Introduction to "White Rose"
Inspired by a true story.
“If we believe in absurdities, soon we shall commit atrocities.”
Radhakrishnan
Between June 1942 and February 1943, a small group of students (and one professor) at Munich University wrote and clandestinely distributed six leaflets calling for the overthrow of Hitler and the Nazis. They called their project “The White Rose.”
SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, mistakenly thinking the leaflet campaign was part of a treasonous nation-wide movement, launched a special task force that captured and literally beheaded the members of the White Rose.
Today, those White Rose members are memorialized throughout Germany; hundreds of streets, parks, and schools bear their names, their faces grace postage stamps, and they are celebrated in an annual Peace Festival in their honour.
The story of the White Rose recreated here is based on a wide range of resources including: dozens of books (both fiction and non-fiction), published letters and diaries, Gestapo interrogation transcripts, scholarly studies and dissertations, oral histories, movies, documentaries, and theatrical plays.
However, there are so many unanswered questions and discrepancies surrounding the characters and events of the White Rose that this author, like others, must use some degree of literary licence while also trying to maintain historical accuracy. I believe the phrase “inspired by a true story” best reflects the contents and method used in this re-telling of the story of the White Rose.
My purpose, apart from sharing their story, is to celebrate the COURAGE of a handful of individuals who stood up against a tyrannical regime of terror. Their story should be an inspiration in today’s era of complacency, self-absorption, and cowardice.
The principle characters in this story are here briefly introduced:
Hans Scholl: With movie-star good looks, Hans was a troop leader in the Hitler Youth movement and carried his city’s banner in front of Adolph Hitler at the 1935 Nuremberg rally. But by 1942 he had become disillusioned with the Nazi regime, and initiated the White Rose movement in the summer of 1942. At that time he was a 24-year-old medical student at Munich University, and from July to November he saw action on the Eastern Front as a Medic in the German Army. Captured and convicted of high treason, Hans Scholl was beheaded in Stadelheim Prison on February 22, 1943.
Alex Schmorell: Half-Russian by birth, Alex was Hans Scholl’s closest collaborator in the White Rose movement. Alex (called Schurik by his friends) was, like Hans, a 24-year old medical student at Munich University and saw action on the Eastern Front from July to November 1942 as a Medic in the German Army. Briefly escaping the Gestapo dragnet, Alex was captured during an allied bombing raid. Convicted of high treason, Alex Schmorell was beheaded in Stadelheim Prison on July 13, 1943.
Sophie Scholl: Sophie, the younger sister of Hans Scholl, was a philosophy student at Munich University during the 9-month operation of the White Rose. She assisted in duplicating and distributing the White Rose leaflets, sometimes travelling by train and mailing the pamphlets between cities in order to confuse the Gestapo. She was captured and convicted of high treason, and beheaded in Stadelheim Prison on February 22, 1943.
Kurt Huber, PhD: Professor of Philosophy, Psychology, and Musicology at Munich University, Kurt Huber provided moral support for the White Rose students and wrote their sixth and last leaflet, stating “the day of reckoning has come.” He was captured and convicted of high treason, and beheaded in Stadelheim Prison on July 13, 1943.
Willi Graf: Like Hans Scholl and Alex Schmorell, Willi Graf was a 24-yr old medical student at Munich University and saw action on the Eastern Front from July to November 1942 as a Medic in the German Army. A deeply spiritual individual, Willi Graf made many dangerous train journeys, traversing the country and distributing leaflets, as well as recruiting new White Rose members in other German cities. He was captured and convicted of high treason, but his execution was postponed for seven months during which the Gestapo continued to “interrogate” him, but to his great credit Willi Graf refused to divulge a single name to his tormentors. He was beheaded in Stadelheim Prison on October 12, 1943.
Christopher Probst: During this period Chris (called Christel by his friends) was a 24-year old medical student at Munich University, who, like Hans Scholl, Alex Schmorell, and Willi Graf, saw action on the Eastern Front from July to November 1942 as a Medic in the German Army. Unlike the others, Chris was married with 3 young children, and in fact did not actively participate in the White Rose movement, except for producing a single handwritten page for the next planned leaflet. He was captured and convicted of high treason, and beheaded in Stadelheim Prison on February 22, 1943.
Robert Mohr: Mohr had been a policemen and detective for 23 years when he was assigned by Heinrich Himmler to head the Gestapo’s Special Task Force to find and destroy the White Rose movement (which Himmler mistakenly thought was a widespread national conspiracy). Mohr was an unusual Gestapo member who refused to wear the black SS uniform, and was a deeply-conflicted man with an ominous secret.
Roland Freisler: A former Communist, Freisler went to extraordinary lengths to prove his new-found devotion Hitler and the Nazis. He participated as a lawyer beside Adolf Eichmann at the infamous 1942 Wannsee Conference (which planned the “final solution of the Jewish problem”). He was subsequently appointed as the President of the “People’s Court” presiding over “political crimes.” It was Freisler - a rabid, screaming sadist who wore blood-red robes in court - who sentenced the White Rose members to death by guillotine.
Good to know of their existence and what happened to them. Sort of like what happened in other authoritarian regimes of whatever stripe - Communist, Socialist, Capitalist, Nationalist, Fascists, ...
Amazing courage.