Enigmas wrapped in riddles #1: Josef Söhngen
How do we define dissidence? Who can be labeled as part of the "resistance" during the Shoah? Or are people like Josef Söhngen representative of that great gray mass who just got by?
Dissident students – including those who merely liked to live a little dangerously – knew Josef Söhngen from the time they settled in Munich. His bookstore was no Hugendubel, the official place to get college texts. But it was fairly large. Buchhandlung für Kunst und Architektur L. Werner, located at Maximiliansplatz 13, had been in operation since 1878, and Söhngen had managed it since 1929. — The L. Werner book store is still in operation, although it has moved.
The bookshop had an interesting location. Heading south on Ludwig Str. from the university, you would turn right on Brienner Str. at the Wittelsbacher Palace, 1940s home to the Gestapo. Brienner Str. then straight away intersects one of Munich’s most complicated traffic circles.
If you somehow managed to go straight on Brienner Str., you would pass Karolinenplatz with its obelisk. Immediately past the obelisk, you would encounter a massive complex consisting of the “Brown House” where Hitler lived (destroyed at war’s end), the Führerbau, Hitler’s “Chancellery” in Munich (now Munich’s music academy), the Verwaltungsbau or administration building of the NSDAP (ironically enough, the current Amerikahaus), and a small art gallery, followed by the Glyptothek.
But if you curved left at the horrid intersection, you suddenly found yourself on Maximiliansplatz. Despite its name, it is not a square, but an oval that can trap unwary drivers in an endless loop. It was and is a significant part of the route that encircles Munich’s inner city. Immediately south of Maximiliansplatz is Karlsplatz/Stachus, with the Palace of Justice to the right. Then and now, the complicated traffic patterns of the Brienner Str. junction with Maximiliansplatz are made even more terrifying by the jumble of pedestrian and streetcar traffic on the plaza.[1]
Besides being a short block from Gestapo headquarters, Söhngen’s store was also a mere two blocks from the students’ favorite cheap eatery, the Bodega located at Maffei Str. 4, and one block from Hugendubel Book Store on Salvatorplatz, Söhngen’s biggest competition.[2]
It was green – couldn’t be missed. The first floor had three or four rooms with large windows on the street side for displaying books. Additional books were stored in the basement. Söhngen had one room on the main floor that was off limits to most customers. That secret room contained banned books, such as those by Jewish authors like Heinrich Heine and Stefan George.
While most of the White Rose students in Munich shopped at Söhngen’s store, only one of them (plus Jürgen Wittenstein, who was not White Rose) became close to Josef Söhngen personally: Hans Scholl. Söhngen lived above the store with his mother. Hans and Jürgen alone seem to have had access to the 47-year-old’s private quarters.
Jürgen had met Josef Söhngen in 1938, initially attracted to his beautiful art books. Their long conversations over purchases turned into lunches and dinners together. While Hans Scholl and others who were to become the White Rose never attended any of Jürgen’s literary soirees, Söhngen was a regular guest. Jürgen specifically recalled one literary evening sponsoring a painter named Hörschelmann, and another (unnamed) musicologist who spoke on the topic of Schubert’s late sonatas. These were the circles Jürgen Wittenstein moved in, and Söhngen appeared comfortable there too.
Hans did not meet Josef Söhngen until 1940. His primary interest involved the religious books he could find in Söhngen’s store (and likely not at Hugendubel). Their conversations over book purchases centered on topics like the concept of the Trinity. Hans could not understand how a person could believe in that idea, and Söhngen passionately defended Catholic doctrine. Soon Hans Scholl too was going upstairs to Söhngen’s apartment, lingering late over wine, talking into the wee morning hours.
When first researching White Rose history, these accounts did not mean much to me. It was only with the discovery of the transcripts from Hans Scholl’s bündische trial in 1937/38, combined with the unearthing of transcripts from the third White Rose trial, that the subject that seems to be taboo in White Rose literature began to make sense.
Because Josef Söhngen was well known to his Gestapo neighbors, not as an anti-Nazi dissident, but as a §175er, the hated (yet tolerated) homosexual. In Söhngen’s interrogations the following year, the Gestapo would close the books on an investigation of a male student found in his apartment, because they concluded that that student was merely another of Söhngen’s lovers.
The Gestapo maintained §175 files on both Jürgen Wittenstein and Hans Scholl as well.[3]
While Söhngen’s impeccable “gay-dar” adds an interesting layer to complex White Rose history, it is not what makes him enigmatic.
Josef Söhngen was born on August 17, 1894 in Königstein on the Taunus River (west northwest of Frankfurt am Main). His parents were innkeepers, and he was their third and next-to-last child.
