The White Roses Defy the Nazis
Students and Professor Start White Rose Group to Defy Nazi Regime
Munich Students Sophie and Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst started the White Rose Movement to oppose the Nazi government. Professor Kurt Huber joined them.
"Isn’t it true that every honest German is ashamed of his government these days? 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 – crimes that infinitely outdistance every human measure – reach the light of day?" From the first leaflet of the White Rose
On February 22, 1943, the day that Sophie and Hans Scholl and their friend Christoph Probst were beheaded for defying the Nazis, British and Americans celebrated George Washington’s birthday at Sulgrave Northhamptonshire, and Americans destroyed German tanks in Tunisia. In Nazi Germany, the first of the three trials of the White Rose, the Anti-Nazi passive resistance group, took place in Munich. German People’s Court Judge Roland Freisler found Hans and Sophie School and Christoph Probst guilty and sentenced them to be beheaded the same day, February 22, 1943.
Hans and Sophie Scholl Passively Resist Hitler’s Regime
Like many German teenagers in the 1930s, Hans and Sophie Scholl enthusiastically joined the Hitler Youth because they believed that Adolf Hitler had taken the German people from humiliating defeat back to greatness. Their parents weren’t quite as idealistic. Robert Scholl told his children that Hitler and the Nazis were leading Germany down a destructive road.
When they were students at the University of Munich, Hans, 24, a medical student and Sophie, 21, studying biology and philosophy, gradually realized that their father ‘s words were prophetic. They became convinced that Hitler and the Nazis were enslaving and destroying the German people in the name of freedom and the salvation of Germany. They also realized that they couldn’t directly oppose Hitler and the Nazis. Most Germans took the position that every citizen had a duty to support German troops by supporting the government. Hans and Sophie argued that citizens had a duty, even in war time, to stand up against an evil regime, especially one killed thousands of its own citizens.
Hans and Sophie shared their philosophy with their friends Christoph Probst, 22, a medical student, Alexander Schmorell, and Willi Graf. Suddenly, in 1942, leaflets began to appear at the University of Munich, containing an anonymous essay alleging that the Nazi system had been slowly imprisoning and destroying the German people. The essay urged the Germans to resist the tyranny of their government. Besides the students, a professor and a citizen were involved. Eugen Grimminger, a citizen of Crailsheim, financed the printing of the pamphlets and the Scholl’s psychology and philosophy professor Kurt Huber edited some of the pamphlets and wrote the last one.
The first leaflet and the five that followed energized the student body because this was the first time that anyone had dared disagree with the Nazi regime from within it. The White Rose members risked their lives publishing dissenting opinion because the Gestapo quickly and efficiently smashed internal dissent. Hans and Sophie Scholl and their friends wrote and distributed six leaflets between 1942 and 1943. The first four appeared under the title of "The White Rose," and the last two under "Leaflets of the Resistance."
The Gestapo Arrests the Scholls and Christoph Probst
The Gestapo agents seethed with anger. They knew that the White Rose bought large amounts of paper, envelopes, and postage and used a duplicating machine. No matter how hard they tried, the Gestapo agents couldn’t catch the White Rose members.
Then on February 18, 1943, Nazi custodian Jakob Schmid saw Sophie throwing the last of a suitcase full of pamphlets that she and Hans had brought to the University of Munich into the air and he called the police. Sophie and Hans were arrested and soon they police discovered that Christoph Probst was involved as well. The three young people were indicted for treason.
The trial began on February 22, four days after the Gestapo arrested them. Roland Freisler, chief justice of the People’s Court of the Greater German Reich came from Berlin to preside over the trial. The court called no witnesses, because the defendants had admitted their guilt. The entire trial consisted mostly of Freisler denouncing the defendants and ranting divine retribution and eternal damnation on their heads.
Roland Freisler Sentences the Scholls and Probst to Death
Roland Freisler couldn’t understand why these young people who had come from solid German families, attended German schools and had been members of the Hitler Youth had turned traitor. Sophie defiantly told Roland Freisler, "Somebody after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare to express themselves as we did."
