White Rose Histories

Denise Elaine Heap
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Reading White Rose histories aloud, 10 minutes at a time. Starting in media res, with Volume II. deniseelaineheap.substack.com

  1. 09/12/2024

    Chapter 18, part 4: Loosening a Stitch on the Eagle

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit deniseelaineheap.substack.com October 18 - October 19, 1942. Storybook: The soldier students in Sosnovka are treated to a corny, slapstick movie starring Marte Harell. The movie — Opernball, or Opera Ball — attracts the town’s young people. Willi Graf is puzzled by the comment of one young man, who says he wants to see the war. Willi later reasons that that fascination with war is likely owing to the fact that Russians have known nothing but war. (Goebbels’ propaganda has been effective.) Hans Scholl receives a letter from Josef Söhngen and immediately replies. He tells Söhngen that they are leaving “day after tomorrow,” so he will see him soon and they can talk. Hans repeats his earlier comments about his love for Russia and knows that he will be drawn back to that country. Sophie and Inge Scholl put together a Christmas wreath for Fritz Hartnagel. Sophie complains that the wreath did not turn out very well, because Inge laughed too much and Waldemar “just sat there like a spectator.” Carl Muth writes a letter to Otl Aicher, reminding him to love “Fatherland and Volk,” while simultaneously looking forward to a quick end to the war. He tells him as well about Robert Scholl’s soon release. Muth then turns his attention to Hans Scholl, penning a fatherly letter to Hans. He reminds Hans that nothing is more powerful than a man who prays (St. Chrysostom). Winter arrives in Sosnovka. The soldier students shiver in houses where snow and rain drips from the ceiling. Despite a good punch drink — assuredly spiked with rum — they are lethargic. Hubert Furtwängler is still ill. They need him! 2007 update, Fritz Hartnagel and Sophie Scholl Fritz expresses his concern over the approaching winter. He is staying busy, preparing for that season. He is losing control of his company, since German brass has decreed that individual mess halls be shut down. All companies in the area share the same “casino” or mess hall, which hampers Fritz’s ability to lead his unit. He tells Sophie about a debate he had with his Commanding Office and lieutenants from a nearby company. They argued that Nature is good. Fritz says that the primary law of Nature is self-preservation. In war, he writes Sophie, the strong win and the weak are eliminated. He finds that good. But: Fritz is staring down two issues. First, his most intelligent officer is going on leave to study, leaving Fritz shorthanded. Second, it has started to snow. Why this matters: * Willi Graf was certainly not a weak human being, certainly he was far more intelligent than the average German. Yet even he bought into Goebbels’ propaganda about Russians, failing to recognize the warlike tendencies of his own country. In 2024 and in our own country — whether that is the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, wherever you may live — it is far easier to recognize “warlike tendencies” of other nations, than it is to confront our own. * When I first worked through the 2005 edition of letters (Fritz Hartnagel and Sophie Scholl), the letter where Fritz argues a Darwinian view of Nature surprised me. It’s a shame Sophie’s letter in response did not survive, since she always argued an idealistic, naive view of Nature. Which side of that debate would you come down on? Why? White Rose History, Volume II, pages 224-227. Notes and references available only to paid subscribers. Note that I will “restack” these posts. If you wish to comment and are not a paid subscriber, you may do so when I restack. Thanks!

