Choices on the Russian Front – October 1, 1942-October 30, 1942
The month of October 1942, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, Hans Scholl, and Hubert Furtwängler planted deep roots in Russia and started their "stimulating" conversations about White Rose resistance.
Reminder: If you want to read about the experiences of the White Rose friends on the Russian front in chronological order and including Sophie, Traute, Käthe, Christl, and others who remained in Germany, please see Chapters 12 through 20 of our White Rose History: Volume II – Journey to Freedom. In this post and the previous one, I look at their service as medics on the front lines topically: What influenced them, what they talked about, how they reacted to the Russians they met, why these 3+ months were important for their resistance work the last 3-1/2 months before the arrests.
MEDICAL
Verwundetennest. Foxholes where wounds were hastily dressed, tourniquets applied, blood flow stanched. Wounded were evacuated from the Verwundetennest to the…
Truppenverbandplatz (TVP). Those who could walk were expected to get there under their own power. Everyone else was picked up by TVP medical personnel, although sometimes if battle raged, the wounded were simply moved slightly to the rear.
The TVP was always located as close to the front lines as possible, although it was supposed to be out of the direct line of fire. Doctors and medics administered pain medication, tetanus shots, and shock therapy. They performed pressing procedures, such as tracheotomies. Primarily, they prepared the wounded for further transport to the…
Hauptverbandplatz or HVP, which supposedly was four to six miles behind the front lines.
An HVP was equipped with full surgical facilities, including anesthesia. In addition to admissions, apothecary, triage, and operating room, the building (only a few were tents) would have wards for the slightly wounded, badly wounded, and hopeless cases, plus – as at HVP Plankenhorn, where White Rose students served most of their time – infectious diseases if required. “Real” medical treatment took place at the…
Feldlazarett or field hospital, located twelve to fifteen miles behind the front lines. Specialized surgeons, x-ray facilities, dental services, and a well-stocked apothecary were elements of a field hospital missing from the HVP. The pace was still hurried, but it would be closer to the experience of working in a German military hospital, such as the one in Ebersbach where Traute Lafrenz served her clinical rotation. The doctors in a field hospital practiced actual medicine, not patch-up-and-move-out as in a TVP or HVP. Jürgen Wittenstein, who claimed to have served with them, landed a cushy job at a field hospital about sixty miles from the front lines.
Hubert Furtwängler was ill from October 17 through October 22. Initially thought to be “slightly ill,” he was soon confined to bed. When he rejoined their conversations, Willi Graf simply noted that Hubert was “better,” not that he was well. No information regarding his illness.
Willi Graf treated a Russian man in Sosonovka for carcinoma. German doctors deemed it inoperable. No other details available.
WHAT THEY READ
“Philosophical treatises,” by Honoré de Balzac. Willi Graf.
Arne, by the Norwegian writer Bjørnsterne Bjørnson. Willi Graf.
Hochwald (High Country Forest), by Adalbert Stifter. Willi Graf.
Nachsommer [Indian Summer], by Adalbert Stifter. Hans Scholl and Hubert Furtwängler.
A history of the church. No title, no author. Hans Scholl. Unknown whether “church” in general, or Catholic or Lutheran or Russian Orthodox.
Hungerpastor, by Wilhelm Raabe. Willi Graf.
Der liebe Augustin (Beloved Augustine), by Horst Wolfram Geissler. Willi Graf. Historical fiction novel.
HAPPY COINCIDENCES
Werner Scholl was stationed on the Russian front. For most of October 1942, Hans had regular contact with his younger brother.
INTERACTIONS WITH RUSSIAN CITIZENS (AND RUSSIA)
Burning village (not named). On 10/1/42, Willi and Hubert were told they were going back to HVP Plankenhorn, and Hans Scholl was assigned to the front-line post without the other friends around him. An automobile took Hans part of the way, and he was expected to walk the remaining distance alone. Not one to be content with plodding interminably along a rutted road, he hitchhiked, first with a cyclist, then with a rider who had a spare horse. He barely noticed the burning village he passed along the way, focusing instead on the horse.
Kolesniki and Petrezova. When Willi and Hubert were transferred back to HVP Plankenhorn on October 2, a mail van transported their luggage, leaving them free to walk the ten miles “home.” They took one last look at Kolesniki, passing through another town (Petrezova). Otherwise the trail led through birch forests and dazzling stands of colorful trees
Villagers in and around HVP Plankenhorn. Alex treated Willi and Hubert to a homecoming parade of sorts. After a big breakfast and laundry on Saturday 10/3/42, Willi and Hubert joined Alex as he made his rounds. Not medical rounds. Rounds to visit villagers with whom he had developed friendships. Willi already knew Clemens, “that old tramp [alt. drinking buddy],” but now Alex’s friends – “Ohme,” Natasha, the milkman, and the milkman’s three children – were their friends too. The milkman gave them fresh milk and invited them to spend the night.
One senses Willi’s admiration for Alex as he recorded the day’s activities. Speaking of the time in the milkman’s home, he said, “I didn’t understand much of the conversation, because Alex cannot be distracted. Time passed too quickly.”
Russian POWs. Werner Scholl visited the friends at HVP Plankenhorn on Sunday 10/4/42. He already knew that Hans was not there, so his choosing to hang out with Alex, Willi, and Hubert is an interesting parenthesis in the White Rose story. Werner and Willi took a long walk through the forest, just to talk. That evening, Werner joined Willi, Alex, and Hubert as they called on Russian POWs in their barracks. Not only was the simple act of meeting with the POWs against regulations, but the four men sang along with songs of their homeland. Willi noted in his diary, “The hour passed too quickly.”
Road to Sosonovka. While Hans Scholl was still assigned to the front lines, Willi, Alex, and Hubert were transferred to a Feldlazarett or field hospital about twenty-four miles from HVP Plankenhorn, so about thirty miles from the front lines. Still not sixty miles away, as was Wittenstein’s field hospital, but far enough away to be deemed safer (not safe.)
They were taken by horse-drawn carts, leaving at 7 am on 10/5/42, arriving eight hours later. Willi Graf chose to walk beside the cart most of the way. He briefly wrote about the vastness.
Sosonovka. Willi’s 10/5/42 diary entry noted the beauty of the town, the friendliness of the civilian population, and his delight that they would be billeted on townspeople, not relegated to bunkers. They were also tasked with tending to medical needs of civilians, not just German soldiers, which gave them an excuse to ‘make rounds’ throughout the town.
Note that it is possible that Alexander Schmorell was sent back to HVP Plankenhorn sometime in October 1942.
Sina. A Russian woman named Sina became important friend for the White Rose circle while they were stationed in Sosonovka. She had a record player – likely not a good one, but good enough. On 10/8/42, Sina threw a party that Willi, Alex, and Hubert attended. Two girls had a dance-off, impressing Willi with their skills. 10/12/42, they returned for another dance party.
Willi Graf ventured out alone to Sina’s on 10/14/42 without Alex to act as interpreter or extroverted Hubert as his crutch. He was the only German present. His diary entry for that day is worth quoting in full.
In the village near ours, young people are dancing. Once it’s dark, I went over to them and entered a farmhouse. I was the only German among the Russians. At first there was some uneasiness and surprise, but then I was sitting right there in the middle of these people. One of them tirelessly played his harmonica, and couples were dancing crammed tightly together. At first I felt uncomfortable. I couldn’t make myself be understood at all, and no one noticed me.
A few of the dances were good. A small girl danced alone with beautiful movements. Sina too was especially conspicuous. It’s already gotten to the point that the up and coming generation doesn’t know the old dances any longer. They like waltzes the best.
I like how the youth sticks together: Because it is actually forbidden to meet in the evening outside of one’s own house. Everyone I meet the next day of course denies being there. Excellent.
His sister Anneliese noted, “It is amazing that Willi Graf does not mention that such meetings were also forbidden for the soldiers.”
Willi returned to Sina’s house – alone – on 10/19/42 to buy eggs. He stayed the afternoon, listening to records with her. By now, Sina trusted Willi and expressed (privately) her rage regarding what German soldiers were doing to her homeland, especially to Moscow. “The people are attached to this city with great love.” Willi let her vent, honored that he now felt comfortable as the lone German among Russians. “One learns much through their expressions and movements.”
Sunday Mass and civilian patients. On Sunday 10/12/42, Willi attended a “real” Sunday mass, a ritual he had sorely missed. The same day, he treated a Russian with Stage 4 cancer, which left him undone. “What should one say to this man? I must think of his fate often.”
Movie night. Willi Graf’s diary noted that on 10/18/42, they were treated to a lighthearted movie made in 1939 before the war started: Opernball (Opera Ball), directed by the Hungarian Géza von Bolváry, based on a screenplay by Ernst Marischka. The operetta told the story of the supposed infidelities of three couples in turn-of-the-century Vienna. It may have been corny, it may have been slapstick, but it provided great fun and good music. And it starred one of the most stunning actresses of the 1930s: Marte Harrell. What more could a good German soldier ask for?
Willi could not understand why the young people of Sosonovka would want to see a German movie. But they came, and the C.O. did not turn them away. As perplexing as their attendance was, Willi was even more baffled by a comment a boy made: He wanted nothing more than to see the war. “How can that be?” Willi wrote in his diary. “That makes me sad.”
