First interrogation of Manfred Eickemeyer
Secret State Police [Gestapo]
State Police Headquarters Munich
Fingerprint taken*): [blank]
Fingerprint not necessary *): [blank]
Personal data has – not – been determined *) [blank]
Date: [blank]
Name: [blank]
Office Ref: [blank]
Bureau: [blank]
*) Cross out whatever is not applicable.
IIA Sond./Sch. [Schmauss] (Bureau of the official carrying out the interrogation)
Munich, April 6, 1943
The following voluntarily appeared – was brought in [for questioning]: The Person Named Below and gave the following statement, after having been instructed to tell the truth:
I. Regarding his personal data
1a) Family name, including additional designations [Note 1] (for women, also maiden name, or if appropriate, name of previous husbands): Eickemeyer.
1b) Given names: Manfred.
2a) Occupation. The following information shall be given: Whether owner, Master Craftsman, business manager or assistant, journeyman, apprentice, factory worker, office clerk, sales woman, etc.; for married women, the occupation of their husband; for minors who are not employed, the occupation of their parents; for civil servants and government employees, the exact address of their bureau; for university students, the address of the university and major; for those who have earned academic honors (M.Eng., Dr., PhD), when and where the title was obtained. Architect and artist [Note 2].
2b) Income. 12,000 RM [$96,000] annually.
2c) Unemployed? If so, since when. —
3) Born on October 30, 1903 in Berlin-Tempelhof. Administrative region: Berlin-Tempelhof. Upper district court of [blank]. State: [blank].
4) Residence or most recent domicile in Cracow. Administrative region: [blank]. State: [blank]. Johanisgasse 3/III. Telephone number: 11923.
5) Citizenship: German Reich. Citizen of the Reich? Yes.
6a) Religion (including prior) Roman Catholic. 1) Member of a religious community or a philosophical society? If yes, which one. [blank] 2) Theist: Yes or No [blank] 3) Agnostic: Yes or No [blank].
6b) Are the parents of German blood? Yes. Are the grandparents of German blood? Yes.
7a) Marriage status (single – married – widowed – divorced – separated): Single.
7b) First and last name of spouse (for women, include maiden name): —
7c) Residence of spouse (if different residence): [blank]
7d) Are or were the parents – grandparents – of the spouse of German blood? [blank]
8) Children: Legitimate: a) Number: — b) Ages: [blank] Illegitimate: a) Number: — b) Ages: [blank].
9a) First and last name of father: Karl Eickemeyer (deceased [Note 3]), Chief Engineer, last residence: Munich. Occupation and residence: [blank].
9b) First and maiden name of mother: Magdalena nee Pölt (deceased), last residence: Pöcking near Starnberg. Occupation and residence: [blank].
(This information should be provided even if parents are deceased.)
10) First and last name, occupation, and residence of guardian or trustee: -.
11a) Passport was issued by the Police Chief in Munich, on October 23, 1940, No. 11130.
11b) Permission to drive a motor vehicle – motorcycle – was granted by the municipal government official of Cracow on February 28, 1942. Number F 1842 for Class III.
11c) Peddler’s license was issued by -.
11d) Identity card in accordance with § 44a of the commercial code was issued: -.
11e) Hunting license was issued by -.
11f) Master Mariner’s Certificate or Pilot’s License was issued on -.
11g) Subsidy certification (civil service subsidy certification) was issued by -. Pension decision: -. Social security offices?
11h) Other forms of identification? [blank].
12a) Has this person been chosen or selected as a juror [Note 4] for this or the next electoral period? By which panel (§ 40 GDG)? –.
12b) Mediator (commercial, labor) or committee member of a social disciplinary court?. [blank]
12c) Guardian or trustee for anyone else? If so, whom?. [blank]. Which Court of Chancery?. [blank]
13) Membership in a division of the Reich Chamber of Culture (exact description)? Reich Chamber of Fine Arts [Note 5] since 1933.
14) Membership
14 a) In the NSDAP [Note 6] since: No. Last local [Party] organization: [blank]
14b) With which organizations? [blank].
15) Reich Labor Service: — Where and when reviewed? [blank. Results [blank]. Member of the Labor Service from [blank] to [blank].
16) Military experience
16a) Drafted or volunteered for which unit? Militia [Note 7] II.
16b) Excluded [from military service] due to unworthiness [Note 8]?. — When and why? [blank].
16c) Served from –. Unit: [blank]. Location: [blank]. Discharged as: [blank]
17) Decorations and medals (list individually): –.
18) Prior convictions? (Short statement by the accused. Insofar as possible, these statements shall be supplemented by a search of official documents.) No.
II. To the Case:
To the person: I was born in Berlin, son of chief engineer Karl Eickemeyer and his wife Magdalena, a married couple. When I was 2 years old, my parents relocated to Munich. I was raised in Pöcking, where my parents had property. From 1909-1913, I attended elementary school there. In 1913/1914, I was in a monastery school in Fürstenstein near Passau.