  2. 09/11/2024

    Chapter 18, part 3: Loosening a Stitch on the Eagle

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit deniseelaineheap.substack.com October 15 - October 17, 1942. Storybook: Sophie Scholl and Otl Aicher seem to operate on the same frequency. Their letters in mid-October 1942 independently express similar thoughts and desires. Sophie writes Fritz that he will surely breathe easier when everything is behind him. Hans Hirzel contacts Sophie once she is back in Ulm, asking about planned resistance activities. She tells him that a new leaflet will be drafted once ‘the boys’ are home. Hans Hirzel commits his support to their cause, but asks for two code phrases that can be transmitted by letter or phone should a dangerous situation arise. Sophie and Hans Hirzel settle on “Hans has a sore throat” as the first, and a reference to Gerhard Ritter’s Machtstaat und Utopie [Dictatorship and Utopia] as the second. Manfred Eickemeyer returns to Munich to check up on his studio. Everything is in order, just as he left it in July. He again leaves the second set of keys with Mr. Mayer, his super, and returns to Cracow. The brilliance of autumn enchant the soldier students. Willi Graf notes an optical illusion - the sun makes it appear that the villages and churches have moved closer together. Days in Sosnovka settle in to a comfortable routine of medical rounds, chores in the homes they are billeted on, and skat. When rain keeps them indoors, they drink coffee, play skat, and talk big. News that the start of the winter semester has been moved back, permitting them a real vacation once they are home, makes them all quite happy. Hans Scholl - still away from his friends on the front lines - writes a “sympathy” letter to his sister Inge. He does not mention Ernst Reden by name, but he tells Inge he’s there for her. His letter likely does not comfort Inge, since Hans dwells on a bizarrely negative view of autumn to ‘make her feel better.’ Inge is a terribly fearful person who is afraid of everything (according to Otl). Hans’ depressing words would not assuage her grief, but rather intensify it. According to a Page of Testimony in Yad Vashem’s registry, a Jewish man named Berul Fridyland died in mid-October in Sosnovka. His presence in the town, as well as his death, remain a White Rose mystery. Was he the silver-haired man with the carcinona? So much remains unknown… Hubert Furtwängler takes to his bed, ill. Nightly skat games continue without him. Willi Graf still loses. No reading or serious conversations. Skat rules! Why this matters: Focusing on a single topic here: Berul Fridyland and Sosnovka. Without Russian and military history scholars, it will be difficult to get a full picture of what “our” White Rose soldier students witnessed on the Russian front. Especially Willi Graf’s extended service in 1941 through April 1942, and Fritz Hartnagel’s deployment near Stalingrad, and Otl Aicher’s service in the Caucasus and near Baku. What did these young men see and experience? What of their correspondence and conversations are we missing? At this point, I would be happy if someone would locate the complete military records of Hans Scholl, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, Otl Aicher, Fritz Hartnagel, Hubert Furtwängler, Raimund Samüller, Franz Josef Müller, Heinrich Brenner, Rudi Alt, Adalbert Grundel, Wilhelm Geyer, Manfred Eickemeyer (Generalgouvernement), and Jürgen Wittenstein. The few pages we have from Willi Graf’s files are eye-opening. And it’s only three or four pages from how many dozen or hundred? Emphasizing this to say: It is almost silly to keep writing about White Rose topics unless and until archives are open. If you want to help us force some of these blocked or “missing” archives open, please contact me. The more of us working for the full story, on behalf of historical accuracy, the more effective we will be. We need grant writers, translators, project managers. And that’s just for starters. In the meantime, all we can do is speculate (which is hardly the optimal solution). In this case: Were our White Rose soldier students in the same Sosnovka where Rode Fridyland nee Epshtein sat shiva for her husband Berul? White Rose History, Volume II, pages 221-224. Notes and references available only to paid subscribers. Note that I will “restack” these posts. If you wish to comment and are not a paid subscriber, you may do so when I restack. Thanks!

