Trip report: Spargelfest

Brief overview

Last week, I headed to Philadelphia for the annual Spargelfest — asparagus festival —sponsored by the German American Chamber of Commerce. I have long valued my association with the GACC, especially with its Philadelphia chapter. They do networking right.

After dealing with a mild case of food poisoning the night before the event, I went with no expectations. The carshare driver was late, traffic was awful, which meant I got the last seat in the banquet hall at Brauhaus Schmitz.

That turned out to be exactly the right seat. To my left, Richard Gilley, IP attorney. I talked the poor man’s ear off. Since three of the people who plagiarized my work are in Germany, that was a serendipitous meeting.

Across the table, David Owen, a logistics guy with strong SAP background. Not only did we have a great deal in common on the business side of things, he also has a passion for history. I simply must learn more about his family’s home in Malvern, built in 1714. They must have stories that should be told.

Next to him, Jack Milley, an international studies student at Seton Hall. I enjoy opportunities to talk to young adults whose dreams and lives loom large ahead of them. I didn’t get a chance to tell Jack this yet, but one of my favorite students who wrote correctly and with great insight about White Rose, and whose conversations I treasured, was a Seton Hall student. Madeleine pondered the question, “Was it a revolution?”

I also briefly spoke with Douglas Hager, owner of Brauhaus Schmitz. If you are hankering for really good German food, I highly recommend that restaurant. Especially for Old Town Center City, the prices are reasonable. And while much of the menu contains pork products, there are options for vegetarians and people who keep kosher or halal. I loved that Weihenstephaner is among their thirty-four beers on tap.

My question for Doug: Would Brauhaus Schmitz be willing to work with us on our Hillel-Stammtisch recipes project? His tentative yes (depending on schedule) was far more than I expected when I left Gettysburg for Philly on Tuesday.

And I managed to make my way to the BDO Seidman table. I am still looking for translation projects to supplement our White Rose work, to keep bills paid and wolves away from the door.

Finally, a huge Dankeschön to Susanne Johnson, Executive Director of the Philadelphia chapter of the GACC. She made me feel every bit as important as the large contingent from BDO Seidman. And ensured that all those simple leaflets made their way to the right people. And did it all with grace and aplomb.

Why Spargelfest?

I took along a modest handout, since Center for White Rose Studies is relatively unknown in business circles. Text included the answer to exactly that question. Good thing too, because it was frequently asked.

Here then is the text the attendees read last week. I smiled while writing it, and am smiling again. Memories of Erich and Hertha Schmorell always make me smile.

February 1995, six months after I started researching White Rose resistance, my mom and I put our businesses on hold to travel to Germany for 3-1/2 months of research. I’d made advance plans with Franz Josef Müller to meet the White Rose families after the Gedächtnisrede in Munich. Only — he reneged.

About ten days later, I received an abrupt, harsh letter from Inge Aicher-Scholl that explained Müller’s rudeness. Without knowing me (I had written nothing at that point), she refused an interview and instructed Müller and others at the Weiβe-Rose-Stiftung to similarly shun me. My research was dead in the water, I thought.

Müller did give me contact information for two families he said wouldn’t talk to me. Erich and Hertha Schmorell, ‘der is do a alt Boar und mag Amis net so sehr.’ And Fritz and Elisabeth (nee Scholl) Hartnagel, because, well, Inge’s sister.

I happened to be staying with friends in Gemeinde Bad Heilbrunn, Kreis Tölz. Wrote both the Schmorells and Hartnagels from that address and received immediate positive response. Both apparently because Inge wouldn’t grant me an interview! And Erich Schmorell, because he couldn’t believe an American had discovered his favorite town. Turns out he volunteered at the Klinik in Heilbrunn.

Erich and Hertha insisted on feeding us every time we interviewed them. We lucked into Spargel season. Hertha cooked the BEST asparagus! Once, we offered to treat them to asparagus in a restaurant. ‘Why? Hertha’s is better!’ We ate in.

