Coppi, Die Coppi-Tafel

Hans Coppi The night before his execution, he wrote a poem. A final message to his wife Hilde, who was in prison – pregnant with their child together. Alone, but still connected to him through thoughts, hope, and memory. The lines he left her are tender and clear. No call to action, no anger. Just the image of a leaf falling. And the pain over what can no longer be lived together.

Hans and Hilde Coppi they were not heroic strategists. They were young people who fell in love, who got involved politically, who saw what was happening – and did not look away. In the midst of a brutal regime, they decided to resist. Together with others, they organized information, distributed leaflets, and made contacts with Soviet intelligence. They became part of the so-called „Red Chapel,“ a group that was stigmatized and crushed by the Nazi state as traitors.

After her arrest, Hans and Hilde were separated from each other. He no longer witnessed the trial – he was executed in December 1942. Hilde, pregnant and under constant surveillance, was allowed to give birth to their son. A few weeks later, she was also murdered. What remained of them was a brief moment of connection – through a few written lines, hidden in a Bible.