  3. 09/10/2024

    Chapter 18, part 2: Loosening a Stitch on the Eagle

    October 14 - October 15, 1942. Storybook: Josef Söhngen receives Hans Scholl’s September 11 letter. Hans’ letter delights Söhngen so much that he immediately responds — on his personal stationery, not business! He is pleased that Hans opened up his inner being for Söhngen. Söhngen agrees to send Hans the Dostoevsky books he requested, but argues that the truly great Russian writers were Pushkin, Gogol, and Turgenev. He finds Russian literature too much of a “sinister puzzle.” Söhngen asks that when Hans is back in Munich, he will save an evening for him when they can discuss Russian literature. He also tells Hans Scholl that the September bombing raid damaged his store windows, and he has not been able to replace them yet. Wood covers the empty frames. And, he attended a Bach concert given by the great pianist Wilhelm Kempff, a concert Hans undoubtedly would have attended with Söhngen had he been in Munich. Söhngen concludes the letter by asking Hans to “tell the other two hello as well,” and Werner too, “if he will accept [his greetings].” Despite Söhngen’s extensive postwar explanations of this letter, he never said who the “other two” were, or why he doubted that Werner Scholl would accept his greetings. After the war, Söhngen said that their correspondence did not adequately portray how “warm” their friendship was. During interrogations, he claimed that he was only interested in Hans Scholl’s mind and did not know he was “sexually tainted” (gay). It’s not only likely, but probable, that Söhngen enjoyed Hans Scholl’s company because Hans was intellectual and gay. Meanwhile on the Russian front, Otl Aicher is diagnosed with jaundice. The front line doctors send him to a field hospital in the rear. Since Otl is ambulatory, he is pointed in the direction of the nearest railroad track and told to catch the first train heading west. In the middle of the season’s first snowstorm, a German locomotive materializes. Otl realizes that they will be transported to the rear in a boxcar that had recently delivered munitions to the front lines. Otl cannot sleep, so he watches for railroad station signs to mark their progress. Once he sees Armavir, he knows they are in Armenia, safely distant from Russian oilfields in Baku. He is still in the USSR, but feels oddly free - and human. He uses his pocketknife to loosen a stitch on the Nazi eagle that adorns his cap. Otl hopes that it will get loose enough to fall off - his heart needs a sign! Why this matters: There is no doubt that Josef Söhngen spoke the truth when he said that the surviving correspondence between him and Hans Scholl did not adequately convey the warmth of their “friendship.” As you will see in a later chapter, Hans Scholl’s final, loving words were for Josef Söhngen, not one of the many women whom Hans Scholl used as “beard,” and treated horrendously in so doing. The telling of true White Rose history has been hampered since 1945 by an older sister (Inge) who protected herself and her family from “scandal” by pretending that Hans’ final, loving words were for… which woman? She dangled that carrot on a very long stick, leading to decades-long speculation whether Hans meant Traute Lafrenz, Gisela Schertling, Rose Nägele, Ulla Borchert, or Ulla Claudias. Anything that put her or the Scholl family in bad light, or simply not in the spotlight!, was suppressed, unpublished. As Inge Jens noted - to me and to other researchers - Inge Scholl granted her access to less than 10% of Scholl archives, and only Inge’s typewritten transcriptions, not the originals. History cannot be accurately written where there in censorship. Josef Söhngen’s troublesome relationship with Hans Scholl should have been honestly addressed back when Inge wrote her very first book. “Troublesome relationship,” not because Hans was gay, and Söhngen’s other relationships were with similar “Section 175” young soldiers. “Troublesome” only because Hans Scholl jeopardized their operations with his relationship with Söhngen. As you have already seen in Chapter 3, and as you will continue to see in subsequent chapters, Söhngen associated with several young, gay soldiers who were ardent National Socialists. Gestapo Agent Schmauβ will later use Hans Scholl’s “Section 175” relationships to flip him on others in the White Rose, most notably Christoph Probst. Similarly, you will hear accusations of “Section 175” behavior when Söhngen is interrogated. Two very strong takeaways, if not three: * The genuine and deep love that Josef Söhngen and Hans Scholl had for one another will likely never be known, unless Söhngen’s love letters to Hans Scholl are in the blocked Scholl archives. Because Söhngen destroyed all but the most innocuous letter from Hans to himself, in advance of his interrogation. * Sometimes histories can only be told truthfully once family members die off. It’s a two-edged sword. On the one hand, we lose access to their memories after their deaths, memories that can explain and interpret incidents we don’t understand. On the other hand, they can no longer be “embarrassed” by a relative’s sexuality or addictions or fatal flaws. We as historians are then freer to write the truth. * The third point: Often when I am reading correspondence by and between Hans Scholl and his “lovers,” I tend to read a bit jaded. Because Hans could be so very shallow. Especially his letters to Rose Nägele can be sickening. He is trying to hard to “be” heterosexual, while also abusing and misusing the love entrusted to him by his “beards.” When reading this segment aloud, the first take had that same cynical approach to Söhngen’s almost-love letter to Hans Scholl. When listening to it before posting, I was ashamed of myself for treating Söhngen the same way I treated the women Hans hid behind. Because Hans Scholl did in fact love Josef Söhngen. It was complicated, it was messy, but it was real. So I re-recorded, and this time without cynicism, but recognizing the deep emotions that Söhngen felt for Hans, masked by convention and fear of concentration camp. I hope the change in voice comes through. White Rose History, Volume II, pages 219-221. This post is free to all readers, because the topic of Hans Scholl’s relationship with Josef Söhngen is too important to put behind a paywall. Notes and references Josef Söhngen’s letter to Hans Scholl:  One odd thing about Söhngen’s letter to Hans Scholl: He combined formal ‘You’ (Sie) with use of Hans’ first name, something rarely done even in 21st century Germany, and certainly not common in 1942. Even Carl Muth called Hans “Mr. Scholl” and addressed him as “Sie.” Despite the use of formal address, the letter has a very intimate tone. Another oddity in the letter – Söhngen wrote, “I will gladly send you Dostoevsky, since that is what you wish; if it were my choice, I would not have done so, because I do not love him. There are greater masters among the Russians.” He literally said, “weil ich ihn nicht liebe” (emphasis mine), a turn of phrase one associates with a younger reader and not a 48-year-old seller of books. One paragraph in Söhngen’s letter is so tortuous in its pseudo-theological-philosophical construction that I include it in its entirety here. I became aware of something when I reread your letter so often; it became blissfully clear that for you this time will be one of great long-term profit. A law of physics states that no energy is ever lost. Emotional energy is also never lost. The path out of this chaos will end in a different plane than the one that we abandoned in olden times. We will never be able to re-stitch the threads that have been torn. Rather we will once again find ourselves in a situation that has been changed at its very core. We will need a living, inner strength to master this life. The only source of this strength – one we can call by name – is inclination (*) to God, the objective of a true Christendom. That is still quite distant, not in the sense of plain chronology. But it is still distant because the bitterness, the inner distress, and the worries about other, dear people have their own more difficult, more harried, more tormenting measure of time. The asterisk: Söhngen wrote inclination, not worship as one would expect in that context. In Söhngen’s postwar narrative, he claimed that he could not understand why the Gestapo thought the sentence about “the path out of this chaos” referred to something political, because it was (according to Söhngen) followed by “an addendum” (his word) about “inclination to God.” It is almost as if he reconstructed the paragraph in his mind. As you will see in later chapters, Söhngen initially claimed he had destroyed Hans’ letters. When the Gestapo pressed the point about a political connection to Hans Scholl, he miraculously produced two of at least three he had in his possession. The Gestapo concluded theirs was nothing more than a homosexual liaison. Otherwise, they would have treated Söhngen far more harshly. Use of personal stationery, instead of business, would undercut Söhngen’s claim that Hans Scholl was just another customer. * Wilhelm Kempff: Rare Recordings (1936-1945). From the collections of Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv and Norddeutscher Rundfunk. The link takes you to the same recording as is in the body of this post. But searching for +Wilhelm Kempff and +Bach on YouTube will yield many, many more such recordings. * Zavrel, B. John. “The Pianist Wilhelm Kempff is Dead.” In Prometheus: Internet Bulletin for Art, Politics, and Science, May 24, 1992. Clarence, NY: West-Art, 1991. Retrieved from www.meaus.com/KEMPFF.html. * Third White Rose Trial: July 13, 1943. October 14, 1942 letter from Josef Söhngen to Hans Scholl; Josef Söhngen’s post-war narrative; initial inter

