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18 Facts About Alexander Schmorell

1.

Alexander Schmorell's father was Hugo Alexander Schmorell, a German-born physician who was raised in the Russian Empire.

2.

Alexander Schmorell's mother was Natalia Vedenskaya, a Russian and the daughter of a Russian Orthodox priest.

3.

Alexander Schmorell's mother died of typhus during the Russian Civil War when he was two years old.

4.

In 1921 the family fled from Russia and moved to Munich, Weimar Germany, Alexander Schmorell was four years old at the time.

5.

Alexander Schmorell took his late mother's place in his upbringing.

6.

Alexander Schmorell was an Eastern Orthodox Christian who considered himself both German and Russian.

7.

Alexander Schmorell only told them of his sickness after he had recovered.

8.

Alexander Schmorell, who had become infatuated with Russia, considered deserting the Wehrmacht, but decided against it.

9.

Together in 1943 they wrote the fifth leaflet, "", which Alexander Schmorell then distributed in Austrian cities.

10.

Alexander Schmorell then went to Willi Graf's house with the intention of warning him that Hans and Sophie had been captured.

11.

Graf was not at home, so Alexander Schmorell left a coded message and went to one of his friend's houses.

12.

Alexander Schmorell's friend helped him to get fake papers and gave him food and extra clothing.

13.

Alexander Schmorell was captured by the Gestapo on 24 February 1943, the same day as Sophie, Hans and Christoph's funeral.

14.

On 19 April 1943, Alexander Schmorell was put on trial, along with 13 other members of the White Rose group.

15.

Unlike the first trial, where the death sentences had been carried out the same day as the verdict, Alexander Schmorell's execution was delayed as his family petitioned for clemency.

16.

The executions were supposed to be carried out at 5 pm, but as Alexander Schmorell prepared himself, he learned that the execution would be delayed.

17.

Schmorell was not canonized until February 5,2012, when Schmorell was glorified as a saint and passion bearer by the ROCOR in Munich, Germany, on 5 February 2012.

18.

In 2010, a memorial plaque for Alexander Schmorell was installed at the Old City of Jerusalem.