At 21 years old, Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow went to visit her family in Germany for the first time. To most people, the grandparents and great-aunts and great-uncles she met are historical heroes, but to Paasche-Orlow, they were just “normal people,” her elders.

The descendant of Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, a German general who helped plot the July 20, 1944, assassination attempt against Adolf Hitler, and his many resistance fighter sons and daughters, Paasche-Orlow carries the torch for a history of resistance that has taken on new importance as authoritarian regimes gain traction globally.

“I’ve been realizing as I’ve been thinking about tonight that resistance wasn’t just something my family historically did,” Paasche-Orlow said during a panel discussion of a documentary made about her family history at Northeastern University. “It was something they practiced as a way of thinking and living, and this meant they were also passing it forward.”

The event, held during the week of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, brought Paasche-Orlow’s family history firmly into the present. The rabbi, who also serves as executive director of Northeastern Hillel, along with German officials and Northeastern faculty discussed the ongoing need to remember and learn from the horrors of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust, which killed 6 million Jews and millions more prisoners of war, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people and Romani.

An old family photo in black and white depicting Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord and his family on a bench.

“‘Never forget’ is not a slogan. It’s a moral obligation, one that has been passed down by now from generation to generation and remains binding today,” said Sonja Kreibich, German consul general in Boston. “When we say, ‘Never forget,’ we are not only talking about the past but also the present and the future, about what kind of societies we want to live in and what role each of us plays in shaping them.”

Paasche-Orlow’s family legacy is not just one of survival but resistance against the ruthlessness and injustice of an authoritarian power.

Two audience members, a man in a black jacket and a woman in a purple sweater, sitting attentively in a crowd with other attendees visible in the background.01/29/26 – BOSTON, MA. – Scenes during the Stories of Resistance and Reconciliation event held in 300 Richards Hall on Jan. 29, 2026. Remarks were made by Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, Teaching Professor of Political Science Natalie Bormann, and volunteers from the Action Service Reconciliation for Peace, Merle Gamza and Mirjam Ikkache. The event was moderated by Stotsky Professor of Jewish History and Culture Simon Rabinovitch, with opening remarks by the Consul General of Germany Dr. Sonja Kreibich. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

A man in a brown blazer and white shirt speaking into a microphone to an audience, with attendees visible in the foreground out of focus.01/29/26 – BOSTON, MA. – Scenes during the Stories of Resistance and Reconciliation event held in 300 Richards Hall on Jan. 29, 2026. Remarks were made by Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, Teaching Professor of Political Science Natalie Bormann, and volunteers from the Action Service Reconciliation for Peace, Merle Gamza and Mirjam Ikkache. The event was moderated by Stotsky Professor of Jewish History and Culture Simon Rabinovitch, with opening remarks by the Consul General of Germany Dr. Sonja Kreibich. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

An audience seated in a dark auditorium watching a large projection screen displaying a video of Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow sitting in a room speaking, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in the background.01/29/26 – BOSTON, MA. – Scenes during the Stories of Resistance and Reconciliation event held in 300 Richards Hall on Jan. 29, 2026. Remarks were made by Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, Teaching Professor of Political Science Natalie Bormann, and volunteers from the Action Service Reconciliation for Peace, Merle Gamza and Mirjam Ikkache. The event was moderated by Stotsky Professor of Jewish History and Culture Simon Rabinovitch, with opening remarks by the Consul General of Germany Dr. Sonja Kreibich. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Four panelists seated at a table on stage—two women in red cardigans on the left, and two women in dark clothing on the right—with a projection screen behind them and audience members visible in the foreground.01/29/26 – BOSTON, MA. – Scenes during the Stories of Resistance and Reconciliation event held in 300 Richards Hall on Jan. 29, 2026. Remarks were made by Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, Teaching Professor of Political Science Natalie Bormann, and volunteers from the Action Service Reconciliation for Peace, Merle Gamza and Mirjam Ikkache. The event was moderated by Stotsky Professor of Jewish History and Culture Simon Rabinovitch, with opening remarks by the Consul General of Germany Dr. Sonja Kreibich. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow in profile wearing a red cardigan, glasses, and a medal on a ribbon, seated in an auditorium with audience members visible in the background.01/29/26 – BOSTON, MA. – Scenes during the Stories of Resistance and Reconciliation event held in 300 Richards Hall on Jan. 29, 2026. Remarks were made by Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, Teaching Professor of Political Science Natalie Bormann, and volunteers from the Action Service Reconciliation for Peace, Merle Gamza and Mirjam Ikkache. The event was moderated by Stotsky Professor of Jewish History and Culture Simon Rabinovitch, with opening remarks by the Consul General of Germany Dr. Sonja Kreibich. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
Northeastern University screened a documentary about Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow’s family history that included a panel discussion with Natalie Bormann, a teaching professor of political science at Northeastern, and two volunteers for the German peace organization Action Reconciliation Service for Peace. Photos by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Her great-grandfather, Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, was instrumental in Operation Valkyrie, the ultimately failed attempt to kill Hitler and topple the Nazi regime. His wife and many of his sons and daughters were also freedom fighters and spies who used their proximity to power in subversive ways.

