In autumn 1942, Sophie Scholl discovered that her brother Hans was one of the authors of the pamphlets, and joined the group. Ab Februar 1943 tritt die Gruppe auch durch nächtliche Aktionen an die Öffentlichkeit. The German people slumber on in dull, stupid sleep and encourage the fascist criminals. Sophie Scholl – Widerstandskämpferin gegen Hitler, "Nieder mit Hitler!" The group wrote, printed and initially distributed their pamphlets in the greater Munich region. He was personally acquainted with Huber, but there is no evidence that Orff was ever involved in the movement. Gestapo Interrogation Transcripts: Graf & Schmorell (NJ 1704). Within the United States, Sophie Magdalena Scholl is not the best-known resistance fighter, but her story is a powerful one. The White Rose used the written word to call the German people to resist Nazism and to contribute to an end to the Second World War. Wilhelm Geyer taught Alexander Schmorell how to make the tin templates used in the graffiti campaign. 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 crimesâcrimes that infinitely outdistance every human measureâreach the light of day? In July 1943, copies were dropped over Germany by Allied planes, retitled "The Manifesto of the Students of Munich". She was a key member of the Weiße Rose (White Rose)—a resistance group run by students at the University of Munich who distributed leaflets and used graffiti to decry Nazi crimes and the political system, while calling for resistance to the Nazi state and the … This was a time that was particularly critical for the Nazi regime; after initial victories in World War II, the German population became increasingly aware of the losses and damages of the war. Further prosecutions took place until the end of World War II, and German newspapers continued to report, mostly in brief notes, that more people had been arrested and punished. 0 Das Symbol … Darauf antwortete Sophie Scholl laut Vernehmungsprotokoll: "Ich bin nach wie vor der Meinung, das Beste getan zu haben, was ich gerade jetzt für mein Volk tun konnte. They appealed to renounce "national socialist subhumanism", imperialism and Prussian militarism "for all time". Likewise, the asteroid 7571 Weisse Rose is named after the group. Eckard Holler, "Hans Scholl zwischen Hitlerjugend und dj.1.11 â Die Ulmer Trabanten", Puls 22, Scholl, Hans, and Sophia Scholl. They denounced the Nazi regime's crimes and oppression, and called for resistance. In February 1943, the German army had faced a major defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad. Because he did not want to issue too many death sentences in a single trial, he therefore wanted to postpone his judgment against those four until the next day. In den folgenden Monaten verhaftet die Gestapo weiterhin Freunde und Unterstützer der Weißen Rose, und der Volksgerichtshof verhängt Todes- und hohe Freiheitsstrafen. The activities of the White Rose started in the autumn of 1942. Hans Scholl ging es darum, ein "sichtbares Zeichen des Widerstandes von Christen zu setzen". Inge Jens. Membership in both party youth organizations was compulsory for young Germans, although a fewâsuch as Willi Graf, Otl Aicher, and Heinz Brennerârefused to join. Erstmals rufen sie ihre Landsleute dazu auf, den NS-Staat aktiv zu bekämpfen und fragen sie: "Deutsche! Christoph Probst was a member of the German Youth Movement, and Willi Graf was a member of Neudeutschland ("New Germany"), and the Grauer Orden ("Grey Convent"), which were illegal Catholic youth organizations. The report expressed particular concern about the fact that leaflets were not handed in to the Nazi authorities by their finders as promptly as they used to be in the past.[34]. was produced in 6,000â9,000 copies, using a hand-operated duplicating machine. This Russian insight proved invaluable during their time there, and he could convey to his fellow White Rose members what was not understood or even heard by other Germans coming from the Eastern front. ("German Audience!") In Summer 1942, the German Wehrmacht was preparing a new military campaign in the southern part of the East front to regain the initiative after their earlier defeat close to Moscow. It also had a devastating effect on German morale. A musical based upon the activities of the White Rose is in the developmental stages with formal readings in March and May of 2021. Was not this sense of fellowship overpowering? Later on, secret carriers brought copies to