The White Rose Movement
The White Rose Movement
The White Rose movement opposed Hitler, Nazi rule and World War Two.
The White Rose movement is probably the most famous of the civilian
resistance movements that developed within Nazi Germany but some of its
members paid a terrible price for their stand against the system.
The White Rose movement was made up of students who attended Munich University. Its most famous members were Hans and Sophie Scholl.
Members of the White Rose movement clandestinely distributed anti-Nazi
and anti-war leaflets and it was while they were in the process of doing
this that they were caught.
Nazi Germany was a police state.
Whether it was true or not, people believed that informants were
everywhere. To keep secrecy, membership of the White Rose movement was
extremely small. It produced anti-war leaflets that were also deemed to
be anti-Nazi. What those in it did was extremely dangerous. If they were
captured they would have been charged with treason with the inevitable
consequences. That is why the group had to be kept very small – everyone
knew each other and each was convinced of the loyalty of everyone in
the group.
The
White Rose movement was active between June 1942 and February 1943. In
that time they made six anti-war/anti-Nazi leaflets, which were
distributed in public. Member also engaged in a graffiti campaign within
Munich.
One of the leaflets entitled “Passive Resistance to National Socialism” stated:
“Many,
perhaps most, of the readers of these leaflets do not see clearly how
they can practise an effective opposition. They do not see any avenues
open to them. We want to try to show them that everyone is in a position
to contribute to the overthrow of the system. It can be done only by
the cooperation of many convinced, energetic people – people who are
agreed as to the means they must use. We have no great number of choices
as to the means. The only one available is passive resistance. The
meaning and goal of passive resistance is to topple National Socialism,
and in this struggle we must not recoil from any course, any action,
whatever its nature. A victory of fascist Germany in this war would have
immeasurable frightful consequences. We cannot provide each man with
the blueprint for his acts, we can only suggest them in general terms.
Sabotage in armaments plants and war industries, at all gatherings,
rallies and organisations of the National Socialist Party…………….convince
all your acquaintances of the hopelessness of this war………………and urge
them to passive resistance.”
Another
leaflet was called “To the fellow fighters in the resistance”, which
was written in February 1943, after the German defeat at Stalingrad.
“The
day of reckoning has come – the reckoning of German youth with the most
abominable tyrant our people have ever been forced to endure. We grew
up in a state in which all free expression of opinion is ruthlessly
suppressed. The Hitler Youth,
the SA, the SS have all tried to drug us, to regiment us in the most
promising years of our lives. For us there is but one slogan: fight
against the party. The name of Germany is dishonoured for all time if
German youth does not finally rise, take revenge, smash its tormentors.
Students! The German people look to us.”
It
was while leaflets were being distributed at Munich University that
Hans and Sophie Scholl were arrested by the Gestapo. They had already
distributed many White Rose leaflets that they were carrying. However,
Sophie and Hans realised that they had not distributed all of them. As
so much trouble was taken to produce these leaflets, they decided that
they would ensure that the rest were also distributed. They were seen
throwing the leaflets around the university’s atrium by a caretaker
called Jakob Schmid and he contacted the Gestapo. This occurred on
February 18th 1943. The Scholl’s were literally carrying all the evidence needed by the Gestapo.
Both
Hans and Sophie admitted their full responsibility in an attempt to end
any form of interrogation that might result in them revealing other
members of the movement. However, the Gestapo refused to believe that
only two people were involved and after further interrogation, they
gained the names of all those involved who were subsequently arrested.
Sophie, Hans and Christoph Probst were the first to be brought before the People’s Court on February 22nd 1943. The People’s Court had been established on April 24th
1934 to try cases that were deemed to be political offences against the
Nazi state. Invariably these trials were nothing more than show trials
designed to humiliate those brought before it, presumably in the hope
that such a public humiliation would put off anyone else whom might be
thinking in the same way as the condemned. All three were found guilty
and sentenced to death by beheading. The executions took place the same
day.
More trials took place on April 19th and July 13th
1943 when other members of the White Rose movement were brought before
the People’s Court. Not all of them were executed. The third trial (July
13th) was not presided over by the infamous Roland Freisler
and the main witness – also on trial (Gisela Schertling) – withdrew her
evidence that she had given during her interrogation. As a result, the
judge acquitted all of those on trial that day with the exception of
one, Josef Soehngen, who was given 6 months in prison.
Before
World War Two in Europe ended, the final leaflet produced by the White
Rose movement was smuggled out of Germany and handed to the advancing
Allies. They printed millions of copies of it and dropped them all over
the country.
December 2011
MLA Citation/Reference
"The White Rose Movement". HistoryLearningSite.co.uk. 2011. Web.Recommended for you
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