Hans Scholl narration re apprehension by Schmid

Question: Where were you, when you were detained by a university employee?

Answer: At that time, I was on the third floor, namely in the left corridor seen from the entrance on Ludwig Street, therefore in the southwest section of the university. I do not know if the Romance [Neo-Latin] Institute is located near that site. …

Note: Scholl’s statements in which he claims to have seen the leaflets for the first time on the second floor stairs are contradicted by the statements of Jakob Schmied (sic). Schmied encountered Scholl and his sister immediately after the leaflets were thrown from the third floor. Scholl was confronted with this fact repeatedly. His explanation thereto:

Answer: After I saw the leaflets on the stairs to the second floor from the Amalien Street entrance, my sister and I wandered around the university. Out of boredom, we dawdled around on the third floor. From the moment I first saw the leaflets till I was detained by Schmied, about ten minutes elapsed. I was waiting the whole time till the lecture in the philosophical institute lecture hall – presumably Room 201 – finished, because I was waiting for Miss Schertling. …

Question: Did you see leaflets in any other place inside the university today?

Answer: Yes. Namely on the balustrade on the third floor, near the columns of the stairwell. As I was passing this point, I noticed a stack [of leaflets] about 15 cm [6”] high. After I had gone another 5 meters [15.5’], I suddenly heard a loud crash, which obviously resulted from the fall and impact of the leaflets in the Lichthof. In my opinion, some person must have thrown a stack of leaflets over the balustrade at exactly that moment. I did not do this.

I do not know if my sister threw this stack of leaflets. In any case, I did not observe who did. If she is indeed the person who did this, I could completely understand it. This sort of practical joke is typical of her personality.

I did not have a chance to ask my sister about it, because the maintenance man Jakob Schmied showed up immediately thereafter and announced that I was being apprehended. He did this, by the way, only after an exchange of words. Schmied likely reported my statements correctly, though it is possible I said even more [than he reported]. At the same time I fleetingly observed two girls standing opposite me; I do not know them at all. They were probably female students. I do not know which lecture they had attended.

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Note: As with other sections of these earlier interrogations, these answers were primarily geared to obfuscate. Nevertheless, included here as part of the big picture.-Ed.

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Source: Hans Scholl’s second interrogation, February 18, 1943