Leaving for the university

I made tea for us at home, then we left our apartment around 10:30 a.m. …

As my brother and I were leaving our apartment around 10:30 am, the mailbox was most certainly empty, because I had emptied it myself only an hour earlier. After emptying the mailbox, I locked it back up and hung the mailbox key on a nail inside the glass enclosure between the coat rack and the glass enclosure. Other keys hang on the same nail.

When we left the house at 10:30 am, my brother and I left the apartment together. While my brother was locking the door to the apartment, I waited for him either in the foyer or at the front door.

The house’s mailbox has a small glass window on the back side. Therefore whenever there is mail inside it, it is visible from outside the mailbox. When my brother and I left the house together at the stated time, the mailbox was most certainly empty, because I would have noticed had there been mail inside.

Question: Who carried the suitcase from the time you left the apartment until you were apprehended?

Answer: To the best of my knowledge, from the time we left the apartment until right before we were in front of the university building, my brother was carrying the suitcase. Once inside the building, we took turns carrying the suitcase. I do not know what else I can say. …

Question: There is therefore no doubt that when you left your apartment this morning, you waited by the front door of the garden house while your brother locked the door to your apartment. Nevertheless, you would have been able to see had additional mail landed in your mailbox, or rather if your brother had retrieved anything from the mailbox.

Answer: I can only repeat that I did not see any additional mail in the mailbox. If my brother had taken anything out of the mailbox at that time, I most certainly would have noticed it, if for no other reason than that he would have had to retrieve the key from behind the foyer door so he could unlock the mailbox. In addition, I would have wanted to know what kind of mail it was, whether it could have been addressed to me. As we were walking away from the garden house together, my brother most certainly was not opening or reading a letter as far as I remember [Note 1]. If that had been the case, I would have seen it.

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Note 1: This was added in Sophie Scholl’s handwriting.

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Source: First interrogation of Sophie Scholl, February 18, 1943