other cities, mostly in the southern parts of Germany. Political indoctrination started at a very early age, and continued by means of the Hitler Youth with the ultimate goal of complete mind control. At the last minute, the prosecutor added Traute Lafrenz, Gisela Schertling and Katharina Schüddekopf. Am Ende bezahlten die … liebe leser! [17] Horrified by the Nazi policies, Sophie obtained permission to reprint the sermon and distribute it at the University of Munich. Es lebe die Freiheit! Hans and Sophie Scholl, as well as Christoph Probst were executed by guillotine four days after their arrest, on 22 February 1943. Their studies were regularly interrupted by terms of compulsory service as student soldiers in the Wehrmacht medical corps on the Eastern Front. Under Gestapo interrogation, Hans Scholl gave several explanations for the origin of the name "The White Rose", and suggested he may have chosen it while he was under the emotional influence of a 19th-century poem with the same name by German poet Clemens Brentano. Children were exhorted in school to denounce even their own parents for derogatory remarks about Hitler or Nazi ideology. Ihr Freund Heinz Kucharski, ein Student der Philosophie und Orientalistik, verteilte sie dort mit Hilfe anderer oppositioneller Studenten. [7][42] With the end of communism in the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic in the early 1990s, the Gestapo interrogation protocols and other documents from Nazi authorities became publicly available. 11. in 1934, when he and other Hitler Youth members in Ulm considered membership in this group and the Hitler Youth to be compatible. By the end of January 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad ended with the capitulation and near-total loss of the Wehrmacht's Sixth Army. Alexander Schmorell was an Orthodox Christian. Time period. After her acquittal on 19 April, Traute Lafrenz was placed under arrest again. One of Germany's leading literary prizes is called the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis (the "Scholl Siblings" prize). modifier - modifier le code - modifier Wikidata Sophie Magdalena Scholl , née le 9 mai 1921 à Forchtenberg (Allemagne) et exécutée le 22 février 1943 à Munich , est une résistante allemande au nazisme et l'un des piliers du réseau « La Rose blanche » (Die Weiße Rose) avec son frère Hans . In addition, a group of students in the city of Ulm distributed a number of the group's leaflets and were arrested and tried. Their activities started in Munich on 27 June 1942, and ended with the arrest of the core group by the Gestapo on 18 February 1943. Sie lernten Willi Graf und Hans Scholl während ihres Medizinstudiums 1941/42 an der Münchner Universität kennen. In a letter to his sister Anneliese, Willi Graf wrote: "I wish I had been spared the view of all this which I had to witness. Er wollte am Ende des Krieges nicht "mit leeren Händen vor der Frage stehen, was habt ihr getan". From end of June until mid of July 1942, they wrote the first four leaflets. Coincidentally, on 18 February 1943, the same day that saw the arrests of Sophie and Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels delivered his Sportpalast speech, and he was enthusiastically applauded by his audience. On the contrary, Nazi propaganda used the defeat to call on the German people to embrace "Total War". Hans Scholl and Alex Schmorell had read this novel. Verfügbar bis 19.03.2026. But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty! ", Überlebende deutsche Soldaten verlassen Stalingrad. The square where the central hall of Munich University is located has been named "Geschwister-Scholl-Platz" after Hans and Sophie Scholl; the square opposite to it is "Professor-Huber-Platz". Their activities started in Munich on 27 June 1942, … However, the Gestapo recovered enough of it and were able to match the handwriting with other writings from Probst, which they found when they searched Hans's apartment. Today, the White Rose is well known both within Germany and worldwide. On the German side alone some 230,000 soldiers had lost their lives, about Grimminger was arrested on 2 March 1943, sentenced to ten years in a penal institution for high treason by the "People's Court" on 19 April 1943, and imprisoned in Ludwigsburg penal institution until April 1945. Christoph Probst was baptized a Catholic only shortly before his execution. Zu Hause in München erfährt Sophie Scholl von einer Freundin, dass