II A/So. [Special Commission] – Munich, March 18, 1943
Interrogation.
Led forth from prison, Alexander Schmorell (personal data known) made the following statements: Continue reading
II A/So. [Special Commission] – Munich, March 18, 1943
Interrogation.
Led forth from prison, Alexander Schmorell (personal data known) made the following statements: Continue reading
/Illegible/ Trial Date: 22. Feb 1943 8 J 35 / 43 /Illegible/
Chief Prosecutor of the People’s Court [Note 1]
Criminal Case
Against
Scholl and 2 others Defense Counsel: Page: Continue reading
Attention! [Note 1]
Hans Scholl described today’s proceedings as “an utter farce [Note 2]”.
Schmauβ, Crim. Secr. Continue reading
Secret State Police [Gestapo]
State Police Headquarters Munich – Munich, February 20, 1943
Regarding: Scholl Hans Fritz, single, medical student – Born September 22, 1918 in Ingersheim – With regards to preparation for high treason Continue reading
Schmauβ: The other assistant named by Scholl – the student Alexander Schmorell – is currently a fugitive. Search measures have been initiated.
Source: ZC13267, Schmauβ’s report dated February 20, 1943.
Secret State Police [Gestapo] – Munich, February 20, 1943
State Police Headquarters Munich
II A (Sdkdo) [Special commission]
The Writer’s Widow Continue reading
Secret State Police [Gestapo]
State Police Headquarters Munich – Munich, February 20, 1943
IIA/Sond.
List of Evidentiary Material: Continue reading
Schmauβ: On February 20, 1943, the student whom Scholl named as his assistant – Christoph Hermann Probst – was taken into custody in Innsbruck on orders from this bureau. He was transferred here.
Source: ZC13267, Schmauβ’s report dated February 20, 1943.
Gauleiter Paul Giesler received Martin Bormann’s order to discharge Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst from the military immediately. According to date-stamp (no time given) on the document.
Source: ZC13267, Bormann’s telex dated February 19, 1943
Copy.
Vol. No. 13 226/43 II A/Sond./Mah. [Special commission/Mahler]
Munich, February 19, 1943.
I. Observation: Continue reading
Secret State Police [Gestapo] – Munich, February 19, 1943
State Police Headquarters Munich
Vol. No. 13 226/43 II A Sond./Za. [Special Commission – Zacher]
Report of Search
As ordered, a thorough search of the furnished room belonging to single medical student Alexander Schmorell –born September 16, 1917 in Orenburg, residing at Benediktenwand Str. 12, second floor, Munich, his parents’ home – was undertaken by police deputy Grimm (District II B) and the undersigned. Continue reading
Schmauβ: Late on the evening of February 18, 1943, the student Wilhelm Graf and his sister Anneliese Graf were taken into temporary custody as acquaintances of the Scholl siblings, with regards to suspicion of complicity in the treasonous intrigues of the Scholl siblings.
Source: ZC13267, Schmauβ’s February 20, 1943 report.
II A-So. Schm [Schmauβ] – Munich, February 18, 1943
I. Interrogation.
As he was released from custody, Count Wolff Metternich, born October 19, 1916 in Eupen, now residing in Munich at Maximiliansplatz 18, made the following statement: Continue reading
State Criminal Police – Munich, February 18, 1943
City Police Headquarters Munich
Crime Lab
1. Preliminary Expert Opinion. Continue reading
Schmauβ: Additional acquaintances of the Scholl siblings – the student Gisela Schertling and the pupil Otto Aicher – were likewise taken into temporary custody. However, both of them were later released, since a criminal offense could not be linked to either of them.
Source: ZC13267, Schmauβ’s report dated February 20, 1943.
v. Metternich was taken into temporary custody in accordance with ordinance L II and has been placed under house arrest.
KS Ammer and I carried out a joint search of the room occupied by v. Metternich and the clothing, luggage, and other objects found therein. The search was unsuccessful. Continue reading
II E 3/Ach. [Achter] – Munich, February 18 [Note 1], 1943
/Handwritten: Illegible/ – /Handwritten: Arrest!/
Report. Continue reading
II A-So./Schm. [Schmauβ] – Munich, February 18, 1943
Interrogation.
