Eugen Grimminger was not perfect in the sense of having no character flaws. He was, however, perfect with regards to integrity. The timing for his aid to the Scholl family was perfect for Sophie.
In keeping with goal of introducing a wider audience to critical members of the White Rose circle who have been mostly overlooked in the “legend,” this segment is free. Eugen Grimminger made the work of White Rose resistance possible. He deserves our honor and utmost respect.
July 27, 1942 (with flashback for Eugen Grimminger).
Summary:
Robert Scholl worries he will be imprisoned following his upcoming trial. He travels to Stuttgart to ask his friend Eugen Grimminger to take over his accounting practice if necessary.
Flashback re Grimminger:
Born July 29, 1892, Eugen Grimminger hailed from Crailsheim, birthplace of Hans Scholl. He had served with distinction in World War I. When he returned from war, he had adopted two distinctly un-German traits: He was an avowed pacifist, and he repudiated the antisemitism of his childhood home.
Grimminger met Robert Scholl when he (Grimminger) was director of the municipal cooperative in Crailsheim and Robert Scholl was mayor of a nearby village. At that time, they were not friends, as Grimminger enforced regulations that Scholl wanted changed.
Grimminger fell in love with a local Jewish woman named Jenny Stern. He left the Lutheran church for her, although he was already disillusioned by the warmongering that was common from the pulpit. Gandhi’s books appealed to Grimminger, as did those by Alexandra David-Neel. Grimminger identified as Buddhist, becoming a strict vegetarian and disciple of nonviolence.
Eugen and Jenny Grimminger in happier days. Image is public domain.
Jenny and Eugen left Crailsheim as antisemitism in that place grew. After living with her sister for a short time, Jenny and Eugen secretly married. Jenny was first to tell her family, who quickly embraced Eugen. Jenny’s mother said he was her favorite son-in-law.
Eugen Grimminger’s family was not as understanding. While Eugen’s father eventually accepted Jenny, two of Eugen’s siblings never did. They feared his marriage to a Jewish woman would damage their careers with the railroad.
After Crailsheim was the site of one of Germany’s earliest pogroms - March 1933 - Jenny convinced the rest of her family to join them in Stuttgart. In 1935, a local Nazi leader ordered Eugen’s employer to fire Grimminger because of his marriage to a Jewish woman. That Nazi party boss claimed he had heard Grimminger say: “The destruction of private capital is my work as well.” Although the coop fired Grimminger, he fought to receive his salary until his contract expired.
While studying for his CPA certification, Grimminger ran into Robert Scholl again. Scholl was in the same course. After Robert Scholl heard of Grimminger’s plight, he gave him a little financial support.
Kristallnacht was turning point for Eugen Grimminger. His accounting firm became known as a stop on the underground railroad for German Jews seeking to flee Nazi terror. He worked with a woman named Mrs. Willemer, a Swiss employee of the American consulate in Stuttgart, to forge documents required for German Jews to flee Germany via Switzerland.
Eugen Grimminger was even able to smuggle Jenny’s sisters Mina and Julie out of the country. Jenny, however, refused to leave, fearing that her absence would endanger Grimminger’s life.
Once the border was sealed after war broke out, Jenny and Eugen Grimminger continued to help German Jews however they could. One Jewish man from Crailsheim who survived the war was able to retrieve his valuables that Grimminger had hidden for him.
Eugen Grimminger agreed to help Robert Scholl should he be given a prison sentence.
Why this matters:
The good people of Crailsheim have turned themselves into Scholl Central, since both parents and their children were born in or near that city. Crailsheimers also occasionally remember Eugen Grimminger. But the commemoration services ring a bit hollow, as they omit the more painful part of Eugen and Jenny Grimminger’s life stories. Armin Ziegler - a Crailsheimer who fought the Scholl legend - was surprised when he learned that one of Germany’s first pogroms was in his town. They don’t talk about that much. When I hear Germans say that we should simply move on, forget the past, I invariably think first about Crailsheim. Until places like this deal brutally and honestly and openly with the sins of their fathers, it’s next to impossible to move on. There’s a giant bandaid on a cancerous wound, a bandaid that obscures the sickness without healing. I will say that I am pleased that Crailsheimers tend the old Jewish cemetery in their town. They ensure the headstones are straight, and if graffiti appears, they clean it off. They look after the graves. I am grateful to them for these efforts. Now if they would just take that next, and incredibly difficult, step!
In White Rose History, Volume I, I tell the overwhelmingly painful part of the Stern family story. Yes, Jenny and Eugen convinced her family to move from Crailsheim to Stuttgart where they would be safe. But Jenny’s family in Stuttgart was swept up in the net after the decree issued by Stuttgart Gestapo chief Friedrich Mussgay. Senta Meyer nee Stern and her four children – Gertrud, Lore, Fritz, and Ilse - were all sent to Riga, where they were murdered. Armin Ziegler wrote about Senta Meyer. Jenny would later be murdered in Auschwitz. The two sisters Mina and Julie survived the war in Los Angeles. And Friedrich Mussgay was one of Robert Scholl’s closest friends. That is in Inge Scholl’s Sippenhaft book! Even after the execution of Hans and Sophie Scholl, Mussgay stayed in touch. I swear, sometimes I don’t understand Scholl dynamics at all. The Scholl Archives must be opened!
I will say this again, so it cannot be overlooked: Without Eugen Grimminger, White Rose resistance as we know it would not have existed. He financed their operations after November 1942.
Kissener, Michael. “Geld aus Stuttgart: Eugen Grimminger und die Weiβe Rose.” In Rudolf Lill (Ed.). Hochverrat? Die “Weiβe Rose” und ihr Umfeld (pp. 121-134). Konstanz: Universitätsverlag Konstanz, 1993.
Schönhagen, Benigna. “‘Wenn keiner etwas tut, dann ändert sich nie etwas’: Die Weiβe Rose und Stuttgart.” In Marlene P. Hiller (project director). Stuttgart im Zweiten Weltkrieg (pp. 247-254). Gerlingen: Bleicher Verlag, 1989.
Ziegler, Armin. Eugen Grimminger: Widerständler und Genossenschaftspionier. Crailsheim: Baier BPB Verlag, 2000. — This is the definitive biography of Eugen Grimminger.
This podcast is a project of WHY THIS MATTERS, a newsletter of Center for White Rose Studies, that explores the reasons that voices silenced more than eighty years ago still speak to us today.
Chapter 11, part 2: Profound Impressions