. In the constructs and the textbooks, there was little room for inquires into local crimes and perpetrators, even when the unnamed bodies were buried near one’s home and the killers lived a few blocks away. In this fog of oversight, Anna Rosmus’s remarkable studies of the Passau region in Bavaria stand out as the rare exception. Despite the opposition of her teachers and of the people who ran Bavaria’s educational establishment in the late 1970s, Rosmus decided to examine the history of the town of Passau during the years of the Third Reich. She has never stopped, and in the process has found the bodies and identified living culprits..”

Her books include Pocking: End and Renewal, Exodus: In the Shadow of Mercy, Resistance and Persecution: Passau 1933-1939, Robert Klein, a German Jew looks back. A biography of Anna Rosmus was published in 1994 by Hans Dieter Schütt, Anna Rosmus-The Witch of Passau. In 1995, Anna was honored to publish What I think. In 1999, her book Out of Passau was released. In 2002, the University of South Carolina Press released Against The Stream. Growing up where Hitler Used to Live. In early 2003, Vista Inter-Media Corporation in California released a cd-rom with six scholarly essays. In early 2004, Peter Lang published her essay about Hate Crime in Germany Today. The University of South Carolina Press followed up with Leaving a City Hitler called Home and Wintergreen:Suppressed Murders. It documents the atrocities in Passau at the end of the war, the murder of 2,000 Soviet prisoners, the forced abortions performed on slave laborers, as well as the murder of infants of slave laborers in the area. It shows how memorials to the victims were changed to erase the past.

Anna Rosmus represents the legacy of the Holocaust in memory, education and action in the continuing struggle against bigotry and anti-Semitism. Winner of numerous awards for her efforts, she was chosen by the American Society of Journalists and Authors for their Conscience-in-Media Award, presented in a special program at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; she received the Sarnat Prize from the Anti-Defamation League for those who fight anti-Jewish bigotry, the coveted Tucholsky death mask and the Holocaust Survivors & Friends’ Holocaust Memorial Award. The D.C. Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the American Immigration Law Foundation honored her with the Immigrant Achievement Award as a “distinguished Immigrant who through her extraordinary endeavors has made a substantial contribution to the United States of America and is a proud reflection of the values of this nation.” Anna Rosmus is listed in “Who’s Who in the World”. “In honour of an Outstanding Contribution to Education”, IBC Cambridge lists her in “Outstanding People of the 20 Century”.

For lectures, please contact
Jodi F. Solomon Speakers Bureau
325 Huntington Ave #112
Boston, MA 02115

