Otto Busse (resistance fighter)

Otto Busse (pronounced [ˈɔtoː ˈbʊsə] ⓘ; 23 September 1901 – 6 March 1980) was a German resistance fighter and Righteous Among the Nations.

Busse was born into a peasant family in Gillandwirszen (modern Gilandviršiai, Lithuania) near Tilsit (East Prussia), the youngest of seven brothers.

[1] In World War II Busse was drafted into a police reserve unit under the command of Friedrich Brix, who later became head of the civil administration of the Bezirk Bialystok.

Initiated by Brix, Busse left service in March 1943 and moved to Białystok to operate a painter's business, here he mainly renovated Wehrmacht hospitals and apartments vacated by Jewish residents.

On one occasion he inspected an apartment, where he found two German-speaking women - Haika Grossman and Chasia Bilitzka - both in fact leaders of the Jewish underground.