Anna Rosmus, also known as Anja Rosmus-Wenninger, is a German author and researcher born in 1960 in Passau, Bavaria.
Early life and research As a 16-year-old, Rosmus started developing an interest in contemporary history, especially that of the Third Reich, a subject that was barely mentioned at school. Encouraged by her father, a principal, she participated in a national essay contest that addressed the history of her city during the pre-war years. Some prominent residents claimed that the community remained untouched by the war and others praised themselves for their alleged political resistance against the dictatorship. Rosmus uncovered newspaper clippings and other archival material showing that local leaders and members of the town's prominent families were active members of the Nazi Party long before the war, and had helped to round up the town's roughly 400 Jews to send to concentration camps. Her essay, "My Hometown During the Third Reich", won a prize.
Rosmus' efforts were not welcomed by many inhabitants but at the age of 20, she continued with her research. Upon further questioning of some of Passau's elders, Rosmus found a conspiracy of silence and refusal to provide information. After three years of perseverance and litigation, she was finally granted access to the city administration's archives. She found that several concentration-, forced labor- and prisoner-of-war camps had been built in and around the city.
Rosmus wrote her first book, Resistance and Persecution - The Case of Passau 1933–1939 which was published in 1983. Undeterred by threats, she wrote Exodus - In the Shadow of Mercy a book focusing on the plight of Passau's Jews during the twentieth century. Her work continued to cause unprecedented uproar as well as international praise.
The Nasty Girl and major TV productions
In 1985, Rosmus' work attracted director Michael Verhoeven's attention. He wrote and directed (The Nasty Girl), a 1990 film in which Lena Stolze plays Sonja Wegmus, a fictional version of Rosmus. The movie received the BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language, and it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1991. In 1986, the German TV station ARD broadcast Felix Kuballa's WDR 45-min documentary Von deutscher Toleranz. In 1988, the German TV station ARD showed Henning Stegmüller's 1987 Radio Bremen 90-min documentary Gegen den Strom about Anna Rosmus. In 1990, the German TV station ZDF showed Michael Verhoeven's 1987 documentary Das Mädchen und die Stadt about Anna Rosmus. 1994/95, Felix Kuballa (WDR) produced the documentary Das Schreckliche Mädchen in Amerika. ARD featured 60-min and a 45-min versions.
Emigration to the United States
In August 1994, after constant harassment and death threats from the local community, Rosmus and her daughters moved to the United States. They settled in the Washington, D.C., area. Since her youngest daughter's graduation from high school, Rosmus has lived near Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
Her research resulted in numerous presentations, including: Filling in the Void, The Last Phase of Survivor Literature, Ben Gurion University, Beersheba, Israel, 1996 Pocking's Buried Secrets, Teaching the Holocaust Conference in Augsburg, Germany, 1997 Austrian-German Conspiracies at a Centuries-old Bishopric. A look back, 60 Years after the Conquest of Austria, 28th Scholars' Conference on the Churches and the Holocaust, Seattle, Washington, 1998 The Passau Theater Scandal, German Studies Association Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, 1998 European Response to Northern American Memorials, Teaching the Holocaust Conference, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, October 1998 Franz Schrönghamer-Heimdal: The Honorable?, 29th Scholars’ Conference on the Churches and the Holocaust, New York, New York, March 8, 1999; The Presence of the Absence, International Holocaust Conference for Eyewitnesses & Descendants, Vienna, Austria, 1999 The Pre-Nazi Town that Chose a Jewish Sex Symbol: Gender, Anti-Semitism, and Politics in Passau, 1919–1929, German Studies Association Conference, Atlanta, Ga., 1999 My Jewish Mission. One German Woman’s Search for the Truth, Nuremberg & beyond, Columbia, South Carolina, 1999 The Future of Germany’s Past, Holocaust Conference, Millersville, Pennsylvania, 2000 1919–1929, The Sexual Revolution of the Twentieth Century, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, 2000 The Truth about Passau, German Studies Association Conference, Houston, Texas, 2000 The Nasty Girl and its Aftermath, Association of Holocaust Organizations’ Winter Seminar, USHMM, in Washington, D.C., 2001 From Reality to Fiction, The European Studies Consortium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 2001 Growing up where Hitler Lived. The Courage to Speak the Truth, at: Connecting Biography and Research: Personal Revelations of Female Academics who Deal with the Subject of Extreme Violence and Death, Annual Conference of Canadian Universities Laval University, Quebec City, Canada, Congress 2001 Where Hitler Used to Live: Post-Holocaust Pocking and Passau, Fourth International Biennial Conference. Deterring and Preventing Genocide: Missed Opportunities, Contemporary Issues and Future Possibilities, Association of Genocide Scholars, at the University of Minnesota, 2001 Rabbi Lazar Salzberg and the Passauer Neue Presse, German Studies Association Conference, Washington, D.C., October 5, 2001 Murder of the Innocent, Annual meeting of the European History Section of the Southern Historical Association, New Orleans, 2001 The Oswald Ring. Educators who Demand that Higher Education Must be Avoided, 32nd Scholars’ Conference on the Churches and the Holocaust, Kean University in Newark, New Jersey, 2002 Diplomacy and Terrorism: The German-Afghani Connection. Closing Luncheon Address, 32nd Scholars’ Conference on the Churches and the Holocaust, Kean University in Newark, N.J., 2002 Erich Mühsam and the “Godforsaken Border Town of Passau”. An Arrest that Reflected the Past as Much as it was Foreboding the Future, Jewish Culture - Western Civilization - and Beyond, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va., 2002 Rudolph Freiherr von Moreau: The Making of a Hero, 33rd Scholars’ Conference on the Churches and the Holocaust, Philadelphia, Pa., 2003 "Useless Consumers of Food", Sixth Holocaust Studies Conference, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 2003 Supplementing the “Aryan” Race, Annual Conference of the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Congress 2004 Choosing Murder to Re-establish a Glorious Past. From Atta to Arco: Hating Democracy, 34th Scholars’ Conference on the Churches and the Holocaust, Newark, N.J., 2005 Back to the Home Front, Annual Congress of the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, June 2, 2005 Turning The Masses into Ethnic Warriors, Redefining The Political Nature of Borderline Identities, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, CASCA Conference, May 12, 2006 Family Matters: Rape and Incest in SA and SS: Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 3, 2006 Nazi-Era Deployments of Bavarian Folk Tales, CASCA-AES Conference, University of Toronto, Canada, May 10, 2007 Manifestations of National Identity in “The Nasty Girl”, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, 2007 How to Avoid the Nuremberg Trials in Grand Style, 8th Holocaust Studies Conference, Middle Tennessee State University, Tenn., 2007 Major General Ernst Nason Harmon: “Certain Jewish Shipments to Bavaria", Third International Multidisciplinary Conference, Imperial War Museum, London, England, January 9, 2009 The “Angelic” Major General or: Cussing at the Prospect of Combat, Norfolk, Va., September 13, 2009
In 1994, Rosmus began to plan programs for a first tour with survivors and US Veterans of WWII in Germany and Austria. Since then, she has organized several reunions of veterans, survivors and locals in Europe.
