Sophie Scholl and the White Rose
On February 22, 1943, three German students from Munich University were executed. They were accused of acts of high treason and subversive propaganda for having repeatedly distributed leaflets. Among them was Sophie Scholl, a young woman barely 20 years old, who would become a symbol of resistance and courage in the face of Hitler’s murderous madness.
Table of contents
The origins of the “White Rose”
Munich, 1942. In this city, the birthplace of National Socialism and with its unquestionably reactionary past, a small group of German resistance fighters is formed. The “White Rose” was born out of an uncontrollable desire to stand up against totalitarianism.
Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans recruited into the Hitler Youth
Two of the members of the group are siblings. Hans and Sophie Scholl had a relatively ordinary childhood. Like most German children, they joined the Hitler Youth, but quickly became alienated from Nazi ideology. This was due to their deeply religious upbringing, which was opposed in every way to the doctrines advocated by Hitler. While Hans began studying medicine at Munich University, Sophie became a childminder. Between 1940 and 1941, she performed work and auxiliary service, imposed by the regime on all young people in the country. From 1942 onwards, she studied biology and philosophy at Munich University, where she joined her brother.
Two students witness unbearable atrocities
In the early summer of 1942, Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell, one of his friends, were sent to the Eastern Front as medical students in the service of the Wehrmacht. The atrocities at the front – they witnessed the treatment of Jews and Soviet prisoners – left a lasting impression on them. Back in Munich, they began to write leaflets and became known as the “White Rose”. They drew up the first four leaflets and mailed them to Munich intellectuals (writers, professors, doctors, etc.). Their task was to reproduce them and circulate them as widely as possible.
And the University of Munich in turmoil
As time went by, various people joined the duo. Kurt Huber, their philosophy professor at university, Sophie Scholl, Hans’s sister, and Willi Graf and Christoph Probst, medical students, soon joined them. Together, they formed the core of the group, around which various contacts and supporters gravitated. Together they drafted the fifth and sixth leaflets.
“Students! Students! The German people are looking to us! They expect us […] to overthrow the Nazi terror. […] The dead of Stalingrad implore us! We rise up against the enslavement of Europe by National Socialism, in a new affirmation of freedom and honour!
Extract from the sixth and last leaflet of the “White Rose”.
The latest “White Rose” leaflet
The “White Rose” produced a total of six leaflets. The sixth and final leaflet was printed in over 2,000 copies for distribution by post in the winter of 1942-43. It commented on the defeat of the Third Reich army at Stalingrad. More than that, it was a call to collective awareness, inviting the country’s youth to mobilise. More and more major German and Austrian cities are affected by the group’s demands: Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Vienna and even Berlin.
On 18 February 1943, the group still had some leaflets that had not been sent by post. Hans and Sophie Scholl decided to take them to the University to distribute them. Before leaving, Sophie threw a volley of leaflets over the University hall in an uncontrolled burst of energy. The concierge witnessed this and reported them to the Gestapo. They were arrested and imprisoned in Stadelheim prison, where they were interrogated at length.
22 February 1943, a speedy trial
After several stormy interrogations, the People’s Tribunal for Political Crimes convened for a trial on 22 February 1943. Presided over by Roland Freisler, a former Communist who had become one of the most brutal Nazi leaders, the trial lasted just three hours. Freisler himself sentenced the three young students to death for high treason, subversive propaganda, complicity with the enemy and demoralising the military forces.
Weakened by long hours of interrogation, and with a broken leg as a result of one of them, Sophie Scholl faces Roland Freisler with indescribable courage. On the same day, just a few hours after the sentence was announced – despite German law allowing 99 days before the execution of a condemned man – Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst were executed by beheading.
A few months later, a second trial condemned Kurt Huber, Alexander Schmorell and Willi Graf to death. Many other members of the “White Rose” (friends of the Scholls, students who came to their aid, sympathisers, etc.) were sent to the concentration camps for complicity, often losing their lives in the process.
Other women in the German Resistance
Sophie Scholl was far from the only German woman to take a stand against Hitler’s National Socialism. Within the “White Rose”, several young women, friends and relatives joined the leading members. Among them was Traute Lafrenz, a friend of Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst, who helped distribute leaflets, particularly in Hamburg. She was arrested twice by the Gestapo and imprisoned for some time.
Other resistance groups, such as the “Cercle de Kreisau” and the “Orchestre Rouge”, included women among their ranks. Active from 1938 to 1944, the “Cercle de Kreisau” was founded by Helmuth James von Moltke, whose wife Freya von Moltke was heavily involved. Her husband was convicted of treason and executed, but she managed to escape. The “Red Orchestra” was the name given to several groups whose common denominator was that they were in contact with the Soviet Union. Mildred Harnack was one of them, but was executed alongside her husband, also for acts of treason. The same fate befell another woman affiliated to the “Red Orchestra”, Libertas Schulze-Boysen.
These women are just a few examples of all the women in Germany and around the world who fought relentlessly against Nazi oppression and barbarism. Sophie Scholl’s youth and bravery make her a symbol of this struggle, which has seen many of its heroes die out. Despite its relatively short existence – barely a year – the “White Rose” remains a powerful image of the battle waged by young people for their freedom and that of their country.
The Normandy Victory Museum’s thematic exhibition “The role of women during the war” features many women of all nationalities, both civilian and military, resistance fighters, war heroes and everyday heroines. Don’t miss this fascinating tour (tickets on sale here).
Freya Von Moltke
To go further…
- A France Culture article on the White Rose and the lecture given on the subject at the Musée du Quai Branly in 2019
- An article published on the “Raconte moi l’histoire” blog, which explains the story in language more appropriate to a young audience.
- The children’s book “Mon amie Sophie Scholl” by Paule Du Bouchet
- The book by Inge Scholl – La Rose Blanche “Six allemands contre le nazisme” published by Editions de Minuit
- The comic saga “Women in the Resistance” published by Casterman, Volume 2 of which tells the story of Sophie Scholl (available in the museum shop and online).
- “Sophie Scholl : Les derniers jours” film directed by Marc Rothemund in 2005 – Read the review here
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