Before the trial ended, Robert and Magdalene Scholl, the parents of Hans and Sophie tried to enter the courtroom and eventually Robert Scholl forced his way in and told the court that he was there to defend his children. A guard seized and forcibly escorted him outside, but the entire courtroom heard him shout, "One day there will be another kind of justice. One day they will go down in history!"
Roland Freisler declared the three defendants guilty of treason and sentenced them to death by guillotine. They were escorted back to Stadelheim Prison. The prison guards were so impressed with the calm and bravery of the prisoners in the face of impending death that they violated regulations by permitting them to have one last meeting with each other and the Scholls with their parents.
No relatives visited Christoph Probst. His wife was still in the hospital after giving birth to their third child and neither she nor any other family members knew that he was on trial or had been sentenced to death Sophie went to the guillotine first. An observer said that she walked to her death "without turning a hair, without flinching." Her last words were "Die Sonne scheint noch," which translates as "The Sun still shines."
Christoph Probst was next. Hans Scholl, the last cried out just before he was beheaded, "Long live freedom!"
The Gestapo continued to relentlessly hunt down White Rose members and a second and third trial took place. After the second trial on April 19, 1943, Alexander Schmorell and Professor Kurt Huber were beheaded on July 13, 1943, and Willi Graf on October 12, 1943. Eugen Grimminger was sentenced to ten years in a penitentiary for financing the printing of the pamphlets.
German Jurist Helmuth James Graf von Moltke smuggled a copy of the sixth leaflet out of Germany through Scandinavia to the United Kingdom. In mid 1943, the Allied Forces dropped millions of copies of the tract, retiled The Manifesto of the Students of Munich, over Germany.
References
Axelrod, Toby. Holocaust Biographies; Hans and Sophie Scholl: German Resisters of the White Rose. Saddleback Educational, 2000
Hanser, Richard. A Noble Treason: The Revolt of the Munich Students Against Hitler. Putnam, 1979
McDonough, Frank. Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of the Woman Who Defied Hitler. The History Press, 2010
Newborn, Jud, and Dumbach, Annette. Sophie Scholl and the White Oneworld Publications, 2007
School Inge. The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943. Wesleyan, 1983
Professor Kurt Huber Gives His Life for the White Rose
Munich Students Sophie and Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst started the White Rose Movement to oppose the Nazi government. Professor Kurt Huber joined them.
"Isn’t it true that every honest German is ashamed of his government these days? 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 – crimes that infinitely outdistance every human measure – reach the light of day?" From the first leaflet of the White Rose
On February 22, 1943, the day that Sophie and Hans Scholl and their friend Christoph Probst were beheaded for defying the Nazis, British and Americans celebrated George Washington’s birthday at Sulgrave Northhamptonshire, and Americans destroyed German tanks in Tunisia. In Nazi Germany, the first of the three trials of the White Rose, the Anti-Nazi passive resistance group, took place in Munich. German People’s Court Judge Roland Freisler found Hans and Sophie School and Christoph Probst guilty and sentenced them to be beheaded the same day, February 22, 1943.
Hans and Sophie Scholl Passively Resist Hitler’s Regime
Like many German teenagers in the 1930s, Hans and Sophie Scholl enthusiastically joined the Hitler Youth because they believed that Adolf Hitler had taken the German people from humiliating defeat back to greatness. Their parents weren’t quite as idealistic. Robert Scholl told his children that Hitler and the Nazis were leading Germany down a destructive road.
When they were students at the University of Munich, Hans, 24, a medical student and Sophie, 21, studying biology and philosophy, gradually realized that their father ‘s words were prophetic. They became convinced that Hitler and the Nazis were enslaving and destroying the German people in the name of freedom and the salvation of Germany. They also realized that they couldn’t directly oppose Hitler and the Nazis. Most Germans took the position that every citizen had a duty to support German troops by supporting the government. Hans and Sophie argued that citizens had a duty, even in war time, to stand up against an evil regime, especially one killed thousands of its own citizens.
Hans and Sophie shared their philosophy with their friends Christoph Probst, 22, a medical student, Alexander Schmorell, and Willi Graf. Suddenly, in 1942, leaflets began to appear at the University of Munich, containing an anonymous essay alleging that the Nazi system had been slowly imprisoning and destroying the German people. The essay urged the Germans to resist the tyranny of their government. Besides the students, a professor and a citizen were involved. Eugen Grimminger, a citizen of Crailsheim, financed the printing of the pamphlets and the Scholl’s psychology and philosophy professor Kurt Huber edited some of the pamphlets and wrote the last one.
The first leaflet and the five that followed energized the student body because this was the first time that anyone had dared disagree with the Nazi regime from within it. The White Rose members risked their lives publishing dissenting opinion because the Gestapo quickly and efficiently smashed internal dissent. Hans and Sophie Scholl and their friends wrote and distributed six leaflets between 1942 and 1943. The first four appeared under the title of "The White Rose," and the last two under "Leaflets of the Resistance."
The Gestapo Arrests the Scholls and Christoph Probst
The Gestapo agents seethed with anger. They knew that the White Rose bought large amounts of paper, envelopes, and postage and used a duplicating machine. No matter how hard they tried, the Gestapo agents couldn’t catch the White Rose members.
Then on February 18, 1943, Nazi custodian Jakob Schmid saw Sophie throwing the last of a suitcase full of pamphlets that she and Hans had brought to the University of Munich into the air and he called the police. Sophie and Hans were arrested and soon they police discovered that Christoph Probst was involved as well. The three young people were indicted for treason.
The trial began on February 22, four days after the Gestapo arrested them. Roland Freisler, chief justice of the People’s Court of the Greater German Reich came from Berlin to preside over the trial. The court called no witnesses, because the defendants had admitted their guilt. The entire trial consisted mostly of Freisler denouncing the defendants and ranting divine retribution and eternal damnation on their heads.
Roland Freisler Sentences the Scholls and Probst to Death
Roland Freisler couldn’t understand why these young people who had come from solid German families, attended German schools and had been members of the Hitler Youth had turned traitor. Sophie defiantly told Roland Freisler, "Somebody after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare to express themselves as we did."
Before the trial ended, Robert and Magdalene Scholl, the parents of Hans and Sophie tried to enter the courtroom and eventually Robert Scholl forced his way in and told the court that he was there to defend his children. A guard seized and forcibly escorted him outside, but the entire courtroom heard him shout, "One day there will be another kind of justice. One day they will go down in history!"
Roland Freisler declared the three defendants guilty of treason and sentenced them to death by guillotine. They were escorted back to Stadelheim Prison. The prison guards were so impressed with the calm and bravery of the prisoners in the face of impending death that they violated regulations by permitting them to have one last meeting with each other and the Scholls with their parents.
No relatives visited Christoph Probst. His wife was still in the hospital after giving birth to their third child and neither she nor any other family members knew that he was on trial or had been sentenced to death Sophie went to the guillotine first. An observer said that she walked to her death "without turning a hair, without flinching." Her last words were "Die Sonne scheint noch," which translates as "The Sun still shines."
Christoph Probst was next. Hans Scholl, the last cried out just before he was beheaded, "Long live freedom!"
The Gestapo continued to relentlessly hunt down White Rose members and a second and third trial took place. After the second trial on April 19, 1943, Alexander Schmorell and Professor Kurt Huber were beheaded on July 13, 1943, and Willi Graf on October 12, 1943. Eugen Grimminger was sentenced to ten years in a penitentiary for financing the printing of the pamphlets.
German Jurist Helmuth James Graf von Moltke smuggled a copy of the sixth leaflet out of Germany through Scandinavia to the United Kingdom. In mid 1943, the Allied Forces dropped millions of copies of the tract, retiled The Manifesto of the Students of Munich, over Germany.
References
Axelrod, Toby. Holocaust Biographies; Hans and Sophie Scholl: German Resisters of the White Rose. Saddleback Educational, 2000
Hanser, Richard. A Noble Treason: The Revolt of the Munich Students Against Hitler. Putnam, 1979
McDonough, Frank. Sophie Scholl: The Real Story of the Woman Who Defied Hitler. The History Press, 2010
Newborn, Jud, and Dumbach, Annette. Sophie Scholl and the White Oneworld Publications, 2007
School Inge. The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943. Wesleyan, 1983
Professor Kurt Huber Gives His Life for the White Rose