Major Publications

- Daten innerer und äußerer Freiheit aus Geschichte und Politik Europas (Dates of Internal and External Freedoms taken from the History and Politics of Europe), 1980. Europarat.
- Widerstand und Verfolgung am Beispiel Passaus 1933 - 1939 (Resistance and Persecution from 1933-1945 in Passau), 1983, Andreas Haller, Passau; 191 pages, ISBN 3-88849-010-3 (hardcover), ISBN 3-88849-011-1 (softcover)
- “Leiden an Passau” in: Lieben Sie Deutschland - (“Sufferings in Passau” in: Do you love Germany), p. 98-106; edited by Marielouise Janssen-Jurreit, 1985, Piper, München. ISBN 3-492-00668-X (softcover)
- Erwiderung in: Beunruhigung in der Provinz. 10 Jahre Scharfrichterhaus; edited by Walter Landshuter and Edgar Liegl, 1987, Andreas-Haller, Passau; pp. 143-147.
- Abrahams Gold, researched in 1987 (published as a movie in 1991)
- Exodus - Im Schatten der Gnade. Aspekte zur Geschichte der Juden im Raum Passau. (Exodus - In the Shadow of Mercy), 1988, Dorfmeister, Tittling, 270 pages; ISBN 3-927454-00-1 (softcover), ISBN 3-927454-01-X (hardcover)
- Zur braunen Chronik Passaus. Anmerkungen zur Zeit von 1919 bis 1933; in: lichtung. ostbayerisches magazin; pp. 6-10; Viechtach, Nov/Dec. 1989;
- Robert Klein - Ein Jude schaut zurück (Robert Klein - A German Jew looks back), 112 pages, Passau, 1990; available in German and in English.
- Wintergrün - Verdrängte Morde, 1993, Labhard, Konstanz; 200 pages, ISBN 3-926937-11-4 (hardcover), ISBN 3-926937-11-4 (softcover)
- Wider das Vergessen; in: Bayerischer Wald; edited by Hubert Ettl; pp 31-34; Viechtach 1993; ISBN 3-9802078-9-7
- Der Massenmord am “frendvölkischen” Nachwuchs und die Folgen; in: lichtung. ostbayerisches magazin; pp. 11-14; Viechtach, Sept/Oct. 1993;
- Anna Rosmus- die Hexe von Passau. Deutschland, Deutschland über alles - wächst kein Gras (Anna Rosmus- The Witch of Passau) edited by Hans-Dieter Schütt, dietz, Berlin, 1994; 141 pages, ISBN 3-320-01843-4 (softcover)
- Was ich denke (What I think), 1995, Goldmann, Munich. 189 pages, ISBN 3-442-12616-9 (softcover)
- Pocking - Ende und Anfang. Jüdische Zeitzeugen über Befreier und Befreite (Pocking - End and Renewal. Jewish Witnesses on Liberators and the liberated Civilians), 1995, Labhard, Konstanz; 201 pages, ISBN 3-926937-15-7 (hardcover)
- Wenn nicht ich, wer dann? (If not me, then who?), in: Wenn nicht ich, wer? Wenn nicht jetzt, wann?, pp 82-86; edited by Christlich-Jüdischer Koordinierungsrat Deutschland, 1998, Bad Nauheim
- A l’écran et avec une nomination aux Oscars; in: La Shoah: le témoignage impossible?, edited by Alain Goldschläger et Jacques Lemaire; pp 123-133; l’ université de Bruxelles,1998, ISSN 0774-2754
- Out of Passau, Herder, Freiburg, Basel, Wien, 1999. 286 pages, ISBN 3-451-26756-X (hardcover)
- Can we afford to stand by? In: The Memory of the Holocaust in the 21st Century; cd-rom, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1999
- Murder of the Innocent in: Hearing the Voices: Teaching the Holocaust to Future generations; edited by Michael Hayse, Didier Pollefeyt, G. Jan Colijn and Marcia Sachs Littell. pp. 83-102. Merion Westfield Press International, Merion Station, Pennsylvania, 1999. ISBN 1-57981-028-4