  4. 09/09/2024

    Chapter 18, part 1: Loosening a Stitch on the Eagle

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit deniseelaineheap.substack.com October 10 - October 13, 1942. Storybook: Sophie Scholl goes into town, taking a short break from helping Dr. Muth store his books. She visits Josef Söhngen, who expresses his disappointment that Hans has not written him yet. Sophie defends Hans by saying that he writes very little. She tells Söhngen that her father has been granted early release — October 25 — but does not go into much detail, since she does not know Söhngen well. Hans and Werner have not yet received the news about their father’s early release. Hans was close enough to Gzhatsk — although not at HVP Plankenhorn — to visit Werner. They spend a few enjoyable hours together. Sunday October 11, 1942, Willi Graf knows the rare treat of attending Mass, celebrated in a storage shed that doubles as chapel. When he makes his rounds later that day, he encounters his first terminally ill patient. A Russian farmer has un untreatable carcinoma between his jaw and neck. Willi feels helpless, not knowing what to say to the man. Willi attends another “community dance” in Sosnovka, merely observing. Monday, the soldier students play skat all day, stopping only for rounds and supper. Willi says he always loses, and he cannot believe how enthusiastically Hubert plays. Laughter among friends! While Hans Scholl is reading a book about the persecution of Christians, Willi chooses lighter fare. He sets Balzac aside and takes up Bjørnsterne Bjørnson’s Arne and Stifter’s Hochwald [High Country Forest]. The latter reflects Stifter’s obsession with the relationship between God, Nature, and mankind. Hans finally hears about his father’s early release and immediately writes a letter home. He tells them he can hardly wait to see them again, and that they will be leaving in two weeks. Wednesday, October 13, Willi surprises himself by attending an illegal dance held at a Russian farmhouse. He is the only German present - no Hubert, no Alex, no Hans. Just Willi. Initially he feels uncomfortable, since he cannot make himself understood, and no one pays attention to him. But he is inspired with the way young people stick together. He notes in his diary that it’s forbidden for Russian youth to meet in the evening outside one’s own house, but that the next day, everyone will simply deny they were there. “Excellent!” Why this matters: * What a person reads — or in our era, watches on TV or doomscrolls on social media — affects our outlook more than we care to admit. Once Willi Graf put down the Balzac volume with its doom and gloom and pessimistic outlook, and took up Stifter’s Austrian obsession with the beauty of nature, his mindset changed. There’s time and place for everything. But when faced with impossible and overwhelming circumstances, often it helps if we take a step back. Read something uplifting. Play cards with friends. Go to a dance. It’s not a matter of becoming an ostrich with our head in the sand, but rather of keeping our balance and perspective. We’re not good to anyone - much less serious causes on behalf of social justice - if we are eternally down in the dumps. Sunshine, fresh air, and upbeat friends — those are vitamins that strengthen us beyond belief. * One year to the day after the wonderful skat game with Willi losing and Hubert winning, with so much laughter between good friends, Willi Graf would be executed. Nothing in life is guaranteed. For what it’s worth, the visual of Willi and Hubert playing skat on the Russian front is one of my favorites. Nothing heroic about it. But without this firm foundation, they would not have had the strength to carry on. With my canasta-playing friends, we would play twelve hours at a time. I can still hear John saying, “Don’t let Randy pick up the pall [pile]!” Lots of laughter, but serious conversation mixed in. The laughter was the glue that made the serious stuff stick. With Willi and Hubert, it would have been, You shouldn’t have played your Jack there! or, So you won the hand, but at least it wasn’t Schneider! That camaraderie woudl carry them over into the dark days of winter, with serious conversations after Bach Chorale or over a glass of wine. Friendsthips matter. White Rose History, Volume II, pages 217-219. Notes and references available only to paid subscribers.

