Saturday, July 07, 2007


The White Rose - The Legacy of Hans and Sophie Scholl

The White Rose is a resistant group in Nazi Germany run by Hans Scholl, his sister Sophie Scholl and close friends Christoph Probst, Willi Graf and Alexander Schmorell. The group published leaflets that denounces the Nazi Government and spoke all its evils. At that time, such propaganda would receive a death sentence, but the group carried on. They posted the leaflets in mailboxes all across Munich, gave them out in schools and distributed them in the streets. The group borrowed a studio from a painter, and cranked out leaflets endlessly. Then, they gave them to the public. This went on for quite a long while, until a small mistake led to them being caught.

On the 18th February, 1943, Hans and Sophie went to Munich University with a suitcase stuffed with what would be their last leaflets. They quickly put stacks on leaflets behind classroom doors, throughout the corridors and on windowsills. When they were about to go, Sophie found out that there were some leaflets left. She hastily threw them down to the first floor, but the timing was wrong. Students had already come out of their lecture rooms. Jakob Schmied, a custodian who was loyal to the Nazi Party, saw them and locked the university doors. They submitted to him and were arrested by the Gestepo, who took them to court. They were questioned for seventeen hours as the Gestepo wanted to make an example out of them. Sophie Scholl said during the hearing “What does my death matter if by our action thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”

On February 22, 1943, they were put on trial. After three and a half hours, the court pronounced them guilty. They were beheaded immediately. Before he was beheaded, Hans shouted “Long live freedom”. This brave action would be sure to stay in peoples hears to know. In front of the Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich, a monument commences them to this day. Anyway, although they are dead, their legacy lives on.