Robert Mohr (5 April 1897 – 5 February 1977) was an interrogation specialist of the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. He headed the special commission responsible for the search and arrest of the

White Rose The White Rose (, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students and one professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Munich ...

, part of the German Resistance to Nazism.

Early life

Robert Mohr was born in Bisterschied in the Palatinate in 1897 into the family of a Palatine-born master mason, one of six brothers and three sisters. Mohr completed an apprenticeship as a tailor, but never practiced this profession. He served in the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and was awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

Second Class before resigning in May 1919. In October 1919, Mohr entered the

Bavarian police The Bavarian Police () is the state police force of the German state of Bavaria under the umbrella of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior. It has approximately 33,500 armed officers and roughly 8,500 other civilian employees. Organization The ...

. In May 1933 he joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

. He also belonged to the

National Socialist Motor Corps The National Socialist Motor Corps (, NSKK) was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) that officially existed from May 1931 to 1945. The group was a successor organisation to the older National Socialist Automobile Corps (, NS ...

, the Reich Air Defense League, the Reich Colonial League, and the

National Socialist People's Welfare The National Socialist People's Welfare (, NSV) was a social welfare organization during the Third Reich. The NSV was originally established in 1931 as a small Nazi Party-affiliated charity, which was active locally in the city of Berlin. On 3 Ma ...

organizations. In the 1930s he worked as a police chief in

Frankenthal Frankenthal (Pfalz) (; ) is a town in southwestern Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. History Frankenthal was first mentioned in 772. In 1119 an Augustinians, Augustinian monastery was built here, the ruins of which — known, aft ...

(Pfalz). From 1938 he worked for the

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

The White Rose

Between 18 and 20 February 1943, Mohr interrogated

Sophie Scholl Sophia Magdalena Scholl (9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943) was a German student and anti-Nazi political activist, active in the White Rose non-violent German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany. Raised in a politically engag ...

and obtained her confession to the distribution of leaflets for the White Rose movement. In a 1951 report to Robert Scholl, Sophie's father, Mohr said he tried to save Sophie's life by leading her to testify against her brother

Hans Scholl Hans Fritz Scholl (; 22 September 1918 – 22 February 1943) was, along with Alexander Schmorell, one of the two founding members of the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany. The principal author of the resistance movement's ...

, to say she was under his influence and that they had different opinions on politics.

Later life

After completion of the investigation into the White Rose, Mohr became chief of the Gestapo office in

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

, occupied

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

. Around 1947 he was interned by the French but was not tried for his service in the Gestapo. From 1948 he worked in the spa at

Bad Dürkheim Bad Dürkheim () is a spa town in the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration. It is the seat of the Bad Dürkheim (district), Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, and the site of the discovery of the element caesium, in 1860. Geogra ...

. He died in 1977 in

Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning "Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig's Port upon the Rhine"; Palatine German dialects, Palatine German: ''Ludwichshafe''), is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in the German state of Rh ...

Media

Film

* ''

Sophie Scholl – The Final Days ''Sophie Scholl – The Final Days'' () is a 2005 German historical drama film directed by Marc Rothemund and written by Fred Breinersdorfer. It is about the last days in the life of Sophie Scholl, a 21-year-old member of the anti-Nazi non-viole ...

'', Director:

Marc Rothemund Marc Rothemund (born 26 August 1968) is a German film director. He is the son of the film director Sigi Rothemund and the brother of the actress Nina Rothemund. He began his career as an assistant for his father and then began to direct episode ...

. Mohr was played by

Alexander Held Gerald Alexander Held (born 19 October 1958) is a German actor. He is internationally best known for his historical depictions, as Walther Hewel in the 2004 film '' Der Untergang'', Robert Mohr in the 2005 film '' Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Ta ...

Literature

Inge Aicher-Scholl Inge is a given name in various Germanic language-speaking cultures. In Swedish and Norwegian, it is mostly used as a masculine, but less often also as a feminine name, sometimes as a short form of Ingeborg, while in Danish, Estonian, Frisian, Ge ...

''Die Weiße Rose.'' Mit Abdruck des Berichtes von Robert Mohr an Robert Scholl

References

External links

* Kirsten Schulz:
Robert Mohr. Kriminalobersekretär bei der Gestapo-Leitstelle in München.
' Ein Artikel publiziert von der Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, bei bpb.de vom 20. April 2005.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohr, Robert 1897 births 1977 deaths People from Donnersbergkreis People from the Palatinate (region) Nazi Party members Gestapo personnel Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class German prisoners of war in World War II held by France