Life under Adolf Hitler during the 1930’s and 1940’s was anything but liberating. Those who spoke out against him were punished or retaliated against, and criticism was left unheard. For students and those not involved with the direct military actions of the Nazi Party, speaking their mind, as youth often do, was prohibited. Nevertheless, that did not stop the brave few from speaking out against something they believed to be harmful and detrimental to their beloved Deutschland.
Sophie Scholl is one such person – one who stood up for her beliefs painfully aware of the cost that her stance might involve. She and a group of others, including students and a professor, started a group called the White Rose. This resistance group understood the implications and disastrous results of having Adolf Hitler as a dictator of their country, and they did everything possible to bring awareness to citizens who turned a blind eye to what was going on. The theory or excuse that Germans were unaware of the atrocities the Nazi Party was responsible for putting upon the Jews and other undesirable’s shows to be false, and the White Rose is a key element in proving it. Within the short amount of time the White Rose was in action, the information they spread as students offers clear indications that it would have been impossible for a majority of German citizens to have been so ignorant of the plight against their own neighbors.
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Sophie Scholl was one of five children born to Robert and Magdalene Scholl. Born in 1921, Sophie grew up with her family in the German town of Ulm, on the Danube River. She was a bright student, with a special talent for the arts and music. She was very close with her brother, Hans, who would also grow up to be an integral part of the White Rose group. Growing up, Sophie and Hans spoke about everything, including art, literature, music and even current events. Sophie developed a strong character, one that would give her the strength to carry on in the White Rose. She was known as a person who stood up for what was right and she always spoke her mind.
Growing up in the heart of Germany during the tumultuous times following World War I, Sophie and her family began to witness a transformation taking place within the country. By 1932, Adolf Hitler had become a well-known name, one that was attempting to raise Germany out of the ashes it had fallen into. Not long after 1932, Hitler and his Nazi party became a powerful group in Germany. Once Hitler came into power during 1933, life was different for everyone. The nationalist ideas of the Nazi Party affected even the children, and like thousands of children just like them, the Scholl children joined the Hitler Youth. Sophie joined the Union of German Girls. At this time, Sophie was 12 years old and her brother Hans was 15. Like their friends, they were excited to take part in this important time in history and thought that what they were doing was for the unified efforts of their beloved country.
At first, these Nazi youth organizations seemed a good opportunity for children to gather and congregate with friends in a organized fashion. However, the messages they taught were meant for everyone but children. The idea behind these groups was to influence children to think about the Nazi Party and ideology in a positive way, and re-enforce that Germans were superior to all other races. The children in these groups were also taught to feel pride at the thought of fighting for the Nazi party. At first, these groups were voluntary, but after 1939 they became required for all those of the “Aryan” race. The German Youth group Hans Scholl belonged to was banned in 1933, along with other youth organizations, since they branched off into other interests such as music and literature. The influence of this group had a lasting impact on Hans.
The parents of Hans and Sophie were not in favor of these organized youth groups from the beginning, but they allowed their children the freedom in expressing a desire to join. The liberal views of their father, Robert, had an impact on the children in that he did not seem all that impressed with Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party. Reality of the Nazi party struck Hans when he was chosen to carry the Hitler Youth flag of Ulm in the 1936 Nazi rally in Nuremberg. Although the rally was a gallant show of pride and unity, Hans was not so impressed. He came back home disappointed at the lack of passion between the people. In his opinion, they acted as though they were robots for a cause. The military drills and movements had nothing in them but a shallow sense of pride. Sophie was also beginning to realize that her Jewish friends were being treated differently than others, and that they were forbidden to do many things she was able to do. This event was a turning point for Sophie, because she believed in objective and impartial attitudes, which were everything Germany was not at that time.
While in college, Hans was a member of the Student Corp, which required its students to perform military service during their time away from school. In this setting, Hans met many young men in the service who were critical of Hitler and his Nazi party. With these people, Hans began to study religion and philosophy, and his feelings against Hitler and the Nazi’s were changing for the worse. They saw firsthand how the Nazis were trying to control them, and they were firm in their beliefs that everyone should have individual freedom as well as personal responsibility.
At the same time, Sophie was beginning to form the same ideals. In 1937, Sophie met a German soldier by the name of Fritz Hartnagel, and they became close friends. This friendship was an important part of Sophie’s life, and she expressed how she felt that Hitler should lose the war, since it was the only way Germany would be saved. After becoming an apprentice kindergarten teacher in Ulm, she was required to spend six months in a labor camp, as was the obligation of all high school graduates before they went off to college. In 1942, after she completed her service and went back home to Ulm, she proceeded to Munich to study biology and philosophy in college.
