Download 1213R-014 Dr. Harnack Resolution

(ATTACHMENT 1)
ACTION ON RESOLUTION 1213R-014 BY DIRECTORS WOODWARD AND MILLER
TO RENAME AN MPS SCHOOL IN HONOR OF DR. MILDRED FISH HARNACK
Resolution 1213R-014
By Directors Woodward and Miller
WHEREAS, Dr. Mildred Fish Harnack was born in Milwaukee in 1902 and attended both
West Division High School (now known as Milwaukee High School of the Arts) and
UW-Madison; and
WHEREAS, When Adolph Hitler came to power in 1933, Dr. Harnack and her husband,
Arvid, who were living in Germany, joined a network of resistance fighters who
worked to secretly undermine Hitler and the Nazi regime by forming what came to
be known as the “Red Orchestra,” a group of anti-Nazis who passed intelligence
information onto the American and Soviet governments; and
WHEREAS, For over ten years, Dr. Harnack and the rest of the Red Orchestra were able
to avoid detection and published several newsletters, distributed the forbidden
speeches of President Franklin Roosevelt, and help Jews escape Germany; and
WHEREAS, In the Fall of 1942, the German secret police rounded up over 100 resistance
fighters, including the Harnacks; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Harnack was executed and Dr. Mildred Harnack was sentenced to six
years in prison, until Adolph Hitler himself intervened and ordered her execution in
1943; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Mildred Fish Harnack was the only American executed under the direct
order of Adolph Hitler for resistance activities in Germany during World War II; and
WHEREAS, For over 10 years, UW-Madison has hosted an annual human rights program
in Dr. Harnack’s name; and
WHEREAS, On April 10, 1986, the Wisconsin Senate enacted Act 232, which called, in
part, for September 16th to be observed as Mildred Fish Harnack Day in all public
schools; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Milwaukee Board of School Directors directs the Administration to
select an appropriate school to actively seek timely opportunities to rename a school
in honor of Dr. Mildred Fish Harnack and encourage schools pursuing name changes
through the established process to consider that their school be renamed in honor of
Dr. Mildred Fish Harnack; and be it
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Administration is to report back to the Board through
the established process for name changes with the selected school in time for the new
name to be in effect for the 2013-14 school year.
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