The White Rose Society

The Year 12 students who studied ‘Schindler’s List’ have asked lots of questions about life in Nazi Germany and whether there was resistance to the regime. One notable example of opposition to Hitler and the Nazis was the ‘White Rose Society’ which was a resistance group of almost 300 students. The ‘White Rose Society’ was a spontaneous revolt of idealistic young people, students and professors who had had enough of the evil of the Nazi regime.

The leaders of the group were students at Munich University – Hans Scholl, Christof Probst and Alex Schmorell who were medical students and Sophie Scholl, a student of philosophy and biology. Kurt Huber, their older mentor was a professor of philosophy, psychology. Later they were joined by George Wittenstein another medical student who was the only one of them who survived the war. The rest of the society came from not only Munich but also many other German universities.

They started in their first political activity in the summer of 1942 when they wrote four pamplets. The leaflets were dropped in public telephone boxes and posted to students and professors all over Germany. In this way, the anti-Nazi ideals of the society were spread throughout universities all over the country. Some leaflets found their way to the Gestapo, and the secret police sought out their source.

The Gestapo could listen to any phone call or open any letter, and their spies were searching passenger trains, so even carrying the leaflets in trains was a risk. The leaflets began to be transported by female students, who were less likely to be checked by the Gestapo.

The origin of the group’s name is not clear, but the historian Zeller wrote that the colour white represented pureness. The leaflets written by the group were described as the “leaves of the white rose”. They attacked the Nazi regime and denouncing its crimes. They highlighted the mass extermination of Jews, the murder of the intellectual elite and the elimination of the personal freedom of the German people. The leaflets contained quotes from great philosophers and writers like Goethe, Nobalis, Aristotle and Law Tso and they were aimed at the intellectuals in society.

On the 18th February 1943, Hans and Sophie Scholl entered the university with a bag of leaflets. After they spread them in the halls and lecture rooms, they climbed to the roof and threw the rest onto the university gardens. The Gestapo arrested them.

Hitler’s reaction was swift and they were tortured by the Gestapo. A “people’s court” was opened in Munich and Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Christof Probst were the defendants. They were sentenced to death and that same day; Hans, Sophie and Christof went to the guillotine. In the few seconds before the execution Christof shouted: “We will meet each other in a few minutes!” and Hans responded: “Long live the freedom!”

Alex Schmorell tried to escape to Switzerland, but returned because of deep snow. He was betrayed by a former girlfriend and was arrested during an air raid in Munich. He was sentenced to death along with Wily Graf and Professor Huber. Hundreds of people connected with the “white rose” were arrested and sentenced to different punishments. The only man that stayed alive after the war was George Wittenstein, he was tried again after he tried to help a Jewish woman to escape from Germany, but he was found not guilty and set free. He was sent to the Russian front, got wounded and went back to Germany.

To read the pamphlets click the picture below.