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The White Rose started to form after Sophie and Hans Scholl began to discuss the abuses the Nazi party was putting on the people of Germany with their close friends. Unlike many common citizens, those who were sent to serve in various locations during their military service saw the unspeakable horrors that the Nazi party was responsible for. Such discussions were to be kept strictly amongst themselves, and even then they had to fully trust the people they were talking to, for fear of punishment or being sent to a concentration camp as punishment for speaking out against Hitler’s Germany. Hans and his new friends had found an ally in their professors, Carl Muth and Theodor Haecker. They discussed the situation very often.
In 1942, the group grew more aware that some action needed to taken against the Nazi party. Jews were being deported in mass numbers and killings were becoming more frequent. That same year, the students in Munich officially formed the White Rose. The first thing the group hoped to do was to share with other citizens that many people actually opposed Hitler and his Nazi Party. The first and foremost goal of the group was to provide information about the man leading the country, and to question if he was all that he seemed. In June of 1942, Hans and a member of the White Rose, Alexander Schmorell, distributed the first of six leaflets to bring awareness to the people of Germany.
This first leaflet was titled, “Leaflets of the White Rose”. It denounced those citizens who accepted Hitler without knowing what he stood for, and encouraged those people to resist the Nazis instead. While the first leaflet was being distributed, Sophie joined the group. Her brother was not so sure he wanted her to be involved in such a dangerous operation. That did not stop Sophie though, and she began to make and pass out the leaflets as well as manage the financial part of the White Rose.
The leaflets were passed out in secrecy to individuals, who did not know where they came from. During the summer, three more leaflets were made and distributed around with the same title to individuals randomly chosen from the phone book, and placed in public places. This second leaflet was an important one. It described to the citizens information that the Nazis were deliberately keeping from them; about the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews. Despite efforts to keep such actions a secret, a friend of a member in the White Rose had seen the atrocities take place when on his military service. He had seen the shootings, the crematoriums and the concentration camps.
Leaflets three, four and five spread the message that called on the citizens to sabotage the war effort to keep Hitler from winning. They proclaimed that war was not the answer and was considered evil. These leaflets were written to divulge the truth about the Nazi regime and the crimes being committed against Jews and Polish citizens, as well as taking away the personal freedom of the Germany people.
Since being caught with a leaflet meant punishment, many citizens who found them turned them over immediately to the Gestapo. After the first four leaflets were distributed, police began to search luggage from train station, tap phone lines and censor mail to determine where they were coming from. The police were able to determine thorough investigation that the leaflets were somehow associated with the University in Munich.
In January of the following year, the five main members of the White Rose, including Hans and Sophie, went to their Philosophy professor Kurt Huber and discussed with him their work in the resistance group. He agreed with them, and decided to support them as well. The sixth and final leaflet was written by him, and used his philosophical background to denounce the actions of the Nazi party. This leaflet was released after the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad, and the message of Huber was toward students to turn against the leader that led them to defeat.
At that point, the leaflets had made their way into many cities within Germany and were numbering around 8,000 copies per printing. Gestapo were looking for the producers of these leaflets, and it was becoming increasingly dangerous to be involved. In order to stay awake for long hours to print and prepare the leaflets, the group took stimulants for energy. Perhaps their long hours and lack of clear thinking may have been the reason they eventually got caught. Despite the Gestapo having some indication that the leaflets were being made in Munich, the group was able to get at least five leaflets printed and distributed before the situation grew increasingly risky and dangerous.
Rewards were offered to citizens for tips or information regarding members of the White Rose. Police, Gestapo and many citizens began searching train stations in various cities. In mid-February, Hans and Sophie Scholl carried a suitcase full of leaflets through the university. During a class session, Sophie and Hans placed the leaflets throughout the halls, trying to hurry before class let out. After class had let out, Sophie realized she still had some leaflets in her suitcase and ran to a balcony to throw them out over the inner courtyard of the university. Unfortunately, the custodian saw them, and turned both Hans and Sophie into the University President and Professor of Aryan language and culture, Dr. Walter Wuest. The Gestapo were called and it was determined that Sophie and Hans were responsible for the creation of the leaflets. They were subsequently arrested.
After their apartments were searched, all member of the White Rose were arrested and tried for their crimes. They all received guilty verdicts. They were put to death by guillotine, and buried in Perlach Cemetery in Munich on February 24.
Even though the main members of the White Rose had been executed, other resistance groups continued to spread the message they had started. Some used their own messages, and others used leaflets printed by the White Rose themselves. The leaflets found their way around Germany, ending up in concentration camps. Some were even found by soldiers outside Germany. The legacy of the White Rose lives on for many throughout the world. This small group of students bravely stood up for something they believed in, even when others turned their back. The actions of the White Rose and their intense desire for secrecy for fear of reprisals proves that many in Germany were aware of what was going on, even if they chose to be ignorant and pretend it was not happening.
The White Rose is an example of the strength of just a few individuals to stand up against some of the most evil people in the world, and they did it knowing what the outcome would likely be. Their message was for equality and personal freedom, and they realized that their rights as a nation were being taken away. History has shown that the very few who stood up for a cause with resistance groups stood out with their actions against the millions of people that turned away from it.
