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The White Rose

by Varun from Washington

“It is certain that today every honest German is ashamed of his government. Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes ... reach the light of day?” — From the White Rose’s first leaflet. The White Rose was a German anti-Nazi group tried to show the world the evil truth behind what the Nazis were doing. The White Rose consisted of five students, — Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans Scholl, Alex Schmorell, Willi Graf, and Christoph Probst, all in their early twenties — and a professor of philosophy, Kurt Huber. Between June 1942 and February 1943, they prepared and distributed six different leaflets, in which they called for an end to Nazi oppression and tyranny through active opposition of the German people. A seventh leaflet was found in possession of the students at the time of their arrest by the Gestapo. Quoting extensively from the Bible, Lao Zi, Aristotle and Novalis, as well as Goethe and Schiller, they appealed to what they considered the German intelligentsia, believing that they would be intrinsically opposed to Nazism.

At first, the leaflets were sent out in mailings from cities in Bavaria and Austria, since the members believed that southern Germany would be more receptive to their anti-militarist message. The group's members were also influenced and supported by their Christian beliefs; Sophie and Hans, for example, became more and more convinced by Roman Catholicism, and Alexander Schmorell, whose mother was Russian, was a devout Russian Orthodox.

In January 1943, using a hand-operated duplicating machine, the group is thought to have produced between 6,000 and 9,000 copies of their fifth leaflet, "Appeal to all Germans!", which was distributed via courier runs to many cities (where they were mailed). Copies appeared in Stuttgart, Cologne, Vienna, Freiburg, Chemnitz, Hamburg and Berlin. Composed by Hans Scholl with improvements by Huber, the leaflet warned that Hitler was leading Germany into the abyss; with the gathering might of the Allies, defeat was now certain. The reader was urged to "Support the resistance movement!" in the struggle for "Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and protection of the individual citizen from the arbitrary action of criminal dictator-states". These were the principles that would later form "the foundations of the new Europe". But back then, there were people who saw no problem in a dictatorship. They did not think people of a different religion deserved to be treated the same as someone who believed in a more popular religion. These people were the same who later saw no harm in killing innocent lives; lives of Jews, communists, trade-unionists, and many more. The Nazis thought that these people were inferior.

On the nights of the 3rd, 8th, and 15th of February 1943, the slogans "Freedom" and "Down with Hitler" appeared on the walls of the University and other buildings in Munich. Alexander Schmorell, Hans Scholl, and Willi Graf had painted them with tar. The shattering German defeat at Stalingrad at the beginning of February provided the occasion for the group's sixth leaflet, written by Huber. Addressed to "Fellow students!” it announced that the "day of reckoning" had come for "the most contemptible tyrant our people have ever endured". As the German people had looked to university students to help break Napoleon in 1813, it now looked to them to break the National Socialist terror.

On February 18, 1943, coincidentally the same day that Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels called on the German people to embrace total war in his Sportpalast speech, the Scholls brought a suitcase full of leaflets to the university. They hurriedly dropped stacks of copies in the empty corridors for students to find when they flooded out of lecture rooms. Leaving before the class break, the Scholls noticed that some copies remained in the suitcase and decided it would be a pity not to distribute them. They returned to the atrium, climbed the staircase to the top floor, and Sophie flung the last remaining leaflets into the air. This spontaneous action was observed by the custodian Jakob Schmied. The police were called and Hans and Sophie were taken into Gestapo custody. The other active members were soon arrested, and the group and everyone associated with them were brought in for interrogation.

The Scholls and Christoph Probst were the first to stand trial before the Volksgerichtshof — the so-called People's Court that tried political offenses against the Nazi German state — on February 22, 1943. They were found guilty of treason and Roland Freisler, head judge of the court, sentenced them to death. "We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace.” The White Rose was a very idealistic group because of their ethics. They were very empathetic and saw that what the Nazis were doing was wrong, cruel, and very immoral. The White Rose did the right thing and tried to show the world the truth about the Nazis. The White Rose tried to fight the Nazis with words which is a reason for us to remember them. Even though the White Rose is gone, their ideas, beliefs, and actions are still alive. They are — and should be — respected to this day.

Bibliography:
Websites
1. Website: http://www.jlrweb.com/whiterose/ Creator: Jenna _______? This website helped me by giving background information on each main person in the White Rose.
Books
2. Books: The White Rose Author: Inge Scholl This book was more general than the website on the White Rose but it still gave important information and insights.

Page created on 6/27/2007 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 6/27/2007 12:00:00 AM

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