75 Years: White Rose

 

75 Years ago today (February 22, 1943) Hans Scholl (24 years old), Christoph Probst (23 years old) and Sophie Scholl (21 years old) were guillotined by the Nazis for their role in the anti-Nazi resistance group, The White Rose. The members were mostly students at the University of Munich. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for passive opposition to the Nazis regime. They had been horrified by the behavior of the Germans on the Eastern Front where they had witnessed a group of naked Jews being shot in a pit. On February 18, 1943 Sophie and Hans distributed the pamphlets personally at 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 and 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 Schmid. 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. On February 22, 1943. The trial was run by Roland Freisler, head judge of the People’s Court, and  lasted only a few hours, they were convicted of treason and sentenced to death. Only hours later, the court carried out that sentence by guillotine. All three faced their deaths bravely, Hans crying out his last words, “Long Live Freedom.”Later that same year, other members of the White Rose -- Alexander Schmorell (25 years old), Willi Graf (25 years old), and Kurt Huber (49 years old) -- were tried and executed. Most of the other students convicted for their part in the group's activities received prison sentences. Prior to their deaths, several members of the White Rose believed that their execution would stir university students and other anti-war citizens into a rallying activism against Hitler and the war.  Accounts suggest, however, that university students continued their studies as usual, citizens mentioned nothing, many regarding the movement as anti-national. Their actions were mostly dismissed, until after the war when their efforts were eventually praised by the German consciousness. I took the one picture outside the University of Munich in Germany. It is the White Rose Memorial. The other picture is of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst.