To Fritz Hartnagel, Munich, February 16, 1943

Context: Fritz Hartnagel survives Stalingrad. It is World War II’s most horrific battle. He is recuperating from near starvation and amputations from severe frostbite at a field hospital in occupied Poland. Sophie is studying Nazi approved philosophy with her brother and his friends at the University of Munich. They have kept their resistance activities, started…

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Christmas Greeting from Stalingrad

With You There Is Light Sophie Scholl Alexandra Lehmann

Translated here into English for the first time with permission of S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt. To Sophie Scholl from Fritz Hartnagel, December 1942. Yesterday, my dear Sophie, as the Russians fired on our position with heavy artillery and the sirens went berserk, a little bird suddenly sat at the edge of our trench and peeped…

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Was Fritz Hartnagel a Nazi?

Herbert Gustav Lehmann German military document World War II

An Often Asked Question Gets Answered Again The last question came from a very bright student at the end of the fifth class I taught at my alma mater on “Sophie Scholl and the German Resistance against Hitler.” She asked, “Was Scholl’s boyfriend, Fritz Hartnagel, a Captain in the Wehrmacht, a Nazi?” During the last…

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Review by Rebecca Odessa, The Wisdom Daily

the-wisdom-daily-book-review

When Hitler came to power in the early 1930’s, Nazi ideology pervaded the German education system, leading to the indoctrination of an entire generation. When war enveloped Europe less than a decade later, that same generation trailed their maniacal leader into the abyss. A small group of Munich students, however, refused to follow. Instead, they…

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Sophie Scholl and Fritz Hartnagel Correspond, September 1939

Fritz Hartnagel was a part of Hitler’s Army. He was going to have to fight in this so-called Blitzkrieg. What could she do? Sophie Scholl took out her pen from her knapsack and began to write. She could always count on writing when the truth required clarification.             Dear Fritz, Sophie pressed down hard on…

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Cadet Fritz Hartnagel at the Potsdam Military Academy, 1937

Cadet Fritz Hartnagel attended Potsdam Military Academy. Alexandra Lehmann

“You Shall Know Obedience In Order To Command” Historical Context: 1937. Jehovah’s Witnesses protest the Nazi Party by distributing 70,000 leaflets. Buchenwald near Weimar concentration camp is built. Average unemployment is at 8.3%. EXCERPT FROM “WITH YOU THERE IS LIGHT” by Alexandra Lehmann: Cadet Fritz Hartnagel stared out of the classroom’s window at the sky as…

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Fritz Hartnagel Writes to Sophie Scholl, October 1938

Historical Context: October, 1938. German troops invade the Sudetenland (north, southwest and western Czechoslovakia). Jews must identify themselves in their passports with a “J.” Approximately 30,000 German “political suspects/undesirables” flee the Sudetenland; 17,000 German-Polish Jews are deported to the border.  Augsburg, October 21, 1938 Dear Sophie! […] Although it was very difficult in the first days…

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