81: White Rose

 81 years ago today (February 22, 1943) the Members of the White Rose (German: Weiße Rose) were put to death.

(Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst – 1940s.)

The Group conducted an Anonymous Leaflet and Graffiti Campaign that called for active opposition to the Nazi Regime. Their activities started in Munich on June 27, 1942; they ended with the arrest of the core group by the Gestapo on February 18, 1943.

They, as well as other Members and Supporters of the Group who carried on distributing the pamphlets, faced show trials by the Nazi People's Court (Volksgerichtshof); many of them were sentenced to Death or Imprisonment.

The Group wrote, printed and initially distributed their pamphlets in the greater Munich region. Later on, secret carriers brought copies to other cities, mostly in the southern parts of Germany.

In July 1943, Allied Planes dropped their sixth and final leaflet over Germany with the headline The Manifesto of the Students of Munich. In total, the White Rose authored six leaflets, which were multiplied and spread, in a total of about 15,000 copies.

They denounced the Nazi Regime's crimes and oppression and called for Resistance. In their second leaflet, they openly denounced the persecution and mass murder of the Jews.

Hans Scholl (aged 24 years old) and Sophie Scholl (aged 21 years old), as well as Christoph Probst (aged 23 years old with a Pregnant Wife and a Child) were executed by Guillotine four days after their arrest, on February 22, 1943.

In the end, 29 People were accused of being Members of the White Rose. 16 were executed, and 13 were given Prison Sentences ranging from 6 months to 10 years.

Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, Christoph Probst and the other Members of the White Rose didn’t have their Arrests and Death Sentences voided in Germany until 1998.

The last Surviving member of The White Rose, Traute Lafrenz, who turned 100 years old on May 3, 2019 and was rewarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on that same date, died on March 6, 2023 in South Carolina, USA.