His siblings prospered under the Nazi regime. Oldest brother Georg was a bank director in Berlin, while second brother Heinrich followed in his parents’ footsteps by opening a coffee shop in Königstein. His youngest brother (whose name he did not state) worked for IG Farben in Frankfurt am Main.
Josef’s childhood had followed very predictable lines. He attended elementary school in his hometown and high school in Höchst am Main, although graduating from high school in Frankfurt proper. His father died in 1911 when he was seventeen, so Josef took the minimum exams required for graduation, eschewing the Abitur which would have improved his career path, going to work as an apprentice in the local mayor’s office the same year his father passed away.
From 1912 to 1920, he joined German Beamtentum, becoming an assistant clerk with the city council in Höchst. He served in the army during World War I (1915-1917), but managed to avoid being sent to the front lines. Two years, he sat in Mainz, Germany as a member of the First Reserve Battalion IR 88, Second Company. Nevertheless, he was awarded the Prussian Medal of Distinguished Service.
In 1920, Josef Söhngen left the life of a public servant to go to work in the book industry and found his calling there. He never explained what attracted him to the job (except to say that he liked art and literature), and he apparently never owned his own shop. But by 1942, he had twenty-two years of nothing but book-related employment on his resume, most of it right there on Maximiliansplatz.
Since Söhngen considered himself a truly devout Catholic, he regularly voted for the German Zentrumspartei or Center Party, although he never joined it. In 1925, however, when Wilhelm Marx (Center) ran against Hindenburg, Söhngen was one of the defectors who cost Marx the election. Unlike others who chose Hindenburg over their own party’s candidate, Söhngen simply refused to vote.
He did not go to the polling booth again until 1933, when he cast a vote in favor of Adolf Hitler. From then on, he voted in every election, behaving as a good National Socialist would. And should.
Yet he never joined the National Socialist Party, a move that could have greatly improved business. Without Party membership, his shop would not stand a chance of replacing Hugendubel as the official bookstore of the university.
Josef Söhngen characterized that segment of the German population that accepted Hitler’s government and perhaps even approved of most of its policies, while not feeling totally at ease with the entire package. It does not appear that Söhngen talked politics with anyone in the White Rose. His conversations with Jürgen Wittenstein concentrated solely on art and literature, while Hans Scholl sought him out as he wrestled with differences between Catholic and Lutheran theology.
But as someone who loved books, Söhngen obviously did not approve of the Nazis’ banning certain authors due to their “ethnicity.” His secret room speaks volumes for his opinion of that decree. As a strict Roman Catholic, he would have resented restrictions placed on his Church. And as a §175er, Söhngen would have been unnerved by what could happen to him should the Gestapo ever choose to arrest him for that “crime.”
The fence Josef Söhngen straddled was razor sharp.
Evidently he chose to survive the Nazi years with an unsatisfying compromise. He would not join the NSDAP, but he would become a member of two of its affiliates that were less repulsive to him. Therefore, he belonged to the NSV – the National Socialist Public Welfare charity, which included causes as diverse as children’s services, mother’s aid, health and human welfare, and shelter for hikers – and the Reich Literary Chamber.
After the war, Söhngen claimed that his anti-Nazi sentiments were well-known. “My attitude towards the National Socialist regime had been clear and unequivocal through all those years. Everyone recognized it immediately. It was therefore not difficult to open myself up in political matters.”
His assertion, however, does not square with reality. The young men he “befriended” included students who were openly members of the NSDAP, such as Jürgen Wittenstein and Fritz Seidel (the student whom the Gestapo found in Söhngen’s apartment).
Söhngen also expended great energy (and money) in satisfying the needs of soldiers serving on the front, or who were about to ship out. A week before his July 1943 trial, one of them wrote a moving letter to the Special Court describing Söhngen’s patriotism:
“I have known Mr. Söhngen since I was 12 years old, therefore for the last 16 years. I met him in his capacity as proprietor of the L. Werner Bookshop where I purchased my books. Over the years as Mr. Söhngen continually counseled me in the best manner possible regarding my selection of literature, a friendship developed between the considerably older Mr. Söhngen and myself.
“Therefore, we began to discuss not only cultural, but also political questions, and conversed in depth regarding questions that arose with the war. During these conversations, I was able to ascertain that Mr. Söhngen is not only a strict National Socialist, but he is also a fiery patriot whose entire desires and strivings are only for the good of the Fatherland, and in particular for German youth.
“For example, after I had been awarded the Knight’s Cross, Mr. Söhngen asked me when I was home on leave if I would report on my experiences at the front at a small party in his home. I do not know the names of the people who were there. But I specifically recall that several younger people – college students – were among those in attendance, all of whom had assuredly met Mr. Söhngen as I had as customers of his company. I know a great number of my friends who found their way to Mr. Söhngen, some through me, some on their own, because their wishes were always granted.