  5. 09/06/2024

    Chapter 17, part 5: Vast Skies and Song

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit deniseelaineheap.substack.com October 3 - October 10, 1942. Storybook: Sophie Scholl goes to the Schmorells’ home in Harlaching under the pretense of looking for a book in Schurik’s room. The words she had written the previous day come back to haunt her, thoughts of not being able to love and not being loved. She chides herself for thinking she loved Alex for any reason other than that she “wanted to possess a person who was worth something in the estimation of others.” Sophie falls once again into deep melancholy. That evening, she sits in Carl Muth’s backyard, admiring the red dahlias against the white garden gate, the green and orange foliage, and golden sunshine. But even those considerations turn into apocalyptic visions, with mankind and gunfire and blasphemy trying to drown out God and nature and songs of praise. She says, “I will try to take the winning side.” 2007 update Alexander Schmorell tells Angelika Probst about Willi Graf, describing him as a fellow medical student and a kindred spirit. Sophie sends Fritz Hartnagel a package of cookies, a copy of Augustine’s Confessions, and a letter. He says he is trying not to eat all the cookies in one sitting, but he already has a copy of Confessions, and he has told her so. Seemingly worried about offending Sophie, Fritz adds, “But you could not have known that.” German higher-ups assure Fritz Hartnagel yet again that he and his company will be wintering at their current location near the Don River, where they have constructed permanent bunkers. Fritz is worried, because the men who have been granted leave to go home on furlough are not returning. In addition, the river of refugees is no longer near Stalingrad. They are everywhere, starving and ragged. Overnight, Fritz and his company are ordered to a position closer to Stalingrad. They must take ‘shelter’ in a gully carved out by spring melt. They have no roof over their heads, and no construction materials, no tools. And no way to acquire any. Fritz is despairing and tells Sophie he is having a hard time concentrating enough to write her a coherent letter. Why this matters: As seen in an earlier segment, and especially here, men on the front lines were in fact telling their friends and family back home about conditions they were facing. The outcome at Stalingrad could not have been a surprise to most Germans. Officially, defeat would not come until the end of January 1943. But letters like these painted a grim picture for those on the home front. The issue of refugees - which Fritz Hartnagel depicts in detail on multiple occasions for the Scholls - like the military situation, was not hidden from German civilians. It’s almost as if the closer the German military came to losing the war, the more violence and destruction they were committed to inflicting on civilians and on their own soldiers. The parallels do not need further explanation. White Rose History, Volume II, pages 214-216. Notes and references available only to paid subscribers.

