Hans Scholl re 666

With regards to the envelope addressed to me, postmarked Bonn April 7, 1942 – on the back side of the envelope the ABCs, and then under that various numbers – this has to do with a stupid and superficial joke, one that has appeared many times in the history of the world.

It is well-known that in the apocalypse there is talk of the number 666. Harmless spirits have repeatedly tried to pin this number on various persons. It is well-known that the names of the emperor Nero and various popes have been mentioned in connection with this.

Recently, there have been attempts to link this number to Hitler’s name, namely in the following manner: Under each letter of the alphabet, one writes the corresponding number, beginning with A equaling 100. I and J must be listed separately [Note 1], otherwise this does not work.

If you then add up the values of all the letters in the word Hitler, you arrive at the sum of 666. I think this is a silly joke and stupid. Some colleague or the other told me about that number game. I have never made any propaganda using it. I also do not know who could have done so.

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Note 1: In the 1940s, upper case I was still written and typed with a J (old linguistics usage), although lower case “i” and j were not the same.

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Source: Hans Scholl’s fifth interrogation, February 21, 1943