“Among these I can name: Captain Hermann Schädlich, currently in Garmisch, Field Hospital Alpenhof, and Lieutenant Martin Siebold, currently in Munich, Reserve Field Hospital II, Merciful Brothers, Rondell Palace.
“I know of many friends who always turned to Mr. Söhngen with their book needs from the battlefield, and always with success. He always tried to do everything possible to provide those of us at the front with the books we wanted if they were at all available.
“During my recent furlough, I heard that Mr. Söhngen had been accused of failure to report a treasonous act. I was deeply shocked. I believe it is impossible – knowing Mr. Söhngen’s overall views – that he had the slightest idea or suspicion that persons he associated with were engaging in a treasonous activity. If Mr. Söhngen had known such a thing, he most surely would have turned his back on the person in question, broken off all contact, and reported them.”
The concluding paragraph of Captain Manfred Georg Schwarz’s letter defines the ‘third hand’ that causes Josef Söhngen to be deemed an enigma. Although he clearly knew of Hans Scholl’s treasonous views, he did not denounce him. He did not hand over his copy of the leaflet to the Gestapo, as a loyal citizen would have done. And he never turned his back on Hans Scholl, though Hans’ religious and political views must have baffled him.
Josef Söhngen cannot be considered a “part” of the White Rose, although the Gestapo certainly reckoned him among their ranks. But without him, none of them would have had such immediate access to the banned books that nourished their resistance. Adding to the puzzle: Söhngen was the person for whom Hans Scholl left his last loving words, confirmed by Hans’ mother Magdalena Scholl.
In Nazi Germany, it took immense courage to defy the Führer’s edict regarding acceptable reading material. That someone who embraced much of Nazi ideology did so, begs the question of how we should define resistance and who can be regarded as a dissident.
If you are curious about supporting documents for any of these Substack posts, check out our White Rose Histories (Volume I, 1/1933-4/30/1942, and Volume 2, 5/1/1942-10/12/1943), along with primary source materials. As always, if you have questions or private comments, please contact us. If you find errors, please contact us, or post a comment below.
The Third White Rose Trial in English translation, including Söhngen’s interrogations and his postwar “memories,” is available here.
This post is an excerpt from Chapter 3, White Rose History: Volume II — Journey to Freedom. May 1, 1942 - October 12, 1943. © 2002. That chapter is fully footnoted and supported by fact. Please contact Exclamation! Publishers for permission to quote.
[1] The monument to the victims (Opfer) of National Socialism is located directly at that complicated Brienner Str. / Maximiliansplatz intersection.
[2] Information about directions is primarily documented by personal experience – driving (or trying to drive) those streets long before I knew there was a White Rose. Information about location of the Bodega: Karl Baedeker, Germany: A Handbook for Railway Travelers and Motorists (New York: Chas. Scribner’s Sons, 1936), p. 462. Note that Maffei Str. 4 is still a restaurant, but an upscale place, and not the cheap Italian “wine restaurant” of the 1940s. Baedeker (Munich II map) is also the source for information about location of Braunes Haus, Führerbau, and Verwaltungsbau der NSDAP. Information about location of the Hugendubel Book Store: ZC13267, p. 20, 2/20/43 report filed by Agent Schmauβ regarding Hans Scholl's activities, because they targeted that particular store during one of the graffiti campaigns.
[3] For Hans Scholl, the entire bündische trial record supports the statement. For Wittenstein: For years, Wittenstein has said that he was not “more” involved with White Rose activities because one of his friends named Dr. Keller had told him that the Gestapo was keeping files on him. (May 28, 2000 letter from Wittenstein to author.) He confirmed this information – without Keller’s name – in a letter to Dr. Armin Ziegler dated December 15, 2001, but by now, Wittenstein’s supposed Gestapo file had increased from one to two. In September 2003, Ziegler asked Wittenstein for documentation supporting his claim. Wittenstein replied:
“In 1938 following Kristallnacht, my mentor and paternal friend, the art historian Dr. Kurt Badt, was interrogated by the Gestapo. He was threatened because he was associating with a young “Aryan” soldier [verkehren mit ~ can also be ‘having sex with’ ~ Wittenstein’s choice of words, not mine!]. Shortly thereafter and as ordered by the Gestapo, my commanding officer forbade me all contact [Verkehr] with Dr. Badt. In addition, I was denounced for having had a homosexual relationship with Dr. Badt.” (Armin Ziegler, Jürgen Wittenstein und die Geschichte der ‘Weiβe Rose’: Ein Beitrag zur ‘Weiβe Rose’ Forschung (Schönaich: Self-published, 2004), p. 29.)
When Ziegler pressed Wittenstein for information regarding the alleged second Gestapo file, Wittenstein did not respond. (Ibid.)