  6. 09/05/2024

    Chapter 17, part 4: Vast Skies and Song

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit deniseelaineheap.substack.com October 7 - October 9, 1942. Storybook: Weather in Sosnovka turns stormy, fickle, drawing Willi Graf outdoors. Clouds, sunshine, windstorm, all make Willi wish he could strike out on a long, unconstrained walk. Hubert, Alex, and Willi enjoy their time in Sosnovka together. In addition to the serious dialog that binds them close, they are also infected with “skat fever,” playing cards until late in the night. Even later the same night, they attend a dance party at Sina’s home. Sina is a Russian girl who can speak a little German. The soldier students witness a dance-off between two girls. It is a night to remember! Neither the soldier students nor the townspeople consider the consequences of socializing with the “enemy.” In Saarbrücken, a single British Mosquito takes out a Mannesmann pipe factory. This air raid is not designed to terrorize the populace. It’s a strategic military strike. Evenings in Sosnovka continue with skat games, dancing at Sina’s, and serious conversation. Willi Graf especially is reveling in the camaraderie and friendship he is experiencing. In contrast, Hans Scholl is alone, isolated. He writes Otl about his new self-awareness, once again missing the mark as he tells his younger friend about his inner feelings. However, Hans Scholl correctly understands that he is not the same person he was in July, that Russia has changed him. Hans tells Otl he wishes he could strike out across Russia into China, alone and with nothing. But he is too much of a European. He says that “he and the West should not lose touch.” Sophie writes Otl the same day. She is working through Theodor Haecker’s Schöpfer und Schöpfung [Creator and Creation], bothered by Haecker’s theodicy. Haecker writes, “A theodicy which fails to perceive that all tragedy is resolved not only in heaven and eternal salvation, but in hell and eternal damnation, has justified nothingness, not God.” She thinks that sounds nice, but she cannot agree with it. Haecker’s statement reminds Sophie of a sentence from George Bernanos’ Diary of a Country Priest, a sentence that had likewise seemed off target. “Eternal damnation is the inability to love any more.” Sophie muses to Otl that she thinks eternal damnation may actually be the inability to be loved. This crisis follows Sophie to her death. She breaks down her arguments against both Haecker and Bernanos’ statements for Otl, focusing especially on the image of Lazarus forbidding a drop of water to the rich man in hell. Couldn’t Lazarus hear the rich man? Who would deny a drop of water to another? Sophie Scholl cannot accept this. Sophie concludes her letter with a question for Otl, knowing that he will not ridicule her or respond with condescension. “Why should I doubt a truth simply because it is hidden from me?” Why this matters: * This is the Sophie Scholl that is obscured by senseless hero worship. Where Hans Scholl will agree with whomever he’s talking to, and Inge will equivocate to retain position, and Dr. Muth will pontificate, answering questions like Sophie’s with oppressive sermons, Sophie thinks through pious statements like Haecker’s. She cuts to the chase, so to speak. You will see this again in December 1942, when she’s thinking through Leibniz’s theodicy. While Hans wants to make it make sense, she recognizes that if A is true and B is true and C is true, you don’t have to find a way to make A = B = C. Those truths can exist independently of one another. I love and respect this Sophie Scholl, the real person. Even more than I hate the caricature that she has become through films and sycophantic books. This Sophie Scholl matters. * In many ways, White Rose resistance strengthened and found its resolve right there in Sosnovka. When Willi, Hubert, and Alex spent evenings with Russian civilians, they could have been court-martialed and executed for doing so. Their ambivalence to consequences of disregarding Nazi prejudice and hate-filled thought? One of the most beautiful threads in White Rose history. We often look for the BIG POWERFUL AMAZING things as evidence of tikkun olam, of repairing the world. When sometimes the best tikkun olam comes from dancing with civilians. White Rose History, Volume II, pages 212-214. Notes and references available only to paid subscribers.