He thought about it some more, and supposed that after all, Russians had known nothing but war all their lives (evidence of the effectiveness of Goebbels’ propaganda), so perhaps it was normal they would be enthusiastic about combat. His final comment on the subject was amusing, since Willi could be a bit of a… chauvinist… at times. “I would like to talk to the girls about it once to see what they think of the subject.”
Wide open spaces. The same day the White Rose friends learned they would be leaving Russia on October 31, Willi set out across the wide open spaces around Sosonovka. He had had a rare run-in with an officer over a bottle of rum, so struck out cross country, even though fields were still rain-soaked and muddy. He wrote about the ominous silence, about low-hanging clouds with sunlight visible in the distance, about fallow fields, about the eternally vast open spaces. That light – it puzzled him, befuddled him. “Darkness presses in above everything. Only far away in the distance, there is light. It casts its glory this way, towards me.”
Above all, he understood that the long-awaited return trip to Munich meant he was leaving Russia. “I've got to start slowly saying my good-byes. I like it in this country whose fate and whose people I largely share. I would so love to make myself understood.”
Polkino. Hans Scholl and Willi Graf tramped through muddy fields on 10/26/42 to have a long, private discussion. The destination of their hike: A small town called Polkino.
Their people. From 10/27-10/30/1942, the White Rose friends made a point of visiting the people who had made their time in Sosonovka meaningful. They drank schnapps, listened to records, had one more Russian lesson with Sina, and avoided military duties as much as possible. Willi’s diary records no serious conversations as they made these non-medical rounds.
One night, they got so drunk, they went outside and fired their pistols. Willi Graf said, “It doesn’t make sense to sing any more.”
WHAT THEY TALKED ABOUT
Clemency petition for Robert Scholl. On October 1, 1942, Hans Scholl met up with his younger brother Werner before Hans headed to the front lines. This good-bye conversation was likely terse, as Werner admitted he had filed a clemency petition for his father on 9/24/42. Before Hans left HVP Plankenhorn, he too filed a clemency petition on behalf of his father.
Everything and nothing. Alex enthusiastically welcomed Willi and Hubert “home” when they arrived at HVP Plankenhorn. Willi’s diary entry on 10/2/42 overflowed with joy at being with their Schurik again. Alex wrote his sister that Willi was a kindred spirit (not included in letters below, as merely an undated snippet).
Tales of the road. Alex, Willi, and Hubert stayed up late the night of 10/3/42, imbibing in “a little alcohol.” That night, it was enough just to catch up. Willi the introvert seemed to have suddenly understood how much he needed these people.
“Serious discussions.” On 10/7/42, Willi Graf noted in his diary that he, Alex, and Hubert had had serious discussions on a dreary day. We can only speculate…
Skat. Not really a topic of conversation, but something the White Rose friends played almost nightly in Sosonovka. Their skat games an excuse to get together, usually followed by long walks and serious discussions. Willi’s 10/12/42 diary entry explains how these trivial games brought them closer together – something they would need once back in Munich. “I always lose, but Hubert of all people plays with such incredible enthusiasm. I never could have imagined it.”
Sina. Not only was Sina’s house a favorite destination for the friends, Sina herself was a frequent topic of conversation.
Winter semester and talking big. On a rainy 10/16/42, the friends addressed the rumors that they could be leaving for home as early as the end of October, and that the powers that be had pushed back the start of the winter semester so they would not lose any credits, and so they could take a genuine vacation between landing in Munich and the beginning of the semester.
“Things in general.” Hubert was well enough to rejoin the circle on the same day that Hans Scholl was assigned to Sosonovka. That first night – Thursday 10/22/42 – Willi expressed relief that Hubert was better and said they sang canons and songs, as well as catching up in general. They’d known that reinforcements were coming, but all were surprised that Hans Scholl would be among the soldier students arriving.
Stimulating things. Interestingly, once Hans Scholl was once again among his friends, he was no longer the extroverted alpha male. The introvert Willi Graf took Hans on a tour, introducing him to their Russian friends, including Sina. The evening of Friday 10/23/42, the White Rose circle (Alex, Willi, Hubert, and Hans) talked about stimulating things. Both Anneliese Knoop-Graf and Inge Jens believed this was the first night they all discussed what they would do once they were back in Munich.
The next night after a brief Russian lesson at Sina’s house, Hans, Willi, and Hubert gathered at the home where Willi and Hubert were billeted and continued the conversation about stimulating things. Unknown where Alex was that evening. Apparently much of the discussion was held outdoors (for privacy), as Willi said the heavy snow and inadequate clothing forced them to work hard “not to feel the cold.”
They repeated this on the evenings of 10/25-10/26/42.
Potato pancakes and a crashed party. Their final Wednesday (10/28/42) in Sosonovka was a mixed bag of happy and sad, commonplace and carefree moments. The pharmacist tried to lighten up mandatory training by introducing schnapps into the curriculum. Willi noted that “a relaxed mood arose, as it brings a drunken stupor, a little ruckus.”