/Stamp: Reg/
Jakob Schmied [Note 1], Continue reading
I can only keep repeating that I do not personally know the student who called out to me and said that he could not come that evening. I most certainly was standing in close proximity to him when this shout emanated from him. Continue reading
On February 18, 1943 around 11 am [Note 1], I along with KS Ammer was responsible for transporting the prisoner named Scholl from the university to the police station. Directly in front of the entrance to the university, Scholl suddenly turned to his right and said to a man something along the lines of: “Tell him I won’t be coming home this evening!” Continue reading
Schmauβ: The University of Munich’s Chief Privy Councilor Hefner immediately advised the State Police Headquarters in Munich of this incident. They immediately occupied the university building (which had been sealed off in the meantime), together with a large number of municipal police officials. Several hundred leaflets with the inscriptions “Fellow Students!” or “German Students” were seized in the university building. Continue reading
As I made my usual rounds throughout the university buildings today, February 18, 1943 around 11:15 am, and in so doing went down the stairs of the Lichthof [Note 1], I saw that a large amount of paper had been thrown from the Lichthof platform on the third floor [Note 2]. From where I stood, I could not see the place the paper was thrown from. But it was equally impossible for whoever was in the third floor hallway to see me without further ado. Continue reading
Statement made by Jakob Schmid on February 18, 1943:
I took them [Note 1] to the property management office. Together with the supervisor, Secr. Scheidhammer, I led the detainees to the legal representative/trustee, RR Hefner, who informed the police. The detectives frisked the students whom I had detained. In so doing, they found several leaflets (folded) in the pockets of the male student. They secured these. In addition, I had observed that the male student had dropped several scraps of paper on the floor, or rather that he tried to drop the paper so it mingled with other papers in the room. Continue reading
Schmauβ: On February 18, 1943 around 11:15 am, Jakob Schmid, who resides at Türken Str. 33/I and is the maintenance man employed by the University of Munich, was making his rounds. He noticed that a large quantity of leaflets were thrown off the third floor platform of the university’s Lichthof. Schmid immediately made his way to the place in question and determined that the student Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie Scholl were the presumptive perpetrators, since no one else was nearby. Continue reading
Mahler: “On February 18, 1943, Hans and Sofie Scholl distributed around 1500 leaflets entitled ‘Fellow Students!’ in the university, as well as between 50-80 pieces of the leaflet entitled ‘German Students!’ Almost all of these were seized.”
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Source: ZC13267, Mahler’s report dated February 19, 1943.
Schmauβ: On February 16, 1943, several hundred treasonous leaflets with the title “Fellow Students!” were mailed from several post offices in Munich as so-called “bulk mail” or as regular post. In several of these mailings, the leaflet named above was accompanied by another of the “Resistance Movement”. Continue reading
Mahler: On February 16, 1943, approx. 1200 leaflets [entitled] “Fellow Students!” were mailed to persons living in Munich. Of these, approximately 800 have been seized to date. In the following days, there were some more individual mailings [of this leaflet].
Source: ZC13267, Mahler’s report dated February 19, 1943.
Schmauβ: In the night of February 15/16, 1943, the words “Down with Hitler” and “Hitler the Mass Murderer” were painted on Hugendubel Bookstore on Salvatorplatz in 30 to 40 cm high letters [12” – 16”] (total area 1 x 1.5 m [3-1/3’ x 6’]), using black tar-based paint. There were 4 more locations in the downtown area where the inscription “Down with Hitler” along with a crossed-out swastika had been painted. Continue reading
Mahler: In the night of February 15/16, 1943, the labels “Down with Hitler” and “Hitler the Mass Murderer” were painted between the store windows of the H. Hugendubel Company in approx. 1 m [3-1/3’] high letters. The same night, the inscription “Down with Hitler” was painted on the Bavarian Chancery and on three other buildings.