  7. 09/04/2024

    Chapter 17, part 3: Vast Skies and Song

    October 4 - October 7, 1942. Storybook: Prison officials notify Magdalena Scholl that her husband has lost his right to receive the Frankfurter Zeitung. Inge Scholl has broken prison rules with her sloppy penmanship. Prison censors can no longer dedicate extra time to deciphering her letters. Mrs. Scholl reacts with strong words defending her husband’s rights, stating that Robert Scholl should not be penalized for Inge’s infractions. She claims he has been a model prisoner, just as he had been a model Beamter or civil servant. Clearly, Hans, Sophie, Werner, and Lisl were the only Scholls who had comprehended the magnitude of National Socialist disdain for the rule of law by October 1942. The remainder of the family seemed to be stuck in denial, because their actions demonstrated that they still thought knowing the right people and not being Jewish (and not associating with those who were) would suffice to keep them afloat in a corrupt society. At the same time, the courts are processing all four clemency petitions submitted on behalf of Robert Scholl - clemency petitions from Mrs. Scholl, Hans Scholl, Werner Scholl, and Fritz Hartnagel. Although Werner knows his brother is no longer at HVP Plankenhorn, he drops by the HVP to talk with Willi Graf. They - perhaps with Alex and Hubert - take a long walk, hugging the edge of the forest for safety, enjoying the sunset. That evening, the soldier students - including Werner Scholl - visit Russian POWs in their barracks. The Russian soldiers sing songs of their homeland, which Willi finds “awesome.” Early the next morning, Hubert, Alex, and Willi pack their things. They clamber aboard a horse-drawn cart, taking them to their next assignment in Sosnovka. When it gets too cold, Willi walks beside the cart. The 24-mile trip takes four hours, but the friends do not mind. The vastness of the landscape calms them. In Sosnovka, they are billeted on families, not housed in bunkers. Houses are situated far apart on a knoll. Apparently there is a small Jewish community hanging on by a thread in this town. The soldier students are surprised to learn that they will also be caring for the civilian population, not just wounded soldiers. Willi uses his first day of “official” rounds, visiting patients, to get to know the town. He realizes he could get used to this, with vast skies, and villages on every little knoll. The evening of their first full day, Willi Graf receives two discomforting letters. The first one includes the death notice for Hans Lieverscheidt, an old and cherished friend from his days at the university in Bonn. “I cannot comprehend it,” Willi tells his diary. Second, Anneliese seems to be waffling regarding her studies during the winter semester. Willi knows she would be crazy to pass up the opportunity to study in Geneva - and get out of Germany! - but now it sounds like she’s going to be in Munich instead. He dislikes indecision. Why this matters: Every time I read this section, and the primary source documents that support it, I am disgusted all over again by Robert, Magdalena, and Inge Scholl. It’s galling to see Mrs. Scholl defending her husband’s “rights” to receive his damn newspaper, when those three Scholls had no problem whatever with their Jewish friends and neighbors losing far more basic and fundamental rights. If any of those three Scholls had ever taken a stand on behalf of the six Jewish families in their apartment building on Adolf-Hitler-Ring; if any of those Scholls had ever protested the loss of livelihood of Robert Scholl’s fellow CPAs in Ulm, a loss just because they were Jewish; if any Scholl had ever taken a principled stand when a German neighbor was publicly shorn for having slept with a non-Aryan man, or when the Rebbe in Ulm was beaten nearly to a pulp, or when… But they did not. However, Mrs. Scholl could sure get irate when her husband’s newspaper subscription was denied him while he was in jail (not prison, jail). Those rights were worth fighting for. And yet: We do the same thing in 2024. Regardless of political stripe, our personal rights are far more important to us than the rights of our neighbors and fellow citizens and immigrants and strangers among us. We sure as hell will protest when our property taxes go up, or when a factory in our town closes, or when our kids are cut from a school’s sports team. Meanwhile, much greater injustices go unprotested. We are not any better than Robert, Magdalena, and Inge Scholl. I am not any better than Robert, Magdalena, and Inge Scholl. This particular post, comment section, and podcast (audiobook) segment are all free. Because this topic is far too important to put behind a paywall. Please share with your friends and colleagues. White Rose History, Volume II, pages 210-212. Notes and references Home front: Inge Scholl’s illegible letters were not included in the Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg file. * Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg, E3569, Vol. 4325. 10/5/42 letter from Ulm prison to Lina (Magdalena) Scholl; 10/7/1942 letter from Lina Scholl to prison officials. Publication in 2025/2026. * Stadtarchiv Nürnberg, KV-Prozesse, Fall 3. 3282. 10/7/1942 letter from Lina Scholl to prison officials; 10/21/42 letter from attorney general to prison officials in re Robert Scholl. Publication in 2025/2026. Russian front: Willi Graf’s word translated here as “awesome” was ungeheuer, even stronger. Regarding Jewish residents of Sosnovka in October 1942: I ran across this phenomenon in 1999, quite by accident, looking up Jenny Grimminger nee Stern’s record in Yad Vashem’s database. A family named Stern survived in Sosnovka until March 1943, when they were sent to Auschwitz. Fortunately for the memories of those who died in the Shoah, and unfortunately for my bibliography, so many “Stern” individuals have been added to Yad Vashem’s database that I could not re-retrieve that particular record. However, both Aron Dozortzev and Berul Fridyland were still living in Sosnovka when the White Rose soldier students arrived there. For anyone interested in pursuing this thread: Note that there is a Sosnovka in Poland as well, which should not be confused with Sosnovka in Russia. Also, before anything can be stated emphatically, this subject requires more research! If you do decide to follow this rabbit hole, the first matter of business will be determining correct orthography. It’s “easy” enough to determine where the White Rose friends were stationed. But I’ve seen the town written as Sosnówka, Sosnovo, Sosnivka, Sosnovka, Sosonovka, and sometimes with one or both of the s’s doubled (e.g. Ssossonovka). In 2002, Internet standardization of the Russian orthography was Sosonovka. In 2024, it’s Sosnovka. To get an idea of the issue faced now, check out the Wikipedia list of all Sosnovkas in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Kyrgyzstan, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, the Chuvash Republic, Kaliningrad, Republic of Karelia, Mari El Republic, Republic of Mordovia, Sakha Republic, Republic of Tatarstan, Tuva Republic, Udmurt Republic, and dozens of Oblasts and Krais in Russia. * Jens, Inge (Ed.). At the Heart of the White Rose: Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl. Translation by J. Maxwell Brownjohn. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1987. * Knoop-Graf, Anneliese and Jens, Inge (Eds.). Willi Graf: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH, 1994. * Yad Vashem, The Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, retrieved from www.yadvashem.org. Errata to auto-generated transcript: She further insisted that Robert Scholl was a model prisoner, just as he had been a model civil servant (ignoring his status as CPA to Nazi stars and playing on the sympathy of prison officials who were also civil servants). “He will perform all tasks assigned to him with his usual punctuality, expert knowledge, and with diligence. We were also always careful to conscientiously follow prison rules.” — Italicized portion omitted from transcript. Podcast © 2024 Denise Elaine Heap. White Rose History, Volume II, Chapter 17, © 2002 Denise Elaine Heap and Exclamation! Publishers. Please contact us for permission to quote. This podcast is a project of WHY THIS MATTERS, a newsletter of Center for White Rose Studies, that explores the reasons that voices silenced more than eighty years ago still speak to us today. To order digital version of White Rose History, Volume II, click here. Digital version of White Rose History, Volume I is available here. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit deniseelaineheap.substack.com/subscribe