As a special treat, someone cooked Bavarian potato pancakes for supper (and Willi attempted to call them by their Bavarian name Reiberdatschi, failing humorously – his diary wrote it “properly” as Räuberdatschi, which no good Bavarian would be caught dead saying). It had been meant as a farewell party of sorts solely for the close and trusted friends who would practice resistance. Plans for serious conversation were quashed, however, when the chief medical officer and dentist crashed the party, uninvited. “Several people carried on a conversation,” Willi said, “while we tried to keep quiet.”
“A sensible conversation.” One of those nights when the White Rose friends did not get together except for fun, Willi and Hubert had “a sensible conversation” late on October 29 with another soldier student named Heini. There is no additional information about Heini, but the fact that Hubert and Willi trusted him speaks highly to Heini’s character.
As a reminder, the first two months, they had talked about:
Rain, tobacco, and wine, 8/16/42.
Theologians, suicide, spiritual abyss, destruction and deliverance, the metaphor of Russia as an old man staring at his death chamber, birch trees, melancholy, 8/17/42.
Robert Scholl’s clemency petition, 8/17/42.
Nonsense and wine, 8/21/42.
Art, 8/28/42.
Nothing, 9/5/42.
Ernst Reden.
Everything imaginable, 9/7/42.
Russia, 9/11/42.
The upcoming school year, 9/23/42.
Simple gossip, 9/29/42.
See Choices post, 7/17/2023, for details of these conversations.
LETTERS HOME
Hans Scholl, 10/3/42. Hans thanked his family for the birthday package. Although it was late for his birthday, he still enjoyed the candy and shared it with others. “It took eight candy-starved men only a few minutes to devour the contents.” He also told his family about his trip to the front lines, where he was now stationed away from the other friends. Among his first duties: He had had to take the cholera vaccine to soldiers on the front line – on horseback. Admitted that once he returned to Germany, he would be homesick for Russia.
Hans Scholl, 10/9/42. In a letter to Otl Aicher, written while Hans was isolated from his friends, Hans addressed his isolation. The extroverted Hans Scholl admitted that isolation was being healthy for him, because it gave him the option of not taking himself seriously. However, Hans’ self-analysis after that sentence was (as usual) completely off-base. He believed he had grown up and matured. Perhaps, but not to the extent he wrote Otl.
Hans Scholl also wrote Otl, “Believe me, though, my best plan would be to cut loose right now and hike east, alone and with no material possessions, on and on across the Urals and Siberia to China – if only, yes, if only I were not a European and unable to desert Europe at this eleventh hour. That's my sole reason for wanting to return to Germany: that the West and I should not lose touch.” Fascinating to observe that this was the third time Hans made a statement like this, and this was also the third and distinct reason he gave for not doing so.
It is Hans’ repetitive refrain about striking out across Russia that leaves a lingering doubt as to Werner Scholl’s MIA status post-war. Very often, Werner did the things Hans talked about doing.
Hans Scholl, 10/13/42. In a letter to his family, he acknowledged their news about Robert Scholl’s early release. Said he was reading a history of the church, especially interested in the chapter regarding persecution of Christians. Noted that he was about 250’ from the fence demarcating the front lines. Would be home in Ulm in two weeks.
Hans Scholl, 10/15/42. In a letter to Inge, Hans wrote his eldest sister a long overdue sympathy letter regarding Ernst Reden’s death. It’s overly flowery. He concluded by promising to take Inge to Russia one day.
Hans Scholl, 10/18/42. Hans wrote Josef Söhngen that Russia had changed him, and that he could hardly wait until he could tell him in person all that had happened on the front lines.
Note 1: Hans Scholl’s letters during this period are censored. We may only read what Inge wanted us to read. There are no letters from him to anyone from 10/19-10/30/1942, in other words, once he was in Sosonovka with the rest of the friends.
Note 2: Willi Graf’s letters from October 1942 were either lost or not published. In his diary entries, he mentioned writing several people, especially “his girl” Marianne. But those letters aren’t included.
Since Anneliese Knoop-Graf seemed to have been forthcoming about her brother’s strengths and weaknesses, it is likely that they were lost. We only have his diary entries to fill us in on their activities on the Russian front in October 1942.
The next post covers the trip home the first week in November 1942, including how they hit the ground running. The post after that one will be for paid subscribers only and covers all those open-ended questions from their time on the Russian front.
This Substack post ©2023 Denise Heap, with original material in White Rose History: Volume II - Journey to Freedom © 2002, 2007 Exclamation! Publishers and Denise Heap. Please contact us for permission to quote. Please note that everything in this post is fully documented and footnoted in WRH2.