Chapter 9, Part 3: A Village Destroyed by Gunfire

Photo by Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov on Unsplash

July 15 - July 18, 1942.

Summary:

Hans Hirzel’s pendulum swings back in the other direction. Now he is no longer certain that White Rose leaflets are true. He tells Franz Josef Müller about “seditious leaflets” he has received and shows one to Kurt Glöckler, who advises him to turn it in to the police. He burns it instead.

Hans Hirzel is most afraid of his parents’ learning that he is recipient of a treasonous leaflet. His father later confirms that had he known, he would have sat his son down and given him a “patriotic sermon” about the virtues of the “young” National Socialist government. Pastor Hirzel is especially upset at his children’s perception of censorship of the press by the Nazis. The reverend claims that the NSDAP was forced to take these measures not because they wanted to do so, but because of the “heartless exploitation of every weakness” undertaken by the enemies of National Socialism.

The soldier students learn they are to leave for the Russian front on Wednesday, July 22. On July 16, they invite Willi Graf to their Claudel reading, Satin Slipper. Willi savors the time spent discussing a work he enjoys, an author he admires for his contribution to Renouveau Catholique. But he acknowledges in his diary entry that evening that he has not yet grown accustomed to such blunt conversations.

First splinters in the circle of friends show up during this final week before soldier students depart for the Russian front. Traute Lafrenz and Katharina Schüddekopf meet at Manfred Eickemeyer’s studio with Eickemeyer, Josef Furtmeier, and Monsieur Rousset, the latter a French teacher at the university. Käthe specifically notes that the Scholl siblings are not present.

Sophie Scholl similarly ignores the very presence of Traute and Käthe when she writes Gisela Schertling, asking her to transfer to Munich. Sophie says she doesn’t like being the “only girl.” The letter arrives at a difficult time in Gisela’s life, so she starts making plans to transfer.

Willi Graf thinks about the fact that his older sister Mathilde will be saying her wedding vows the same day he and his friends are headed to the Russian front. Uncharacteristically, Willi rashly decides to go to Saarbrücken to say his goodbyes. On July 18, he packs his things and boards a train - very unlike his usual rational, carefully planned self!

Why this matters:

• Reverend Ernst Hirzel… what can I say? This was a pastor who signed the Bonhoeffer-Niemöller the first time around, along with 7000 other Lutheran pastors. And signed it the second time, with only 700 others, after the German Lutheran Church (aligned) threatened all signers with pay reduction of 50%. Pastor Ernst Hirzel signed anyway and brought home a 50-kg bag of oatmeal, which he placed conspicuously in the parsonage foyer. He told his children they never had to worry about going hungry. He also refused to hang Hitler’s portrait in Martin-Luther-Kirche in Ulm.
  

  And yet - when push came to shove, he gave in. His church may not have had Hitler’s portrait, he may not have allowed Storm Troopers to wear their uniforms to church services, but Martin-Luther-Kirche also was known as most sympathetic to the Nazi cause. He advised his children to go along to get along, to compromise, to do whatever it took, to keep their heads down and noses clean.
  
  He and his wife attended the April 19, 1943 trial. Susanne Hirzel recalled thinking, Serves him right! Maybe NOW he will see what sort of people he makes excuses for. Only he did not.
  
  Reverend Ernst Hirzel wanted to have it both ways. There’s no evidence he ever learned he could not serve two masters.

• When I did my run-through of this little segment, before I started recording, I thought, “Oh, what a nice little easy section! Nothing hard or difficult to chew.”
  
  I realized as I read that the cracks in White Rose friendships start showing up here, cracks that would eventually split them.

  • Hans Hirzel trusted untrustworthy people, who later betrayed him and White Rose.

  • Hans Scholl could not prove himself a friend even in little things. Why didn’t he “share” his friendship with Alfred von Martin with Christoph Probst? Something so simple, yet Hans couldn’t do it.

  • Hans Scholl’s harsh treatment of Traute - in effect forcing everyone else to choose between him and her - prevented the circle of friends from ever achieving the unity they needed to do this “work.”

  • Sophie Scholl’s equally harsh treatment of Traute Lafrenz - this is one of those black threads you should follow in the White Rose story. Was she jealous of Traute?

  • Sophie and Hans both choosing to invite known Nazis into their circle of close friends, thereby compromising the “work.” Both siblings knew of Gisela’s strong National Socialist “convictions” and hand-waved that aspect of Gisela’s person.

We live in an era of cult personalities: Religion, celebrities, politics. We ascribe positive character traits to people if they worship the way we do, sing songs we like, hold political convictions we like.

To follow anyone “cult-like” invites failure.

Have you worked for social justice in a group that puts its leader on a six-mile-high pedestal? How did that affect you personally, or the goals of the group in general? Talk about it!

White Rose History, Volume II, pages 120-122.

Notes and references available only to paid subscribers.