  8. 09/03/2024

    Chapter 17, part 2: Vast Skies and Song

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit deniseelaineheap.substack.com October 2 - October 4, 1942. Storybook: Willi Graf and Hubert Furt­wängler say their goodbyes to people on the front lines. They enjoy the “stroll” through birch forests back to their home at HVP Plankenhorn. The reunion with Alexander Schmorell delights the two soldier students. They are happy to catch up on Schurik’s news. Alex also leads them on an exhibition into town, serving as interpreter as they visit Russian friends in their homes. Willi notes that Alex cannot be distracted, so he does not understand much of the conversation. But he is touched by the magnificent people Alex brings into their lives. They even drink real milk at “the milkman’s” home! The scene in the humble dwelling, Alex talking a hundred miles an hour in Russian, Willi (and possibly Hubert) struggling to keep up, trying to get their interpreter to catch his breath once in a while – it is so refreshingly natural in the middle of an unnatural war. That evening, the friends drink “a little alcohol,” singing songs and swapping stories. Willi enjoys the feeling of being among real friends. Hans Scholl now faces the same isolation on the front lines that Hubert and Willi had just left. He takes the cholera vaccine to a unit even closer to the front. He dislikes the task, until he’s out in the sunny autumn day. He understands he will be homesick for Russia when he is back in Germany. Sophie Scholl picks apples from the Hirzels’ garden, chattering with Susanne about Dr. Muth, Alex, and Professor Huber’s Leibniz lectures. Susanne sees the old Sophie, the Sophie she loves, the person brimming with positive energy. But when Susanne’s brother Hans tells her about White Rose leaflets, Susanne immediately knows who is behind them. The news troubles her. She warns her younger brother that he should not get involved with the Scholls’ work. Sophie and Elisabeth Scholl arrive in Munich with the precious apples. They are unprepared for the devastation of Carl Muth’s home. They must tackle rubble in order to clear his space. The two women haul heavy loads of books from second-floor bookshelves down to Muth’s cellar. He also asks them to store Werner Bergengruen’s manuscripts in his automobile, which is up on blocks in his garage to prevent Nazis from taking it. Elisabeth returns home after a few days, as she is using her entire vacation to help Dr. Muth. Sophie stays a full ten days, doing what she can to assist Carl Muth in restoring order to his home. Why this matters: * Sophie Scholl is a complex human being. She can go from being upbeat, positive, chattering about happy things, to gloom and doom. Almost turning on a dime. When we write our histories - whether White Rose, Civil War, American Revolution, British monarchy, or Black history in the US - we must take care to let our heroes (and villains) be human. No one is one- or two-dimensional. If we let them be who they were, not who we wish for them to have been, we can better understand their era and their deeds. White Rose History, Volume II, pages 208-210. Notes and references available only to paid subscribers.

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Reading White Rose histories aloud, 10 minutes at a time. Starting in media res, with Volume II. deniseelaineheap.substack.com

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  • Creator
    Denise Elaine Heap
  • Years Active
    2024
  • Episodes
    86
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Denise Elaine Heap
  • Show Website
    White Rose Histories