Adding Gisela Schertling

Since we’re trying to add data to this history “blog” with White Rose inner circle first, spreading out from there, perhaps it does not make sense to do Gisela Schertling next. After all, she was not part of White Rose resistance. If anything, she caused much of the discord within the group.

Because Gisela Schertling was 100% a Nazi. She believed in Hitler’s cause with every ounce of her being. (Which makes Hans and Sophie Scholl’s friendship with her puzzling indeed.)

We are adding Gisela Schertling’s Gestapo interrogation transcripts next because she was 100% a Nazi. She quickly broke down and told the Gestapo everything they wanted to know. In some cases, she volunteered information they had not requested.

For that reason, her interrogations give us detailed information about their activities from the first of January 1943 until their arrests. Detailed – and accurate – information.

Interestingly (and psychologists should study Gisela Schertling), somewhere along the line, Gisela had a true jailhouse conversion. By the time of the third White Rose trial on July 13, 1943, she had had a change of heart. When called to testify against Wilhelm Geyer, Harald Dohrn, Manfred Eickemeyer, and Josef Söhngen, she recanted her statements to the Gestapo – which saved their lives.

After the war, Gisela Schertling devoted her life to atoning for her actions during the Third Reich. In so doing, she redeemed herself.