Alexander Schmorell (; , ; – 13 July 1943) was a Russian-German student at Munich University who, with five others, formed a resistance group (part of the Widerstand) known as White Rose () which was active against the Nazi German regime from June 1942 to February 1943. In 2012, he was glorified as a saint and passion bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, and is venerated by Orthodox Christians throughout the world.
Early life
Alexander Schmorell was born in Orenburg, Russia on (Russia still used the Julian calendar when he was born). Schmorell's father was Hugo Schmorell, a German-born physician who was raised in the Russian Empire. Schmorell's mother was Natalia Vedenskaya, a Russian and the daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest. Schmorell was baptised in the Russian Orthodox Church. His mother died of typhus during the Russian Civil War when he was two years old. In 1920, his widowed father married a German woman, Elisabeth Hoffman, who, like him, was raised in Russia. In 1921 the family fled from Russia and moved to Munich, Weimar Germany, Schmorell was four years old at the time. In Germany, he grew up with his step-siblings Erich Schmorell (born 1921) and Natalie Schmorell (born 1925), as well as his Russian nanny, Feodosiya Lapschina. She took his late mother's place in his upbringing.
His nanny never learned how to speak German. Because of this, Alexander Schmorell grew up bilingual, speaking both German and Russian natively. His friends gave him the nickname 'Schurik', a nickname he would be called by his closer friends for the rest of his life. He was an Eastern Orthodox Christian who considered himself both German and Russian. As declared in the Gestapo's interrogations, he was a convinced Tsarist and then an archenemy of the Bolsheviks.
Military service
After his Abitur (equivalent to high level High School diploma), he was called into the Reich Labour Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst) and then into the Wehrmacht (German Army during the Nazi era). In 1937, he volunteered to join the Wehrmacht. At the last moment, however, he had second thoughts and refused to swear the Hitler Oath. Surprisingly, he was still allowed to join the Wehrmacht. In 1938, he took part in the Anschluss (the Nazi Annexation of Austria) and eventually in the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Work in the White Rose, Summer 1942
After his military service, the artistically gifted Alexander Schmorell began studies in medicine in 1939 in Hamburg. In the autumn of 1940, he returned with his student corps to Munich where he came to know Hans Scholl, whom he met through Christoph Probst, his life-long friend.
In June 1942, Schmorell, together with Hans Scholl, began the Nazi Resistance Movement "The White Rose". Their form of resistance was simple but dangerous: writing leaflets. Quoting extensively from the Bible, Aristotle and Novalis, as well as Goethe and Schiller, the iconic poets of German bourgeoisie, the leaflets appealed to what Schmorell and Scholl considered the German intelligentsia, believing that these people would be easily convinced by the same arguments that also motivated the authors themselves. These leaflets were left in telephone books in public phone booths, mailed to professors and students, and taken by courier to other universities for distribution.
Deployment to Russia, July–November 1942
In June 1942, male students at the Ludwig Maximilian University were required to deploy to the Eastern Front over Summer break. Schmorell, along with Hans Scholl, Willi Graf, and Jurgen Wittenstein, served as medics on the Russian Front from June to November 1942. During this time, White Rose activities ceased, and were not continued until the medics came home from the deployment.
While in Russia, Schmorell felt like he was at home. Although he had been born in Russia, he had no memories of his homeland, as he had emigrated when he was only four years old. In Russia, Schmorell, Scholl, Graf, and Wittenstein would sneak out of camp at night and would gather at the home of Russian peasants, where Schmorell and his friends would take part in Russian festivities.
In August 1942, Schmorell came down with diphtheria. At first, he didn't tell his father and stepmother, as he didn't want to burden them. He only told them of his sickness after he had recovered.
Schmorell and his friends left Russia on 31 October 1942. Schmorell, who had become infatuated with Russia, considered deserting the Wehrmacht, but decided against it. They returned to Munich on 5 November 1942.