- From Reality to Fiction: Anna Rosmus as The “Nasty Girl”; in: Religion and the Arts. A Journal from Boston College. Volume 4-1(2000); pp 113-143. Koninklijke Brill NV, The Netherlands; Leiden, Boston, Köln, 2000. ISSN 1079-9265.
- A Troublemaker in a Skirt, in: “Second Generation Voices,”pp 270-288. Syracuse University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8156-2884-6; ISBN 0-8156-0681-8 (pbk)
- Pocking’s Buried Secrets in: “Building History: Art, Memory, and Myth”; McGill European Studies Vol. 4; edited by Daly Peter M.; Peter Lang, New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt/M., Oxford, Wien, 2001; 284 pp; 0-8204-4289-5, hardback
- Murder of the Innocent. Foreign Slave Laborers and Forced Abortions in Bavaria; in: Women in the Holocaust: Responses, Insights ans Perspectives. Edited by Marcia Sachs Littell, pp 139-158; Merion
Westfield Press International, Merion Station, Pennsylvania, 2002; 263 pages; ISBN 1-57981-041-1
- Against The Stream. Growing up where Hitler Used to Live, University of South Carolina Press, 2002;
160 pages; cloth, 1-57003-490-7.
- The Challenge of Right-Wing Extremism for Democracy. in: How to Fight Right-Wing Extremism in Germany Today - The Role of Citizens, Civil Society, and the Government. pp.103-107; Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Washington DC, 2002. 128 pages; paperback, 0-964348-8-5.
- Murder of the Innocent. On cd-rom The Holocaust. Annual Scholars' Conferences on the Churches and the Holocaust. 1985-2002. Vista Inter-MediaCorp., Irvine, CA, 2003
- Austrian-German Conspiracies at a Centuries-old Bishopric. A look back, 60 Years after the Conquest of Austria. On cd-rom The Holocaust. Annual Scholars' Conferences on the Churches and the Holocaust. 1985-2002. Vista Inter-MediaCorp., Irvine, CA, 2003
- Franz Schrönghamer-Heimdal: The Honorable? On cd-rom The Holocaust. Annual Scholars' Conferences on the Churches and the Holocaust. 1985-2002. Vista Inter-MediaCorp., Irvine, CA, 2003
- The Pre-Nazi Town that Chose a Jewish Sex Symbol: Gender, Anti-Semitism, and Politics in Passau, 1919-1929. On cd-rom The Holocaust. Annual Scholars' Conferences on the Churches and the Holocaust. 1985-2002. Vista Inter-MediaCorp., Irvine, CA, 2003
- The Passau Theater Scandal. On cd-rom The Holocaust. Annual Scholars' Conferences on the Churches and the Holocaust. 1985-2002. Vista Inter-MediaCorp., Irvine, CA, 2003
- The Oswald Ring. Educators who demand that higher education must be avoided! On cd-rom The Holocaust. Annual Scholars' Conferences on the Churches and the Holocaust. 1985-2002. Vista Inter-MediaCorp., Irvine, CA, 2003
- Diplomacy and Terrorism: The German-Afghani Connection. On cd-rom The Holocaust. Annual Scholars' Conferences on the Churches and the Holocaust. 1985-2002. Vista Inter-MediaCorp., Irvine, CA, 2003
- Involuntary Abortions for Polish Forced Laborers; in: Experience and Expression: Women, the Nazis, and the Holocaust. Edited by Elizabeth R. Baer and Myrna Goldenberg, pp. 76-94; Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 2003. 321 pages, paper, 9-780814-330630.
- The Struggle Continues: Hate Crime in Germany Today; pp. 221- 237 in: Confront! Resistance in Nazi Germany; ed. Jahn Michalczyk, Peter Lang, New York, 2004. ISBN 0-8204-6317-5;
- Leaving Passau. A City Hitler Called Home. University of South Carolina Press, 2004; ISBN 1-57003-508-3

