White Rose

In the early summer Hans Scholl of 1942 Alexander Schmorell, a group of students at the University of Munich formed to escape the influence of National Socialism and preserve their intellectual independence. Among them are , Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst . Willi Graf Their university professor Kurt Huber influenced them to discuss fundamental questions of political reordering. In the summer of 1942, the first flyers of the White Rose called for resistance to the criminal dictatorship. Two more flyers followed in the winter of 1942/43.

The students also try to build contacts in other cities. In Ulm, a group of students forms around Hans Hirzel, who Sophie Scholl maintains contact with him. On February 18, 1943, Hans and Sophie Scholl the sixth flyer leave the University of Munich and are arrested in the process.

The Scholl brothers and Christoph Probst others were sentenced to death on February 22, 1943, Alexander Schmorell Willi Graf and murdered the same day. In Kurt Huber April 1943, the „Volksgerichtshof“ sentenced further accomplices and informers, including members of the Ulm group, to long prison terms.

In Hamburg, too, a group formed in 1942 that had connections with the Munich students through Traute Lafrenz and Hans Leipelt. In the autumn of 1943, the Gestapo uncovered the activities of this Hamburg group and arrested more than 20 people. In the following years, ten more opponents of the regime from the Munich and Hamburg branches of the White Rose were murdered or driven to their deaths.

© Memorial to the German Resistance