In less than a week, the Schmorells had written letters of introduction to all the families and friends who were not granting interviews because of Inge’s heavy-handed censorship. “Talk to Denise! She’s the real deal!”

Not only did the Hartnagels sit with us, but Elisabeth also ensured that I got a copy of the 40+ testimonial letters that Inge had quashed over the years. ‘In case she destroys them before she dies…’

Among those documents: A letter from Alexander Schmorell’s defense counsel, sent to Inge, one that she had never shared with a soul. I forwarded it to Erich and Hertha. They were moved to read Dr. Deisinger’s words about Erich’s half-brother. Words that made me, and them, cry. Words about Schurik’s death.

These days, when I see — or eat! — white asparagus, my thoughts return to Erich and Hertha, their lovely home in Pasing. The laughter, the tears, the joy, the sorrow, the memories.

White asparagus, wine, and people who became family. Why Spargelfest? To honor Erich and Hertha Schmorell.

Mission statement

I also included our mission statement. It’s in the About section on our Web site. But worth including here as a reminder of why we do what we do, and what we hope to accomplish.

The Center for White Rose Studies is dedicated to preserving the memories of those who courageously opposed the crimes of National Socialism, using their lives and work as a springboard to address the issues of informed dissent in a civilized society.

We strive to accomplish this mission through multi-faceted programs:

Digging for “lost” or hard-to-find archival information on lesser-known German, Jewish, Polish, French, Russian, Dutch, Albanian, and other freedom fighters during the Shoah, and translating documents into English for American researchers.
Assembling historians and other experts to annual conferences, centering on the topic of resistance movements in the Third Reich and practical applications of their actions in 21st century global politics. (On hold pending funding.)
Distributing research materials by recognized scholars and young historians in the area of research into primary source documents.
Establishing a research facility and library that will act as living museum to the words and ideas of those who died or were arrested for the courage of their convictions.
Providing assistance to public school teachers who wish to use the White Rose resistance movement as a pedagogic tool in German, Hebrew, social studies, civics, world history, and interdisciplinary courses.
Encouraging dialog between the Jewish and German communities, building on the good foundation of works as diverse as Aktion Sühnezeichen: Friedensdienste; Stiftung ZURÜCKGEBEN; the German American Chamber of Commerce; DIG (the German-Israeli chamber of commerce); and, various university Holocaust Studies programs. Our “cooking” project fosters shared meals between Hillel and Stammtisch on college campuses.

How to support our work

It probably doesn’t hurt to now and again remind you, the Substack readers I sincerely care about and whose input and encouragement means the world to me, that we are a nonprofit and rely on contributions, as well as indirect support through our translations, genealogy, and business processes work.

You can give to our general fund. Alternately, you can support a specific project, e.g., Helle Hirsch, Helmuth Hübener, the Munich Gestapo project, Shades of Grey, or Aligned Churches. List of top ongoing projects here.

Alternately, let us do your translation projects! German to English: Financial, administrative, legal, immigration, genealogy. Translations Verbatim was founded on November 7 (!), 1989. Satisfied customers included the German Treuhandanstalt, Fulbright & Jaworski, Sheinfeld Maley & Kay, Dr. Reginald Chelvam, Hebert Hertzog, Howard Itz, Houston Chronicle, Lou Romatowsky, Pat Ludtke, Advanced Nautical Products, and Spring Branch Independent School District.

Translations Verbatim information — including what makes us special — is here. Pricing is on the page. We don’t try to hide our rates.

If your company needs procedure guides, process analysis, Intro to Business in America, or related, contact us! No “life coaching” or team building. Serious about business.

Closing notes

Two things stayed with me long after I returned to Gettysburg.

First, I feel certain that in that room, people of many political persuasions were represented. Opposing viewpoints, when expressed, were never nasty. There was one common goal among the attendees: How to grow our businesses, whether big firms like BDO Seidman, or nonprofits like Center for White Rose Studies, or students not yet graduated but thinking ahead.

We talked about the effects of tariffs on imports. How supply chain would be impacted. Changing IP law surrounding AI. What intellectual property theft is. The overlap of history with current events (yes, that has a bearing on business!). We shared contact information, pointed one another to good partners not present.