geistig behinderte Kinder einer Heilanstalt von SS-Männern abgeholt wurden und auf immer verschwunden seien. [9], Willi Graf had already been arrested on 18 February 1943; in his interrogations, which continued until his execution in October 1943, he successfully covered other members of the group. Sophie and Hans' sister Inge Scholl reported about the initial enthusiasm of the young people for the Nazi youth organization, to their parents' dismay:[9]. While Sophie Scholl got rid of incriminating evidence before being taken into custody, Hans did try to destroy the draft of the last leaflet by tearing it apart and trying to swallow it. Das einzige Beweismittel gegen ihn ist ein handschriftlicher Entwurf zu einem Flugblatt, den Hans Scholl bei sich trug, als er verhaftet wurde. They hurriedly dropped stacks of copies in the empty corridors for students to find when they left the lecture rooms. The interrogation protocols were part of the Volksgerichtshof documents, and were confiscated by the Soviet Red Army, and brought to Moscow. Hans Scholl had joined the Deutsche Jungenschaft 1. In total, the White Rose authored six leaflets, which were multiplied and spread, in a total of about 15,000 copies. Diese Aktivitäten wurden verraten, Hans Leipelt, seine Freundin Marie-Luise Jahn und andere Unterstützer im Herbst 1943 verhaftet. Maxwell Brownjohn. was part of this youth movement, founded by Eberhard Koebel in 1929. Since Freisler did not preside over the third trial, the judge acquitted for lack of evidence all but Söhngen, who was sentenced to a six months' term in prison. When the defeat at Stalingrad was officially announced, they sent out their sixthâand lastâleaflet. Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, p.186 Sophie Scholl: The Untold Story, p.99 Leaflet 3 Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, p.94 Leaflet 4 Ibid Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, p.96 Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, p.113 Ibid, p.115 Sophie Scholl: The True Story, p.108 Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, p.117 He met Hans Scholl for the first time in June 1942, was admitted to the activities of the White Rose on 17 December 1942,[21] and became their mentor and the main author of the sixth pamphlet. "[15], In 1941, Hans Scholl read a copy of a sermon by an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime, Catholic Bishop August von Galen, decrying the euthanasia policies expressed in Action T4 (and extended that same year to the Nazi concentration camps by Action 14f13)[16] which the Nazis maintained would protect the German gene pool. These leaflets were left in telephone books in public phone booths, mailed to professors and students, and taken by courier to other universities for distribution. During the trial, Sophie interrupted the judge multiple times. Scholl, her brother Hans, and Christop Probst, members of the White Rose (die Weiße Rose) non-violent resistance movement, were arrested for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets at the University of Munich in February of 1943. [2] By the time of their arrest, the members of the White Rose were just about to establish contacts with other German resistance groups like the Kreisau Circle or the Schulze-Boysen/Harnack group of the Red Orchestra. Auch die Wehrmacht wurde bald jeder politischen Einflussnahme beraubt, Hitlers Expansions- und Vernichtungspolitik entgegenzutreten. The fact that she was a 21-year-old woman ace was not lost on the hero-hungry Soviet media, and soon this colourful character, whom the Germans dubbed " Zu Adolf Hitlers grundlegenden Zielen gehörten von Anfang an die Vernichtung des "jüdischen Bolschewismus" und die Eroberung von "Lebensraum im Osten". Why are you so cowardly that you won't admit it? Trials kept being postponed and moved to different locations because of Allied air raids. Broadway actors have recorded performances of a number of songs from White Rose, The Musical, as part of the workshop phase of the project. It was also speculated that the name might have been taken from either the Cuban poet, Jose Marti's verse "Cultivo una rosa blanca" or a German novel Die WeiÃe Rose (The White Rose), written by B. Traven, the German author of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. New York: Harper & Row, 1987, p. 103. The third White Rose trial was scheduled for 20 April 1943, Hitler's birthday, which was a public holiday in