"Little known facts and overlooked history"
in other words, it's a weekly eMail I subscribe too and this week the topic is?
The White Rose
By The White Rose Foundation
QUOTE
Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst,
executed for participation in a resistance movement
against the Nazi regime through the White Rose.
When a German medical student and soldier named Jürgen
Wittenstein introduced two young men in the fall of 1940,
he had no way of knowing his friends would make history and
forever be remembered as heroes.
By the summer of 1942, Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell
were at the center of a close-knit group of friends who
shared the same ideals and interests in medicine, music,
art, theology and philosophy. They soon recognized their
shared disgust for Adolf Hitler, the Third Reich and the
Gestapo. Hans and Alex were soon joined by Christoph Probst
(a level-headed, married soldier and father of three who
was loved by everyone who knew him) and Willi Graf (another
medical student and a devout Catholic who never joined the
Hitler Youth and refused to acknowledge those who did). And
there was Sophie, Hans Scholl's younger sister who joined
Hans and his friends at the University to study biology and
philosophy. These friends, sometimes joined by popular
philosophy professor Kurt Huber, Jürgen Wittenstein and
others, formed the heart of The White Rose.
Hans and Alex acted alone at first, writing and duplicating
an editorial leaflet with the heading: "Leaflets of The
White Rose". The piece was scathing in its criticism of
every-day Germans who sat back and did nothing to combat
the Third Reich. The leaflet went on to suggest "passive
resistance" as the best way to silently encourage the down-
fall of the "government". Three more leaflets quickly
appeared, all with the same heading: "Leaflets of The White
Rose". Each of these documents was more hard-hitting than
the last, while more and more friends of Hans and Alex began
to contribute. Two final leaflets appeared, one in January
1943 and the last around February 18th. These were headed
"Leaflets of the Resistance".
The members of The White Rose worked day and night, cranking
a hand-operated duplicating machine thousands of times to
create the leaflets which were each stuffed into envelopes,
stamped and mailed from various major cities in Southern
Germany. Recipients were chosen from telephone directories
and were generally scholars, medics and pub-owners (which
seemed to puzzle the Gestapo -- but who better to spread the
word or post a leaflet!). While Hans and Alex alone drafted
the first four leaflets, they counted on Christoph Probst to
comment and criticize. Jürgen edited the third and fourth
leaflets and traveled to Berlin with the dangerous
documents. Willi contributed to the fifth leaflet and did a
generous amount of leg- work, getting supplies and trying to
recruit support outside of Munich. Sophie worked hard at
getting stamps and paper (one couldn't buy too many stamps
at one place without arousing suspicion) and also managed
the group's funds. Kurt Huber contributed to the fifth
leaflet and solely drafted the sixth (and final) leaflet,
while Hans was apprehended with a rough-draft of a seventh
leaflet written by Christoph Probst. All members traveled
throughout Southern Germany (and beyond) to mail stacks of
leaflets from undetectable locations. Hundreds of leaflets
were also left at the University of Munich, carefully hand-
delivered in the middle of the night.
On three nights in February 1943 -- the 3rd, 8th and 15th --
Hans, Alex and Willi conducted the most dangerous of all the
White Rose activities. The three men used tar and paint to
write slogans on the sides of houses on Ludwigstrasse, a
main thoroughfare in Munich near the University. They wrote
"Down With Hitler", "Hitler Mass Murderer", "freedom", and
drew crossed-out swastikas... this while policemen and other
officials patroled the streets of Munich. It was, by far,
the most public, blatant and dangerous of their activities.
It isn't certain why Hans and Sophie Scholl brought a suit-
case full of leaflets to the University during the day on
Thursday, February 18, 1943. Upon reaching the University,
they passed Willi Graf and friend, Traute Lafrenz, who were
leaving.
They made plans to meet later in the evening, never mention-
ing the leaflets in the case. Together, Hans and Sophie
entered the deserted atrium which, in minutes, would be
flooded with students exiting lectures and classes. They
worked quickly, dropping stacks of Kurt Huber's leaflets
throughout the corridors. With time running out, the brother
and sister hurried outside to safety. Then they noticed
there were still leaflets left in the suitcase. Deciding it
would be silly not to leave the few extra documents, they
returned to the atrium, climbed a grand marble staircase to
the upper level of the hall and Sophie flung the last of
the leaflets high into the air.
Sophie herself explained it this way: "It was either high
spirits or stupidity that made me throw 80 to 100 leaflets
from the third floor of the university into the inner court-
yard." The dozens of pieces of paper glided freely, landing
in a shower at the feet of students who suddenly poured out
of lecture halls into the atrium. And standing somewhere in
the crowd was Jakob Schmidt, University handyman and Nazi
party member, who saw Hans and Sophie with the leaflets.
The police were called, the doors were locked, and Hans and
Sophie apprehended and taken into Gestapo custody. By some
accounts, Hans and Sophie had plenty of time and could
easily have escaped before the Gestapo arrived. Jakob
Schmidt became a momentary Nazi hero and was cheered at
rallies after the capture of White Rose members.
Today, there are many memorials of the White Rose throughout
Munich and their story is known to every German. The White
Rose may have been silenced too early but their words echo
on...
"Freedom!"
Now you know the history, and why this forum is called
The White Rose Society
Master Bens Website.
Link
More Links
The White Rose
The Original Leaflets
Wikipedia
The History Place
Jewish Virtual Library
Holocost History
A Protest of Youth
The White Rose
The Movie!