Upcoming publications
- Supplementing the "Aryan Race";2004
- Bringing the Czech Neighbor Home; 2004
- The Pre-Nazi Town that Chose a Jewish Sex Symbol: Gender, Anti-Semitism, and Politics in Passau, 1919-1929. In: Departures: New Feminist Perspectives on the Holocaust; The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 2004;
- Erich Mühsam and the “Godforsaken Border Town of Passau”. An Arrest that Reflected the Past as much as it was Foreboding the Future, Old Dominion University, VA, 2004
- European Response to Northern American Memorials, Ottawa University Press, Canada, 2004
- Rudolph Freiherr von Moreau: The Making of a Hero, 2004
- Wintergreen. Suppressed Murders. South Carolina University Press, 2004
- Franz Xaver Eggersdorfer: A Bewildered Scholar Campaigns against the “Red Flood”, 2005
- Cradle of Insanity. Where Hitler Came from, 2005
- Skulls in Hitler’s Backyard, 2006
- "GI, Go Home!”, 2006

Numerous publications as a freelance writer for various magazines and newspapers such as La Pensée et les Hommes, Holocaust and Genocide Studies,The New York Times, The European and Aufbau.

Selected books and articles about Anna Rosmus

- Laudatio auf Anja Rosmus-Wenninger. By Armin Eichholz; in: Beunruhigung in der Provinz. 10
Jahre Scharfrichterhaus; edited by Walter Landshuter and Edgar Liegl, 1987, Andreas-Haller,
Passau; pp. 139-142.
- Im Gespräch. Das Schreckliche Mädchen Anna Rosmus. in: INNSIDE. Regionalmagazin für Passau und Deggendorf; pp 3, 4-6; März 1993
- Dokumente zu Anna Rosmus “Wintergrün”; in: INNSIDE. Regionalmagazin für Passau und Deggendorf; pp. 3, 6-7, Februar 1994. Passau.
- Anna Rosmus- die Hexe von Passau. Deutschland, Deutschland über alles - wächst kein Gras (Anna Rosmus- The Witch of Passau) by Hans-Dieter Schütt, dietz, Berlin, 1994; 141 pages, ISBN 3-320-01843-4 (softcover)
- Erbschaft der Schuld. Vergangenheitsbewältigung in Deutschland und Japan. By Jan Buruma. pp 332, 334-340, 357; 1994, Rowohlt, Hamburg. ISBN 3-499-19670-0.
- The Wall Within; in: AFTER THE WALL. GERMANY, THE GERMANS AND THE BURDENS OF HISTORY; by Marc Fisher; 1995. Simon & Schuster, New York; ISBN: 0-684-80291-0
- An untold history of a Nazi mecca in Bavaria; in Testimony of the Twentieth Century. Before and After The Berlin Wall; p.328-335. By Marie Ueda; 1996. M.I.Productions, San Francisco; 469 pages; ISBN0-9650299-0-5.
- Braune Flecken in der Region Passau; in: INNSIDE. Regionalmagazin für Passau und Deggendorf; p. 4, Juni 1997. Passau.
- Leserbriefe USA Pockinger Denkmal; in: INNSIDE. Regionalmagazin für Passau und Deggendorf; p.10,
Juni 1997.Passau.
- Spuren suchen. Spezial; edited by Dr. Lothar Dittmer; pp 62-63; 1998, Körber Stiftung, Hamburg.
- The Nasty Girl in: The Claims of Memory, by Caroline Wiedmer. Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1999, pp.87-103.
- Ich bin nicht mehr als das Produkt meiner Erziehung; in: Trans-Lit, by the Society for Contemporary American Literature in German IX, 1&2, 2000, pp. 64-73.
- The "Nasty Girl" Triumphs; in: The Hitler Virus : The Insidious Legacy of Adolf Hitler; by Peter Wyden. Arcade Publishing, New York, NY, 2001, pp 311-315.
- Ich bin nicht mehr als das Produkt meiner Erziehung; in: Wendewelten. Paradigmenwechsel in der deutschen Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte nach 1945; pp. 147-158; by Frederick A. Lubich. Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2002; 206 pages; ISBN 3-8260-2089-8.
- Daniel Jonah Goldhagen’s “Ordinary Germans”: A Heretic and His Critics, by Robert E. Herzstein in: The Journal of The Historical Society II: 1 Winter 2002, p. 94, p. 114.
- The Nasty Girl (Ger:1990) German girl uncovers her town’s Nazi past. in: Ashen Images on the Silver Screen: Trends in Recent Holocaust Feature Films. By Lawrence Byron, 2002.

