The White Rose was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students and one professor at the University of Munich. The group conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign that called for the active opposition to the Nazi Regime. Their activities started on the 27th of June, 1942 and ended by the Gestapo on the 18th of February, 1943.

The intentions of the pamphlets were to inform the German public and fellow university students of the wrongdoings committed by the Nazi party and to urge resistance. Hans Scholl, the founder of the White Rose, used a typewriter to create the first four pamphlets with the help of a fellow classmate, Alexander Schmorell, during the summer of 1942.

Hans Scholl was originally involved in a Nazi youth movement but began to grow critical of the Nazi regime when he had to stand trial for homosexuality and for being a member of a banned youth group. Fellow classmates Alexander Schmorell, Christoph Probst, and Willi Graf were also prominent members of the underground resistance group. After witnessing the terror inflicted on the Jews by Nazi officials, the group decided to continue their anonymous campaign against Hitler and his tyrannical form of government through the distribution of information that was critical of the war.

Sophie Scholl was Han’s younger sister who also assisted in the distribution of information and the creation of leaflets (including the various pamphlets). Kurt Huber (a philosophy and musicology professor at the University of Munich) got into contact with the members and helped to write the sixth and final pamphlet that the White Rose distributed.

After the members lost their anonymity due to being witnessed distributing the pamphlets on campus, Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst were apprehended by the Gestapo and went on trial in the “People’s Court” that did not respect judicial norms or human rights. People who stood before the court were often ridiculed and sentenced to death with little evidence held against them. The court sentenced all three members to death on February 22nd, 1943 and they were executed by guillotine.

The work of the White Rose began receiving national attention after their leaflets reached other countries, such as Norway, Sweden, Scandinavia, and Great Britain. Two months after the war ended, a commemoration was held in Munich for the White Rose. Numerous schools and streets in Germany were named after the group members. A memorial was placed outside the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat in Munich, and a memorial lecture is held at the university annually.

• The Grey Rose Project Shared Drive: Link
• Decryption Key: cNp76aCdIlsCPvMFK2xPUw
• Navigate to the History_WhiteRose Folder