At the beginning of the war [1914], I attended the Realschule in Landsberg am Lech, where I took the Abitur as a One-Year-Volunteer [Note 9]. Following that, I attended several occupational schools in Munich, such as the municipal trade school and the arts college [Note 10.
In 1921, I took the journeyman’s exam as a goldsmith and engraver. Following that, I was employed in my uncle’s workshop. My uncle was the architect Ludwig Eickemeyer, of Hohenzollern Str. 21 in Munich; he managed the famous art school Münchner Lehrwerkstätten. My employment there lasted until 1927. During this time, I also worked as an architect.
After the death of my uncle in 1927, I worked as an independent architect and interior designer. From 1931 till 1933, I was in Spain, where I was employed as an architect. In 1933, I returned to Munich and carried out various artistic [Note 11] and architectural projects. Here I had received various federal, municipal, and private contracts.
I would like to emphasize that I organized a large exhibit at the Münchner Kunstverein in the spring of 1938, which received universally favorable reviews from the press.
I set up my last studio on Leopold Str. 38 (rear building) in 1940. However, I only worked there 2-3 months, because in the meantime I had been called up by the Generalgouvernement as an architect. There I constructed federal and private buildings in Warsaw, Cracow, Tarnow, Radom, and other places. I have a private office in Cracow, located at Johanisgasse 3. Occasionally I have defense contracts that I carry out, but I am not tied to any specific government entity.
I still have 4 [living] siblings. My oldest sister – Luise von Fritz – has lived in New York since 1935. Her husband Prof. Dr. Kurt von Fritz is a “Reichsdeutscher” [German citizen]. My younger sister, Mrs. Karole Seifert, lives in Munich at Königin Str. 18. Her husband Adolf Seifert (Baurat = local government planning officer), is currently with the Air Force in Rome; he is a structural engineering inspector with the Air Force [Luftwaffe].
My brother Helmut Eickemeyer (chief engineer) is employed by Lanz Corporation in Mannheim as Chief Engineer; he lives at Charlotten Str. 15 in Mannheim. An additional brother named Clemens Eickemeyer has lived in Sumatra (Dutch Indies) since 1929; he is a farmer there. Currently he is interned in British India near Bombay.
With regards to political matters:
I have never at any time belonged to a political party or organization. I have also never adhered to any particular political point of view, because politics always was strange to me, which has particularly been the case in my more mature years.
During my youth, I was always enthusiastic about national matters, but that has gradually been lost. Over time, political power struggles have become distasteful to me as a result of having been exposed to various political viewpoints during the course of my professional career. Politically, I have always thought more subjectively than objectively.
I welcomed the political unification of the Reich, which in a certain sense was achieved by National Socialism. Nevertheless, during the time that Hitler came to power, I condemn a certain political speculative sphere that I believed I could discern both in my professional as well as in my private life. For this and other reasons, I was unable to publicly declare my allegiance to National Socialism and I also did not join the Party.
As regards ideological matters, I identify with the Catholic cultural sphere, but I would not describe myself as a strict Catholic. I have never belonged to a church organization. Till now I have never been accused of or punished for political matters.
To the case:
Since 1940, I have maintained a studio at the Leopold Str. 38 property. I pay 55 RM [$440] monthly rent for this studio. In addition to the studio, there is a small unheated room and an office, as well as a section of the basement where I store coal and wood.
In the spring of 1942, my friend Josef Furtmaier introduced me to Hans Scholl. I cannot describe the circumstances [of this introduction] in any greater detail, but I believe that it took place on the street. I have known Furtmaier for many years. Furtmaier had no specific agenda in introducing me to Hans Scholl.
Following that, I got together with Hans Scholl often, because he was interested in my work and he had a pleasant manner about him. I probably got together with Hans Scholl about eight times before Christmas.
During the summer of 1942, Scholl came to my studio repeatedly and brought several friends along with him.
The interrogation is interrupted.
Read aloud and signed: /M. Eickemeyer/
==========
Note 1: E.g., Junior, II.
Note 2: Kunstmaler. That is, artist-painter.
Note 3: Here and for his mother, used the genealogical notation of + to indicate deceased.
Note 4: The original document used two different words that mean the same thing (juror). The first is archaic (Schöffe), the second contemporary usage (Geschworener).
Note 5: Reichskammer der bildenden Künste.
Note 6: National Socialist Party.
Note 7: Landwehr. Could also be translated reserves.
Note 8: Not the same as “unfit for duty” – not related to physical ability.
Note 9: Einjähriger. Before 1919, this was the educational standard required for one-year volunteers, two years before the Reifezeugnis.
Note 10: Kunstgewerbe. Trade or vocational school for artists.
Note 11: Painting.
Editor’s note: The interrogation was not signed by Schmauss until it officially “ended” almost a week later. Only Manfred Eickemeyer signed this section.
==========
Source: Eickemeyer/Grimminger (2 – 7)
White Rose History: January 1933 - October 1943 