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Warren Commission Hearings: Vol. IX - Page 175« Previous | Next »

(Testimony of George S. De Mohrenschildt)

Mr. Jenner.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. There were some exceptions. Most of the people there were members of the aristocracy, Polish aristocracy, and German aristocracy, who happened to have estates in Poland. But we had some exceptions. But they did not survive later on. They were eliminated, not because of the snobbishness, but it was a pretty tough training, and you needed money to be in that school. You had to have a uniform, you have to have your own horse.
Mr. Jenner.
Now, where did you get the funds to finance it?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, my father had this estate, sales of land from that estate, and he also was--now, this I forgot to mention about my father. He started originally as a professor in the gymnasium, then became a government official with the Czarist government. So he was always--always liked to teach.
Mr. Jenner.
You are taking us back to Russia for a moment?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Back to Russia for a moment; yes. So now his profession as a government official was no good--neither his experience as a director of Nobel Enterprises was not much good. So he became a professor and a director of the gymnasium, the Russian gymnasium.
Mr. Jenner.
That is the high school?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. High school, in Wilno. You know--where the immigrants send their children. And he was director of it for a number of years. I don't remember what exact years. I guess until 1929 or 1930. I didn't go to the same school, by the way. I went to a different school.
Mr. Jenner.
You mean you went to a school different from the one in which he was teaching?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; in order not to be under my father's---not supervision, but also that school did not give the rights in Poland, by the way-- did not have the rights in Poland to go to a university in Poland or to serve a short military term, because it was a refugee school, conducted in the Russian language. So I went to a Polish school, had to learn the Polish language, and finally graduated.
Mr. Jenner.
Did I mention Polish as one of the languages of which you have a command?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. And, therefore, it was very important, because the military service for the people graduating from nonaccepted schools was 4 years, or something like that, and for the ones who graduated from the official school it was, I think, a year and a half.
Mr. Jenner.
Now, how long were you in the military academy?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. A year and a half.
Mr. Jenner.
And this would take us, then, to the middle of 1931.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. 1931; yes.
Mr. Jenner.
And you had reached what, if any, rank in the military service?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I reached candidate officer--sergeant candidate officer, an intermediate rank between an officer and noncommissioned officer. The highest you can get after you get from the military academy.
Mr. Jenner.
Just before as in this country you are about to be commissioned a second lieutenant?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That is right. Except that you are not completely a soldier--you are not a noncommissioned officer, you are not a commissioned officer. You are about to be commissioned a lieutenant.
Mr. Jenner.
I see. All right. Now, you didn't pursue that?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No, no. It was just a reserve. You see, it gives you a reserve rank which you can pursue by going back to maneuvers, and pursue that.
Mr. Jenner.
Now, there are some indications that you did return.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. Jenner.
Now, tell me what you did in that connection?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, I went to school, then to Belgium--I was free now to go to school to Belgium. And I went to Institut Superieur de Commerce a Anvers.
Mr. Jenner.
The translation of that is the institute of higher commercial studies, Antwerp, Belgium. When attending the institution of higher commercial studies in Antwerp, you returned to Poland, did you, from time to time?
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