July 13 - July 18, 1942.
Summary:
Fritz Hartnagel’s unit continues its slow but relentless march towards Stalingrad. His company was hampered by the missing automobiles that remained at their old location, 300 miles away. Fritz flew that distance to check on status of repairs, but as they landed, the tail skid of the plane broke.
One car was ready, so he returned under cover of night. Only that automobile broke down - again - so he hitchhiked back to camp. A letter from Sophie was his reward for the long day.
Following German victory in Luhansk, Ukraine, Fritz’s company received orders to proceed to Stalingrad. After attempting that forward march, they found themselves gridlocked, hopelessly bogged down in mud. With no way to pitch tents, they slept in their vehicles.
Fritz used the standstill to fantasize about Sophie.
White Rose History, Volume II, pages 124-125.
Another freebie! And short.
Corrections to auto-generated transcript:
Standing by the side of the road, hungry and exhausted, he decided the aggravation would be worthwhile if only he would return to find a letter waiting from Sophie. He wrote her, “And consider, there was a letter on my desk! Could I have asked for a nicer reward for this trip?” But the letter distressed him. [Italicized sentences missing from transcript.]
Germans had to live and sleep in those gridlocked vehicles. As an officer, that presented less of a problem to Fritz. He told Sophie, “It is such a cozy feeling when the rain beats down on my roof and I am sitting here dry.” [Italicized sentence missing from transcript.]
Notes and references
I wish a trained psychologist would study Sophie’s letters - but only after heavy-handed censorship is lifted! - and figure out what was eating this young woman. Guilt over Jungmädel association? Had she been sexually molested? She was repulsed when Fritz Hartnagel so much as hugged her. Had she had an abortion, illegal under Nazi law? Something had made her feel worthless, unloveable.
Until Scholl Archives are no longer blocked, we can only read the scraps of excerpts that Inge Scholl fed us and wonder.
Bock, Annegert. “Briefwechsel zwischen Sophie Scholl und ihrem Verlobten: ‘Ein Gruβ mit zarten, lilaroten Blütenblättern.” Stuttgarter Zeitung, January 27, 2003. Retrieved from www.Stuttgarter-zeitung.de/stz/page/detail.php/354217. Short excerpts from the handful of letters released by Elisabeth Hartnagel nee Scholl in February 2003.
Hartnagel, Thomas (Ed.). Sophie Scholl, Fritz Hartnagel: “Damit wir uns nicht verlieren”: Briefwechsel 1937-1943. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer Verlag, 2005. Eighty-eight letters held back by the Hartnagel family.
Jens, Inge (Ed.). At the Heart of the White Rose: Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl. Translation by J. Maxwell Brownjohn. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1987.
Podcast © 2024 Denise Elaine Heap. White Rose History, Volume II, Chapter 09, 2007 update, © 2007 Denise Elaine Heap and Exclamation! Publishers. Please contact us for permission to quote.
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Chapter 9, part 5: A Village Destroyed by Gunfire