Gretchen has prominent cameo appearances in virtually all of the books, or is at least mentioned, as the bane of the European autocratic nobility of high and low estates. Hans Richter is the younger brother to Gretchen. He becomes the first German aircraft pilot, capturing the imagination of the common German townsmen and peasants as he proves that the New United States government is indeed for all the people, not just up-timers from Grantville, in "1633". He also becomes engaged to Sharon Nichols. Hans heroically died in attacking the combined Danish-French fleets in the Battle of Wismar, for which he was posthumously awarded the first Congressional Medal of Honor. News of his death comes close to inspiring German commoners to riot and rebel against the German princes and up-timers. After Mike Stearns turns the situation around, he leverages the unrest to drive home a new accommodation with Gustav II Adolf, and becomes the first prime minister of the new Sweden-led empire: the United States of Europe. Morris and Judith Roth are the only Jewish residents of up-time Grantville. Stearns solicits shelter for Balthasar and Rebecca Abrabanel in the Roth home during the aftermath of the Battle of the farm house. Although the Roths do not keep a kosher orthodox home, Judith welcomes the Abrabanels and makes them comfortable. The alliance between the down-timer Scots cavalry unit and the up-timers is agreed in the Roth's living room, and their kitchen and one of its large tables becomes the war room where the two sides plan out a campaign to protect southern Thuringia from Count Tilly's approaching mercenary forces. In "The Wallenstein Gambit", Morris is persuaded to cooperate with Albrecht Wallenstein in Prague in hopes of averting a future he dreads: the biggest pogrom in history prior to the Holocaust. Judith is the first to understand the upper class role and lifestyle they must adopt in Prague. When Wallenstein and his army are away fighting in "Second Battle of White Mountain", the city is attacked, and Morris is surprised to find himself being something of a hero, leading Prague's Jewish citizens in successfully defending against Heinrich Holk's mercenaries. The Roths also play a major role in "The Anaconda Project", and help out in "". Rita Stearns Simpson and husband Tom Simpson have the distinction of opening "1632" in scenes shared with Mike Stearns and James Nichols.