Since 2009, Rosmus has been a member of the International Council of the Austrian Service Abroad.
Publications Widerstand und Verfolgung am Beispiel Passau 1933–1945 (Resistance and Persecution—The Case of Passau 1933–1939), published by Andreas Haller in Passau, Germany, 1983. Leiden an Passau pp. 98–106 in: Lieben Sie Deutschland (Suffering from Passau in: Do You Love Germany),191 pages, published by Piper in Munich, Germany, 1985. Erwiderung (Response), pp. 143–147 in: Beunruhigung in der Provinz. 10 Jahre Scharfrichterhaus (Disturbance in the Province. 10 Years Executioner's House); edited by Walter Landshuter and Edgar Liegl, Andreas-Haller, Passau, Germany, 1987. Exodus - Im Schatten der Gnade. Aspekte zur Geschichte der Juden im Raum Passau. (Exodus. In the Shadow of Mercy.Aspects of Jewish History in the Passau Region), a book focusing on the plight of Passau's Jews during the twentieth century; 270 pages, published by Dorfmeister in Tittling, Germany, 1988. Zur braunen Chronik Passaus. Anmerkungen zur Zeit von 1919 bis 1933 (Brown-Shirted Passau Chronicles. Connotations about the Period from 1919 to 1933), pp. 6–10 in: Lichtung. Ostbayerisches Magazin in Viechtach, Germany, Nov/Dec 1989. Robert Klein. A German Jew Looks back, 112 pages, published in Passau, Germany, 1991. "Wintergrün - Verdrängte Morde" (Wintergreen - Suppressed Murders), 200 pages, Labhard, Konstanz, Germany, 1993. Wider das Vergessen (Against Forgetting), pp 31–34 in: Bayerischer Wald, edited by Hubert Ettl; Viechtach, Germany, 1993. Der Massenmord am “fremdvölkischen” Nachwuchs und die Folgen (Mass Murder of the Foreign Rising Generation and its Consequences), pp. 11–14 in: lichtung. ostbayerisches magazin; Viechtach, Germany, Sept/Oct. 1993. Was ich denke (What I Think),189 pages, published by Goldmann in Munich, Germany, 1995. Pocking - Ende und Anfang. Jüdische Zeitzeugen über Befreier und Befreite (Pocking - End and Renewal. Jewish Witnesses on Liberators and the Liberated), 201 pages, published by Labhard in Konstanz, Germany, 1995. Legacy of the 761st Tank Battalion, 100th Field Hospital, Baltimore, MD, February 11, 1996. Wenn nicht ich, wer dann? (If Not Me, Then Who?), pp 82–86 in: Wenn nicht ich, wer? Wenn nicht jetzt, wann? (If Not Me, Who? If Not Now, When?), edited by Christlich-Jüdischer Koordinierungsrat Deutschland, Bad Nauheim, Germany, 1998. A l’écran et avec une nomination aux Oscars" (On Screen, with an Oscar Nomination); in: "La Shoah: le témoignage impossible?(Shoah. The Impossible Testimony), published by Université de Bruxelles, Belgium, 1998. "Filling in the Void", in: Gelber, M. (ed.) Belated or Timely Memoirs? The Last Phase of Survivor Literature from the Holocaust, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY, 1998. "Out of Passau. Von einer, die auszog, die Heimat zu finden" (Out of Passau.. By One Who Moved Out to Find the Homeland), 286 pages, published by Herder in Freiburg, Basel, Vienna, 1999. "Can we afford to stand by?" In: The Memory of the Holocaust in the 21st Century; CD-rom, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel, 1999. Murder of the Innocent, pp. 83–102 in: Hearing the Voices: Teaching the Holocaust to Future generations; edited by Michael Hayse, Didier Pollefeyt, G. Jan Colijn and Marcia Sachs Littell. Merion Westfield Press International, Merion Station, PA, 1999. From Reality to Fiction: Anna Rosmus as The “Nasty Girl”, pp 113–143 in: Religion and the Arts. A Journal from Boston College.Koninklijke Brill NV, The Netherlands; Leiden, Boston, Cologne, 2000. "A Troublemaker in a Skirt", pp 270–288 in: Second Generation Voices, Syracuse University Press, 2001.