Two of Kurt’s sons, Kunrat and Ludwig von Hammerstein-Equord, were also German officers and, to varying degrees, resistance fighters. They are among the only surviving members of the failed assassination plot. 

The women in Paasche-Orlow’s family also played major roles in resistance efforts. Marie Luise and Helga von Hammerstein were Communist Party members who eventually became Soviet spies, disseminating information about the Nazis’ military activities that their father had smuggled out of meetings with the Nazi high command. Marie Therese Von Hammerstein Paasche, Paasche-Orlow’s grandmother, smuggled Jews and other Nazi targets out of Germany on her motorcycle sidecar.

Such acts of resistance come with a cost that should not be ignored, said Natalie Bormann, a teaching professor of political science at Northeastern. While the von Hammersteins were largely able to escape Germany after the failure of Operation Valkyrie, most of the people involved in the assassination plot were not so lucky. 

In the days and months that followed, Hitler ordered a hunt for the conspirators. Ultimately, more than 7,000 people were arrested and close to 5,000 people were executed.

“While resistance existed, only a few participated,” Bormann said. “It took courage, a strong moral compass and willingness to accept extreme personal sacrifice.”

A woman with glasses wearing a black top speaking into a microphone while holding papers, with audience members visible in the foreground out of focus.01/29/26 – BOSTON, MA. – Scenes during the Stories of Resistance and Reconciliation event held in 300 Richards Hall on Jan. 29, 2026. Remarks were made by Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, Teaching Professor of Political Science Natalie Bormann, and volunteers from the Action Service Reconciliation for Peace, Merle Gamza and Mirjam Ikkache. The event was moderated by Stotsky Professor of Jewish History and Culture Simon Rabinovitch, with opening remarks by the Consul General of Germany Dr. Sonja Kreibich. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

A projection screen displaying the title 'Stories of Resistance and Reconciliation' with historical black and white photographs, viewed by silhouetted audience members in the foreground.01/29/26 – BOSTON, MA. – Scenes during the Stories of Resistance and Reconciliation event held in 300 Richards Hall on Jan. 29, 2026. Remarks were made by Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, Teaching Professor of Political Science Natalie Bormann, and volunteers from the Action Service Reconciliation for Peace, Merle Gamza and Mirjam Ikkache. The event was moderated by Stotsky Professor of Jewish History and Culture Simon Rabinovitch, with opening remarks by the Consul General of Germany Dr. Sonja Kreibich. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow in a red cardigan embracing a person in a black jacket.01/29/26 – BOSTON, MA. – Scenes during the Stories of Resistance and Reconciliation event held in 300 Richards Hall on Jan. 29, 2026. Remarks were made by Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Sara Paasche-Orlow, Teaching Professor of Political Science Natalie Bormann, and volunteers from the Action Service Reconciliation for Peace, Merle Gamza and Mirjam Ikkache. The event was moderated by Stotsky Professor of Jewish History and Culture Simon Rabinovitch, with opening remarks by the Consul General of Germany Dr. Sonja Kreibich. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
Testimonies of resistance and survival still play a vital role in both remembering the Holocaust and, in the process, understanding how it happened and how further tragedy can be avoided, said Sonja Kreibich (left), German consul general in Boston. Photos by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Sharing and hearing personal testimony, like Paasche-Orlow’s account of her family, helps transform resistance from “an abstract, broad historical fact into a human, relatable, lived experience” that the current generation can connect to, Bormann said. 

“The historical fact was that the plan failed,” Bormann said. “However, the acts of resistance leading to the plan, the refusal to be complicit, the motivation to seek change, to uphold justice and the often quiet acts of courage … give us insight into what is possible even in light of failure and present us with a call for action.”

With reconciliation on her mind, Paasche-Orlow explained that there are ways people have reckoned with the horrors of the Holocaust to build a better future in line with the values of what her family fought for. 

Her great uncle, Franz von Hammerstein-Equord, helped found Action Reconciliation Service for Peace after World War II. The organization sent young Germans to rebuild synagogues in Poland after the war, but since then, it has become known for sending hundreds of volunteers to countries occupied by Germany, Holocaust memorials and Jewish communities in Europe and the U.S.

Merle Gamza and Mirjam Ikaache, two current volunteers, are currently working at Hebrew Senior Live, a senior living facility in Brookline, Massachusetts. Despite all the German and Holocaust history education they’d received in Germany, listening to, talking with and supporting elderly Jews has helped broaden their perspective and normalize Jewish life for them, they said.

“In Germany, we learn about it, we have museums, we do all this stuff, but here I had interactions with Jews that I usually don’t have that much in Germany,” Gamza said.

Continuing to normalize these kinds of cultural relationships is a subtle but important way to resist the power of stereotypes to transform prejudice into outright hatred and mass murder, Paasche-Orlow explained.

While Paasche-Orlow’s family’s legacy continues to loom large for her and many others, she urged the audience to see her family not as legends but “normal, good people.” In that way, she hopes, current generations see resistance as not relegated to the history books but embodied every day by people willing to stand up for what’s right, even if it costs them everything.

“The takeaway in some ways is to cherish that essential kindness that you can connect with in other human beings and to understand that that’s the core of what it takes to be great,” Paasche-Orlow said.