September 6 - September 14, 1942.
Storybook:
Alexander Schmorell finds a Russian plane that has crashed. The pilot has a photograph in his pocket, which Alex takes as a remembrance. Alex also makes a friend of a Russian POW named Andrejeff entrusted to their care. They exchange addresses and Alex promises to look him up after the war.
Schurik also learns that German military successes are attributable to the treason of Russian generals. This pains him deeply.
Fritz Hartnagel’s unit is still stationed near the Don River, with no signs of movement any time soon. He worries about the Scholl family. Since Sophie Scholl does not tell him either that her father is continuing to work as accountant while in jail, or about Eugen Grimminger’s support, Fritz hands over his entire savings to the Scholl family, and also wires RM 250 ($2000) to Sophie.
Fritz is happy to hear that Sophie has been able to buy a ladies’ suit she has long wanted.
For serious scholars
Alex later confirms that if an order had been given to shoot Russians, he would have disobeyed. But he insisted, “I was never put into a situation where my attitude toward Russia could have possibly been detrimental to Germany’s interests.”
I’ve been researching and writing about this for over thirty years, and it still bothers me that Sophie Scholl allowed Fritz Hartnagel to believe they were destitute. Even after Robert Scholl’s tax certification was later removed, he continued to earn RM 10,000-12,000 annually ($80,000-96,000), while Eugen Grimminger earned only RM 8,125 a year ($65,000).
In March 1941, Fritz made a similar offer to Sophie at yet another time she complained of needing money. He volunteered to transfer his savings account to her, stating that he had been saving RM 200 ($1600) a month - apparently since September 1939 when war began. At that time, she turned him down. There is no indication that the Scholls turned him down in September 1942. His savings account would have had approximately RM 7,200 or $57,600 in it by that time.
Sophie frequently prayed that she could “suffer,” and yet none of the Scholls ever seemed to have gone without anything.
Their collective ingratitude to Eugen Grimminger? Inexplicable.
I will add that Fritz and Elisabeth Hartnagel grew fairly close to Grimminger after the war. They were on the same side of the fence regarding how former Nazis should be treated. Both Grimminger and Hartnagels stood in direct contradiction of Robert and Inge Scholl’s opinion that the past should remain in the past.
Why this matters:
Follow the money! Especially in politics!
White Rose History, Volume II, pages 192-193.
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