Honors and Awards

* “Best German Writer,” for the essay “Daten innerer und äußerer Freiheit aus Politik und Geschichte Europas” (Internal and External Freedoms taken from History and Politics in Europe) in the “Europäischer Aufsatz Wettbewerb” (European Essay Competition) in June 1980, Berlin / Paris
* Third place for the documentation “Widerstand und Verfolgung am Beispiel Passau” (Resistance and Persecution) in the nationwide contest “Die Vorkriegsjahre” (The Prewar-Years in my Hometown) in November 1981, Hamburg
* In November 1984, the association of Bavaria’s Publishers and the City of Munich honored her with the “Geschwister-Scholl-Preis,” as she “has mustered the highly inconvenient courage to reject the ready-framed historical picture of her hometown.”
* Given the death mask of Kurt Tucholsky for civil courage and political commitment by Tucholsk’s fiancée Gertrude Meyer-Prenzlau, May 7, 1987, Hindås, Sweden
* (A movie about her life, THE NASTY GIRL, was released and nominated for an Oscar in 1991; director: Dr. Michael Verhoeven)
* “The Holocaust Memorial Award,” by “Holocaust Survivors & Friends in Pursuit of Justice” in October 1992, Albany, N.Y.
* Legislative Resolution honoring “the tireless, courageous and often life-threatening efforts...against the acts and effects of racism, bigotry and hatred, remembering the warnings of a tragic and blackened history...to educate future generations“ by the State of New York, in October 1992
* Elected Member of the International “PEN-Club,” in December 1993
* Honored by Temple Beth El in California on April 8, 1994, her “in appreciation of the humanitarian efforts to educate the world about the history of the Holocaust.”
* Scott Kennedy, Mayor of Santa Cruz, California, proclaimed Sunday, April 10, 1994 as “Anna Rosmus Day” in the City of Santa Cruz, CA
* “The Sarnat Award” by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith, “for combating anti-Jewish activities,” June 10, 1994, in New York City
* Tree-Dedication in front of “Temple Israel,” November 9, 1994, Albany, N.Y.
* “Conscience-in-Media-Award” honoring “those who have demonstrated singular commitment to the highest principles of journalism at notable personal cost or sacrifice,” by the “American Society of Journalists and Authors,” in September 1994
* Honored by the Holocaust Memorial Center in West Bloomfield, Michigan, on October 9, 1994, “in recognition of having exposed the facts about the role of Passau, Germany, during World War II and forcing its residents finally to confront the truth.”
* “Myrtle Wreath Award,” by Hadassah, “in recognition of selfless and fearless pursuit of the truth about the Holocaust,” March 30, 1995, Washington D.C.
* Elected honorary member of the 65th Infantry Division Association on September 8, 1995
* On February 11, 1996, the 4214th USAR Hospital honored her “enlightening research centered around the involvement of African-Americans in Germany during WWII”.
* Listed in Marquis “Who’s Who in America” (first time in the 1996 edition) in “Five Thousand Personalities of the World” (American Biographical Institute, 1996 edition), and in the “International Directory for Distinguished Leadership” (American Biographical Institute, 1996 edition)
* In May 1996, “in acknowledgement and appreciation of her years of dedication, foresight and leadership that have influenced professions and communities,” the American Biographical Institute in Cambridge, England, awarded her the title “Most Admired Woman of The Decade.”
* Awarded the prestigious “Heinz-Galinski-Preis” on October 20,1996, by the Jewish Community in Berlin, honoring her “commitment characterized by understanding, tolerance and mutual respect; her espousal of peace and reconciliation; the sincere way she comes to grips with history and the past.” In the jury’s justification it says, among other things: “In spite of the greatest difficulties and opposition that you were forced to confront again and again, you have rendered a very significant contribution to memory and enlightenment. Only when we remember do we have a chance of doing battle against neo-Nazism.”
* Listed in “International Who’s Who of Contemporary Achievement” (American Biographical Institute, 1997/1998 edition)
* Listed in Marquis’ “Who’s Who of American Woman” (first time in the 1997/1998 edition)
* The D.C. Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the American Immigration Law Foundation honored her in Washington D.C., on March 20, 1998, with the Immigrant Achievement Award as a “distinguished Immigrant who through her extraordinary endeavors has made a substantial contribution to the United States of America and is a proud reflection of the values of this nation.”
* Listed in “Outstanding People of the 20 Century”; IBC Cambridge, (since 1998) “in honour of an Outstanding Contribution to Education.”
* Listed in Marquis “Who’s Who in the World” ( first time in the 1999 edition)
* Listed in “International Who’s Who of Professional and Business Women” (first time in the 1999 edition) by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England
* Listed in “International Who’s Who of Women” (American Biographical Institute, first time in the 2000 edition)
* Listed in “2000 Outstanding Writers of the 20th Century” (first t. in the 2000 edition), by the
International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England
* Honorary PhD, University of South Carolina
* Nominated “World Laureate of the ABI” (2000)
* Listed in “International Directory of Distinguished Leadership” (American Biographical Institute, first time in the 2001 edition)
* Listed in Marquis “International Who’s Who in the East” (first time in the 2001 edition)
* Listed in “P.E.N. Zentrum Deutschland. Autorenlexikon 2000/2001”; Peter Hammer Verlag,
Wuppertal, 2000 (S.341).
* Nominated for “Who’s Who in the 21st Century” (first t. for the 2001 edition), by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England
* Inscribed on the Wall of Tolerance, Montgomery, Alabama, 2002

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