Chapter 16, part 5: Try to Remember (2007 update)

September 18 - September 30, 1942.

Storybook:

Magdalena Scholl asks Fritz Hartnagel to submit a clemency petition on behalf of Robert Scholl. Fritz writes Sophie, “Perhaps there is a chance for success if a ‘Captain’ asks for it. That sounds a little bit like a dignified person. Those in charge will never know that the title hides a boy.” He quickly drafts the clemency petition and sends it out via airmail.

He regrets having told the Scholls about his near-death experiences, because he does not want them to worry about him. He claims he is in “as little danger” as they are. He writes about building the bunker where they will winter, adding that his plans include a sauna. He assigns himself the task of digging out twenty cubic meters of dirt.

Fritz also recommends that the Scholls call in all their markers to get a reduced sentence for Robert Scholl. He reminds Magdalena Scholl that the Kreisleiter of Öhringen County, a man named Dr. Ferdinand Dietrich, is a good friend of Robert Scholl. They should draw on the support of all Nazi VIPs to help Robert Scholl.

Aside: Ferdinand Dietrich was an early Party member, joining in 1931 before Hitler came to power. He was known throughout Öhringen County as vicious and cruel. As a medical doctor, he was on the county’s eugenics committee, adhering to Nazi “useless eater” ideology. He thought “mentally deficient people” were ruining his town.

Additionally, Dietrich was personally responsible for initiating some of the earliest and worst “Jew-baiting” in the region. In March 1933, he published an editorial in the Hohenloher Rundschau requesting reports from farmers who had been ‘cheated’ by Jews. Dietrich compiled these into an inflammatory leaflet, falsely accusing the community’s Jewish citizens of fraud and crimes. That same month, the first pogrom of the Nazi era took place in Crailsheim, a neighboring big city.

Even after the war, Dietrich never recanted his antisemitic, racial, and “eugenics” ideology. In fact, he doubled down. And yet, Robert Scholl wrote him a “Persilschein,” requesting leniency for his friend, stating that Dietrich was an idealist with open emotions and a heart for his fellow man. While all other witnesses wrote of his brutality.

Fritz Hartnagel receives reconfirmation that they will indeed be wintering at their current location, so he redoubles his efforts at building a permanent bunker. He also tells Sophie that while he was out in the field checking on detached troops, he was able to have a good talk with a few of his men about religion.

Fritz concludes, “That which can fill my heart with true joy is not any more distant here than it would be someplace else. I wish to be able to dispense with everything else.”

Why this matters:

• If we wish to be honest, ethical historians — if we wish to be honest, ethical journalists-politicians-clergy-teachers-professors-parents-children-writers — we may not gloss over the tough issues. Although Robert (and Inge) Scholl’s coziness with high-ranking Nazi officials is not a secret, I’m hard put to think of anyone who dares to call the Scholls out on these associations and demand accountability.
  Ferdinand Dietrich was one of three high-ranking Nazis who stood by the Scholls even after the arrest and execution of Hans and Sophie Scholl.
  Silence is not an option.

White Rose History, Volume II, pages 203-205.

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