Nazi Germany. His father Hermann was nominally a Catholic, but also a private scholar of Eastern thought and wisdom. The Scholl siblings, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf and Alexander Schmorell were all raised by independently thinking and wealthy parents. The other, across the street, is dedicated to Professor Huber. [23] Some witnessed atrocities of the war on the battlefield and against civilian populations in the East. Die Mitglieder der Weißen Rose wollen ihre Landsleute über den wahren Charakter des Regimes aufklären. [5] In Hamburg, a group of students including Reinhold Meyer, Albert Suhr, Heinz Kucharski, Margaretha Rothe, Rudolf Degkwitz, Ursula de Boor, Hannelore Willbrandt, Karl Ludwig Schneider, Ilse Ledien, Eva von Dumreicher, Dorothea Zill, Apelles Sobeczko, and Maria Leipelt formed as a resistance group against the National Socialist regime and distributed the group's leaflets. Each wants to be exonerated of guilt, each one continues on his way with the most placid, calm conscience. Ich bereue deshalb meine Handlungsweise nicht und will die Folgen, die mir aus meiner Handlungsweise erwachsen, auf mich nehmen.". Conscience gives us the capacity to distinguish between good and evil." grüße! He drew the Scholl siblings' attention to the persecution of the Jews, which he considered sinful and anti-Christian.[20]. Link to an English translation of all seven leaflets: Alexander Schmorell: Gestapo Interrogation Transcripts. Im Juni 1942, nach dem großen Luftangriff auf Köln, schreiben und verteilen Hans Scholl und Alexander Schmorell die ersten Flugblätter. "WeiÃe Rose Stiftung", FJ Müller et al., 1943â2009, This page was last edited on 18 February 2021, at 16:58. As the "Volksgerichtshof" was not bound to the law, but led by Nazi ideology, its actions were declared unlawful in post-war Germany. Both Hans Scholl and Willi Graf were arrested in 1937â38 because of their membership in forbidden Youth Movement organizations. Both Sophie Scholl and Willi Graf attended some of Kurt Huber's lectures at the University of Munich. This leaflet had a circulation of more than 3.000 copies and was sent by mail all around in Germany. The movement aimed at providing free space to develop a healthy life. Die Weiße Rose war eine Gruppe von Münchner Studenten, die insgesamt sechs Flugblätter entworfen und verbreitet hatten, die sich gegen das NS-Regime richteten. Sie beschäftigten sich mit den Kirchenlehrern Augustinus und Thomas von Aquin sowie der Existenzphilosophie des dänischen Denkers Kierkegaard. Als die NS-Führung im März 1939 gegenüber Polen einen immer aggressiveren Konfrontationskurs einschlug, verschärften sich die deutsch-polnischen Spannungen. 18 February 1943. [38] Thus, the activities of the White Rose became widely known in World War II Germany, but, like other attempts at resistance, did not provoke any active opposition against the totalitarian regime within the German population. [12] As Mosse indicated, idealized romantic attachments among male youths were not uncommon in Germany, especially among members of the "Bündische Jugend" associations. Ende 1944 kam die Gestapo auch Mitgliedern der Hamburger Gruppe auf die Spur. Über den Hamburger Zweig war das letzte Flugblatt der Weißen Rose ins Ausland gelangt und im Dezember 1943 von britischen Bombern über Deutschland abgeworfen worden. Es waren die gemeinsamen Fahrten der Hitlerjugend und dem Bund Deutscher Mädels, das Gemeinschaftserlebnis und die Vorstellungen von Vaterland, die die jungen Leute ansprachen. Quoting extensively from the Bible, Aristotle and Novalis, as well as Goethe and Schiller, the iconic poets of German bourgeoisie, they appealed to what they considered the German intelligentsia, believing that these people would be easily convinced by the same arguments that also motivated the authors themselves. The White Rose (die Weiße Rose) was one of the most famous anti-Nazi resistance groups working within the borders of the Third Reich; their defiant opposition against Adolf Hitler and the atrocities and oppression of his government was and is especially remarkable when juxtaposed with the traditional image of … Ein Hausmeister erwischt die Geschwister Scholl, als sie die Flugblätter im Lichthof der Universität verteilen, hält sie fest und übergibt sie der Gestapo. Januar 1945 hingerichtet, Marie-Luise Jahn wurde zu zwölf Jahren Haft verurteilt. The documents concerning Alexander Schmorell still remain in the State Military Archive of Russia, but have been fully transcribed and published in a German/Russian edition.