I Can Justify Myself to Myself
Some time ago I went through the diaries and letters of Hans Scholl, at least the part the family allowed to be made public. Hans was the founder and leader of the anti-Nazi resistance group, The White Rose, who was beheaded for speaking out against Hitler and the regime.
Researching this is similar to being caught between a rock and a hard place. The family, especially his sister, covered up everything about Hans being gay — or almost everything, as I’ll point out shortly. On the other side is the one anti-gay researcher (Ruth Sachs) who is doing her best to paint him as a pervert and child molester, even to the point of contradicting the very documents she translated.
From my understanding the diaries and letters were handed to the editor (Inge Jens) already in a typed format with things excluded by the family, mainly by Inge Scholl, the oldest sister. That would include references to the original trial in some regards, but not others.
Hans was tried on three different charges. One was being affiliated with a banned youth group, the second was when he and the other boys went to Sweden they took more money than allowed under exchange controls, and the last was related to his relationship with one of the other members, Rolf Futterknecht.
There was just under two years age difference between Hans (born 9/22/18) and Rolf (born 9/14/20). Records indicate that Rolf pursued Hans and had himself transferred to the same youth group in order to be with him.
Both of the young men were arrested for having an illegal relationship. Hans went out of his way to try to take all the blame on himself and protect Rolf. Thankfully the judge thought the time they were imprisoned waiting for trial was sufficient punishment and released them, though another gay friend wasn’t so lucky and served time in a concentration camp.
The Scholl family couldn’t deny the first trial. Since other Scholl siblings were involved with the youth group they all got arrested but charges were dropped. The arrests were also critical in turning the siblings against the Nazi state. The family only allowed references to the first two charges but censored all references to the same-sex relationship.
But, they did allow references in the diaries that alluded to the latter, I presume on the assumption that people would only associate them with the charges they allowed being mentioned.
For instance, they include references by Hans to the indictment of his friend Ernst Reden, they just don’t mention he was convicted under the anti-gay law, Paragraph 175. Instead Inge Scholl presented herself as his fiancé. This emission leaves the impression Reden was only convicted of the other matters. Ernst remained a close family friend even after his conviction. Reden had a sexual relationship with Hans at one point and did try to initiate one with Werner Scholl, which went nowhere. Hans also said he was aware Reden was gay and, I believe, said his mother was aware as well.
In another section of the material there is reference to Scholl’s commanding officer. Buried in a footnote is a letter he wrote to Robert Scholl, the father. The officer states, “The main problem is that, as a youth leader, your son may be held to have abused his senior status. But for this, the whole business would probably be dropped. I submitted a written recommendation that you son be released from custody….”
The only area where there were charges relating to Scholl’s “senior status” was the claim that as leader of the youth group he took sexual advantage of another young man. (Something Hans encouraged the police to believe in order to spare Rolf of charges, but the court didn’t believe him and said Rolf was a willing participant.) Scholl’s “status” was of no importance to the other charges. This is also indicated when the commander states that other than this one issue the whole matter would have been dropped, as it was with the other Scholl children.
The only reason charges were brought against Hans, while his siblings spent a few days in jail and were released, are due to the sexual nature of his relationship with his friend, Rolf.
I suspect most readers, unaware of the third set of charges under the infamous ¶175 law criminalizing gay relationships, would not notice this, when it actually only makes sense in light of those charges. So, even as the family attempted to alter history by hiding this relationship, they weren’t careful enough and small slips can be detected.
Given that this is the main reason Hans was put on trial then another comment he made takes on new meaning. In a letter to his parents on April 25, 1938 he wrote, “I received the indictment today. They boys were released under the amnesty, thank God… Application is being made to put Ernst Reden on trial and remand him in custody…. I’m not afraid of going on trial. Even if I can’t justify myself in open court, I can justify myself to myself.”
Given the other two charges were rather inconsequential and easily explained, as Hans did, the one issue he felt he couldn’t justify in court was the relationship. He said as much during questioning after his arrest. He told police he could only explain it in terms of the great love he felt for his friend. It would seem the one issue he felt he couldn’t justify to the court, but could justify to himself, was his relationship with Rolf. “I can justify myself to myself” is actual the central point of “gay liberation.”
Also note the infamous symbols of censoring something, or deleting it, the ellipsis. In many cases it is extraneous material being deleted. However, I fear that in this case it was references to the crimes for which Reden and Scholl were both charged, violating ¶175, which were being deleted.
Ernst was sentenced to Welzheim concentration but his parents had influence and managed to get him released after a short time but he was then conscripted into Hitler’s war. He was killed on the Eastern Front, August 5, 1942 at age 28.
After release it appears Hans, perhaps trying to protect Rolf from further problems, had no contact with him. It wouldn’t be safe for them to do so. So it seems unlikely Han’s was aware that Rolf was also conscripted by the Nazi war machine and was also killed on the Eastern Front on October 10, 1942, age 22.
Hans, after the trial became a strong opponent to the Nazi regime and founded the White Rose to oppose the government. He was arrested for this crime of human decency after a very brief show trial and sent to the guillotine on February 22, 1943, age 24. As the deadly blade came plummeting down Hans shouted his last words, “Long live freedom.”
What truly scares me is the number of people in America today would love to return to this sort of a regime and do while claiming they will make America great.
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