St Alexander of Munich (Schmorell), New Martyr

Commemorated on July 13.

Saint Alexander of Munich — Alexander Schmorell — was born on 16 September 1917 in Orenburg, Russia, and was baptised in the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1921 his family fled Russia and settled in Munich, where he grew up holding fast to his Orthodox faith and his love for the land of his birth.

A medical student, Alexander was conscripted as an army medic but refused to swear the oath to Hitler. In Munich he met Hans Scholl, and together they founded the White Rose, a student resistance circle whose leaflets appealed to Christian conscience in calling the German people to stand against the National Socialist regime; Alexander was co-author of the first four leaflets. Sent to the Russian front as a medic, he attended Orthodox liturgies there and cared for the wounded of both armies alike.

After the arrest and execution of Hans and Sophie Scholl, Alexander too was captured. On 13 July 1943, at twenty-five years of age, he was executed by guillotine in Munich, urging his family in his final letters to never forget God.

On 5 February 2012 he was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and is venerated as Saint Alexander of Munich. His holy relics rest in the city of his martyrdom, and his memory is kept on the 13th of July.