[43]. RGWA I361K-I-8808. [13], After their experiences at the Eastern Front, having learned about mass murder in Poland and the Soviet Union, Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell felt compelled to take action. The Newsletter of the Center for White Rose Studies: "The White Rose Revolt & Resistance www.HolocaustResearchProject.org", "Nazis Execute 3 Munich Students For Writing Anti-Hitler Pamphlets", Stephen Thursby re Karen Painter's 'symphonic aspirations: German music and politics 1900â1945', https://www.ac-paris.fr/serail/jcms/s2_1064115/fr/accueil, https://www.paris.fr/equipements/jardin-hans-et-sophie-scholl-19654, International Music Score Library Project, "Story of courage amid horrors of holocaust", http://white-rose-studies.org/The_Leaflets.html, A collaborative, student-led translation of the six printed leaflets by students at the University of Oxford, translated by students at the University of Oxford, Court testimony, records and documents (English), Center for White Rose Studies â Making the White Rose relevant to the 21st century, Wittenstein, George. She replied: "You know as well as we do that the war is lost. Heinz Kucharski konnte auf dem Weg zur Hinrichtung fliehen. We entered into it with body and soul, and we could not understand why our father did not approve, why he was not happy and proud. Schritt für Schritt war es Hitler Anfang der 1930er Jahre gelungen, Organe und Institutionen des Deutschen Reiches zu unterwandern. Sophie flung the last remaining leaflets from the top floor down into the atrium. Traute Lafrenz adhered to the concepts of anthroposophy, while Eugen Grimminger considered himself a Buddhist. schreibt mir einfach ein paar worte als kommentar. Wollt Ihr und Eure Kinder dasselbe Schicksal erleiden, das den Juden widerfahren ist? His wife Jenny was murdered in the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, presumably on 2 December 1943. [26] The students had become convinced during their military service that the war was lost: "Hitler kann den Krieg nicht gewinnen, nur noch verlängern. In Berlinger spielte er 1975 die Titelrolle eines Unangepassten und Individualisten. Some, but not all, of the White Rose members had enthusiastically joined the youth organizations of the Nazi party: Hans Scholl had joined the Hitler Youth, and Sophie Scholl was a member of the Bund Deutscher Mädel. Youth organizations other than those led by the Nazi party were dissolved and officially forbidden in 1936. Nachdem der innerste Kreis der Weißen Rose ermordet worden war, wurde ihre Arbeit zunächst noch fortgeführt und ihr Gedankengut weitergetragen. Schmaus. Geschwister Scholl: Liebe zu Natur und Literatur. ("Appeal to all Germans!") Memories of the White Rose, Holocaust Rescuers Bibliography with information and links to books about The White Rose and other resistance groups, "White Rose", United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Geschrieben von ihrem Mentor Kurt Huber, einem Professor für Philosophie und Musikwissenschaften, geißelt es die Kriegspolitik Hitlers, welcher in Stalingrad allein auf deutscher Seite 300.000 Soldaten zum Opfer gefallen sind. It was argued that the experience of being persecuted may have led both Hans and Sophie to identify with the victims of the Nazi state, providing another explanation for why Hans and Sophie Scholl made their way from ardent "Hitler Youth" leaders to passionate opponents of the Nazi regime. Hans Scholl, Alexander Schmorell, Christoph Probst, and Willi Graf were medical students. On 5 February 2012 Alexander Schmorell was canonized as a New Martyr by the Orthodox Church. This is a paraphrase of Newman's sermon, "The Testimony of Conscience. The three were executed the same day by guillotine at Stadelheim Prison. With the fall of Nazi Germany, the White Rose came to represent opposition to tyranny in the German psyche and was lauded for acting without interest in personal power or self-aggrandizement. Voraussetzung dafür war ein Krieg gegen Polen. In total six leaflets were printed and distributed by the White Rose. The documents were distributed between the Central Archive of the communist Socialist Unity Party of Germany and the archive of the Ministry for State Security. Alexander Schmorell, Professor Kurt Huber und Willi Graf werden ebenfalls zum Tode verurteilt, die anderen zu Haftstrafen.