Alexander Schmorell
|
Alexander Schmorell (1917-1943) |
Alexander Schmorell (born
16 September 1917 in
Orenburg,
Russia; died
13 July 1943 in
Munich (executed)) was one of five
Munich University students who formed a
resistance group known as
White Rose (
"Weiße Rose") which was active against
Germany's
Nazi regime from June
1942 to February
1943.
Schmorell's Russian mother died when he was still only a child. He moved with his
German father to Munich in
1921 at the age of four. His Russian
nanny came along with them. She took his late mother's place in his upbringing. As she could barely speak
German, Alexander Schmorell grew up
bilingual, speaking both German and
Russian.
After his
Abitur, he was called into the Reich Labour Service (
"Reichsarbeitsdienst") and then into the
Wehrmacht. In
1938, he took part in the
annexation of Austria and eventually the Wehrmacht invasion of
Czechoslovakia.
After his
military service, the artistically gifted Alexander Schmorell began studies in
medicine in
1939 in
Hamburg. In the autumn of
1940, he went back with his student corps to Munich where he got to know
Hans Scholl, and later
Willi Graf. Together with Hans Scholl, Schmorell put together the White Rose's first four anti-Nazi leaflets.
In June
1942 Schmorell took part as a
combat medic in the
Russian campaign on the
Eastern Front, together with Hans Scholl, Willi Graf and
Jürgen Wittenstein, and came to strongly oppose the Nazis' treatment of enemy soldiers and civilians during campaigns there. Once back from Russia, he continued his studies in Munich in the 1942-
1943 semester.
In December 1942, Schmorell, along with Hans Scholl, sought contact with Professor
Kurt Huber. Together in 1943 they wrote the fifth leaflet
"Aufruf an alle Deutschen!" ("Appeal to all Germans!"), which Schmorell then distributed in
Austrian cities. Along with Hans Scholl and Willi Graf, he also wrote words such as
"Nieder mit Hitler" ("Down with Hitler") and
"Freiheit" ("Freedom") on house walls in Munich.
After
Christoph Probst's and Hans and
Sophie Scholl's arrests, Schmorell attempted to escape to
Switzerland but was eventually arrested on
24 February 1943, the day of his friends' funeral, after being recognized in an air raid shelter.
Alexander Schmorell was sentenced to death on
19 April 1943 at the
Volksgerichtshof (People's Court) in the second trial against the White Rose. At the age of 25, he was put to death by
guillotine along with Kurt Huber at the Munich-Stadelheim
prison.
*
The White Rose Foundation with substantiated background information about the White Rose**
The 6 leaflets**
Biography of Alexander Schmorell*
Alex Schmorell at jlrweb