Contrary to what I am experiencing in Gettysburg, the evening was one of mutual respect and cheering one another on. Building relationships. Brainstorming with perfect strangers. Thinking about ways we can do business together (and yes, nonprofits are businesses — we just look to donors to “buy in” to our mission by means of donations).

This is what it looks like when business people root for one another’s success, unsiloed.

If you need this form of networking, and you are in or near a big city, please see if a branch of the German American Chamber of Commerce is close by. GACC is also good about joint events with other international Chambers. That’s how I found out about the German-Israeli Chamber of Commerce. That’s how I was introduced to Swedish businesses, to British, to Norwegian. GACC opens the door to a network of bilateral and multilateral trade and cultural exchange on a level that’s rare in our splintered world.

The second takeaway is one that is still simmering.

My carshare driver going back to the hotel — I stayed in Collegeville-Phoenixville to save money — was an affable young man. Initially we talked business. He and a business partner are establishing a new company. They are slogging through the startup project, but he needs money now. So he drives at night after working all day.

He had a delightful accent, so I asked where he’s from. He’s lived in the USA for forever and is 100% legal, but his family hails from Kenya. Me: Are you worried about what is going on now?

That started a half-hour of conversation that was both uplifting and depressing. “K” is indeed worried sick. Despite being legal. Despite paying taxes. Despite contributing to our economy.

His take on current events was one of the most erudite I’ve heard in a long while. “K” understands our legal system, our judicial system, what is expected of the three branches of government, states’ rights, history, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, and more — far better than most of the talking heads on television.

We didn’t agree on everything, which made the conversation even more interesting. His views on the role of a Vice President? Something I had not thought about in as much depth. Should we change that role? What should, could be our expectations? Is it tradition only, or constitutional?

When we reached the hotel — far too quickly! — I gave him my business card. Told him that I am anything but an immigration attorney, but that should anything bad happen, he should contact me. I will see what I can do, what help I can provide.

Thinking about that conversation, the danger he is in, took me right back to White Rose. To Willi Graf, who gave up his seat on a streetcar to a forced laborer, though doing so could have cost him his life. To Alexander Schmorell and Nikolay Daniel Nikolaeff-Hamazaspian, who took food and succor to Russian POWs and forced laborers in Munich, though doing so could have cost them their lives. To Hans Hirzel and his friends, who interviewed Polish forced laborers in Ulm and memorialized their stories, though doing so could have cost them their lives. To Traute Lafrenz and Eugen Grimminger, who spirited Jewish neighbors out of Germany, though doing so could have cost them their lives. To Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell, who buried Russian soldiers, though doing so could have cost them their lives.

The true, un-whitewashed White Rose story continues to matter, persists on mattering in our twenty-first century, because they fought against injustice. They fought for liberty. They put their lives on the line on behalf of human beings who were being unfairly treated, whose freedoms were abridged, who were being trampled underfoot.

They did not fight on behalf of democracy, or federalism, or the monarchy, or Communism, or anarchy. They fought on behalf of freedom and justice for all.

And so should we.

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Image credits: Top photograph--Chowing down at Brauhaus Schmitz. Spargelfest, June 4, 2025. Second photograph--The menu! Photos © 2025 Denise Elaine Heap. Please contact us for permission to use. Bottom photograph--Shopify, public domain for platform users.

The above information is fully footnoted in our White Rose histories. Please purchase them for access to that material! To order digital version of White Rose History, Volume I: Coming Together (January 1933-April 30, 1942), click here. To order digital version of White Rose History, Volume II, click here. WRH1 is © 2002, 2003, 2007 by Denise Elaine Heap. WRH2 is © 2002, 2007 by Denise Elaine Heap.

No part of this post, Web site, or translations contained herein may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the copyright holder, except for the “fair use” of quotations that are properly cited and credited, including identification of the translator if applicable. No part of this post, Web site, or translations contained herein may be included in any Large Language Model without proper licensing from the copyright holder, Denise Elaine Heap.