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Note: Clara Geyer incurred the wrath of Inge Scholl when she insisted that her husband had told her the inscriptions were “Manneshoch” – man-high. But this supports that assertion. The Hitler the Mass Murderer template was a two-parter. So if the letters were 3-1/3′ high, twice that is over 6′ tall, definitely Manneshoch.
Source: ZC13267, Mahler’s report dated February 19, 1943.
It was impossible to determine which specific German system the typewriter in question utilizes. Currently, an investigation is underway to determine whether it could be a foreign-made typewriter. In this context it is interesting to note that in the opinion of the State Police Headquarters in Vienna it is possible that the typewriter in question is a foreign-made model (Remington and Underwood brands). Continue reading
Secret State Police [Gestapo]
State Police Headquarters Munich – Munich, February 11, 1943
Vol. No. 13 226/43 II A/Sond. [Special commission – Robert Mohr]
/Stamp: CONFIDENTIAL!
VERY URGENT!/
a.) To the Headquarters of Reich Security – Berlin. Continue reading
The State Police Headquarters in Vienna reported that Dr. Max Stefl [Note 1], a resident of Munich, was temporarily in Vienna at the critical time in question [when the leaflets were distributed there]. Stefl is a former National Librarian, born September 15, 1888 in Nuremberg. He currently resides at Lotzbeck Str. 3/I in Munich. His personal history, degree of education, and intellectual and political attitudes make him a good match for the profile of the perpetrator [of the distribution activities] or of the writer of the contents of the leaflet. Continue reading
Mahler: In the night of February 9/10, 1943, the expression “Down with Hitler” was painted on an advertising pillar on Kanal Street in black tar-based paint. The same night, “Down with Hitler” was written on the front door of the house at Eindorfer Street 102 with white chalk.
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Note: Unless the Gestapo simply overlooked the Kanal Street graffiti the day before, this was not White Rose work. Nor was anything in white chalk. These were copycats.
Source: ZC13267, Mahler’s report dated February 19, 1943.
Question: What are the political views of Gisela Schertling?
Answer: Schertling comes from a family that is too National Socialist for me. Her father is editor of a National Socialist newspaper that I am unfamiliar with. I think it is the “Pössnecker Newspaper.” Schertling is a product of her family and is likewise sympathetic to National Socialism. Continue reading
Schmauβ: In the night of February 8/9, 1943, the words “Down with Hitler” with a crossed-out swastika were painted on the university building, this time using green oil-based paint. The word “Freedom” was painted four times on the university building.
Source: ZC13267, Schmauβ’s report dated February 20, 1943.
Mahler: In the night of February 8/9, 1943, the word “Freedom” was painted in green on the entrance of the University of Munich three times in 60 cm [24”] high letters [Note 1], and the inscription “Down with Hitler” (with crossed-out swastika) twice. Continue reading
The “Down With Hitler” and “Freedom” graffiti have recently been painted on university buildings in the night of February 8/9, 1943. The same oil-based paints were used for all the graffiti operations (this time it was green), so that both graffiti operations were carried out by the same perpetrator or perpetrators. An investigation of the chemical composition of the paint has been commissioned. Since the perpetrator or perpetrators obviously targeted the university buildings, we have placed the buildings under appropriate surveillance.
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Source: ZC13267, Schaefer’s memorandum dated February 11, 1943
The criminal labs of the police department of the city of Munich have been able to determine that the leaflets of the so-called “Resistance Movement” were all typed on the same typewriter. This expert opinion has allowed the fairly certain conclusion that the stencils for these leaflets were prepared on the same typewriter as those of the well-known leaflets of the so-called “White Rose” (see Vol. No. IV A 1 d – 3 247/42 in your files). Continue reading
The large-scale search undertaken subsequent to the telex dated February 5, 1943 with regards to the perpetrators of the distribution of leaflets has been unsuccessful. The search was carried out in the metropolitan area of Munich on February 4 [sic], 1943 with the participation of all available State Police and plain clothes detectives, including cooperation of the security police, train security personnel etc. Continue reading