Leopold Trepper - Commemorative Events

Commemorative Events

On Tuesday, 6 December 2011, former MEP Mark F. Watts organised a commemorative event in the European Parliament hosted by Peter Skinner, a senior British MEP, to mark the 70th Anniversary of the raid by the German Abwehr on the Red Orchestra Brussels HQ. The Red Orchestra was probably the most successful spy network in WW2. The raid led to the capture, torture, and execution of over 100 agents. The event included a seminar with Hans Coppi, Jr.an expert on the Red orchestra whose parents were members of the RO, and were executed by the Gestapo, Natalia Narochnitskaya Ph.D., Prof., a doctor of historical science, an expert on international relations around WW1 and WW2, and a prominent public figure in Russia, Rabbi Avil Tawil, Director of the European Jewish Community Center in Brussels, and Lital Levin, an Israeli journalist and relative of Leopold Trepper. Other experts and relatives of the Red orchestra and the Resistance also contributed to the seminar. There was a commemorative reception. The Russian Ambassador to the EU, H.E. Vladimir Chizhov, was guest of honour. The British Ambassador to Belgium, Jonathan Brenton, the Israeli Ambassador to Belgium H.E. Jacques Revah, and the German Ambassador to Belgium H.E.Eckart Cuntz attended.