Alexander Schmorell interrogation (March 18, 1943)

II A/So. [Special Commission] – Munich, March 18, 1943

Interrogation.

Led forth from prison, Alexander Schmorell (personal data known) made the following statements:

When I am asked this day which backers [Note 1] induced Hans Scholl and me to commence our treasonous operation or financed our undertaking, I can give no additional leads. I know absolutely nothing about Ernst Reden, Georg von Schweinitz, a [Hitler Youth] district leader named Rieke, Günther Eten, or someone named Tusk. I have never even heard Hans Scholl speak their names.

He also never mentioned having formed a “League of the Few” in Ulm, or having belonged to such a league. Scholl only told me that back then he had belonged to a “bündische organization”. I was not informed regarding the goals of this “bündische organization”. I also have no knowledge of Scholl’s having received money or instructions regarding a treasonous leaflet operation from abroad. I am therefore convinced that Scholl acted as he did for the same reasons I have given for my actions, without any foreign influence.

I have never heard about Lieutenant Scheringer. (In question is former Lieutenant and current gentleman farmer named Richard Scheringer, born September 13, 1904 in Aachen, residing in Dürnhof, borough of Kösching, near Ingolstadt.) Scholl never told me anything about this man. Therefore I must state that this Scheringer has nothing to do with our leaflet operation. A family in Ulm named Heisch is completely unknown to me.

Question: Do you know a director of Trumpf Chocolate Factory in the Rhineland and what connection you and Hans Scholl maintained with him?

Answer: This director is my uncle in Aachen named Franz Monheim. He is the owner of Trumpf Chocolate Factory there. Monheim’s wife is a sister of my stepmother Elisabeth Hoffmann. I myself have never been to Aachen to visit this family. In contrast, the Monheim family visited us repeatedly in Munich.

I know this family only from their visits. They are certainly not Jewish.

If the Monheim family (residing at Nizzaallee 46, Aachen) received a copy of the “White Rose” leaflet in the summer of 1942, then I was the person who sent it. I told Hans Scholl about this.

The last time Mrs. Ella Monheim came to visit us in Munich was over Christmas 1942. While she was here, she told us that she had received a treasonous leaflet in the summer of 1942 and that she herself had handed it over to the State Police, because she was not at all in agreement with its contents. Under the circumstances it is therefore understandable that I strictly avoided telling her that I had anything to do with the publication and distribution of this leaflet. In this manner, the existence of this leaflet did not instigate any additional conversations at our house.

Additionally, I do not know and do not believe that Hans Scholl would have visited my relatives in Aachen. I myself had nothing to do with such a visit. It is incomprehensible to me how Scholl could have come up with the idea of jabbering about my relatives in Aachen. The additional statement that a maid or some other person passed the “White Rose” leaflet along to a coat-check girl so she could stick it in the pockets of theater-goers: I believe that is incorrect. I know nothing about that and expressly declare that back then, I sent only one copy of the “White Rose” leaflet to Aachen.

I know nothing about the book or rather about the writer named Gerhard Ritter in Freiburg. I have no knowledge of the fact that Hans Scholl wished to recruit this man for our cause or that he visited him in Freiburg. Back then, I traveled with Hans Scholl from Ulm to Stuttgart to look up Grimminger, whom I have already mentioned. We did not try to recruit any other persons for our cause.

I also do not believe that Hans Scholl went on any trips behind my back. My uncle Franz Monheim is a wealthy man. But he was not initiated into our plans and therefore it is out of the question that he could potentially be seen as a financier.

I am certain that I did not tell Hans Scholl anything about my uncle’s political leanings. I could not have done so, because I do not know what they are, because I have never had the opportunity to question my uncle along these lines. Therefore I know nothing [of the fact] that my relatives (Monheim) in Aachen exhibit [signs of] political opposition.

When these people visited us in Munich, we almost never talked about politics. At home, I personally have guarded against speaking about my derogatory opinion of the State or my activities. That is why my parents had no idea about my criminal actions. If the informant repeatedly mentioned the city Bonn/Rhine, he probably meant to say Aachen. It was a simple mix-up.

I cannot name any persons or agencies who funded or financed the criminal activities of Scholl and me.

Recorded by: /Signature: Schmauß/ Crim. Secr.

Read aloud and signed by: /Signature: Alexander Schmorell/

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Note 1: Hintermänner, or backers, supporters, and instigators.

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Source: RGWA (39 – 40)