In six anonymous pamphlets, distributed at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, they criticised Hitler, spoke of the mass murder of Jews and growing resistance to the Nazis. The sixth pamphlet discussed the Nazi defeat in Stalingrad, a battle that cost 2.
As they distributed that sixth pamphlet the siblings were spotted by the university caretaker, arrested and interrogated. In the new biography, author Robert Zoske, a Hamburg pastor, has uncovered correspondence from Hans Scholl suppressed by a surviving sister in the postwar years. Four days after their arrest, Hans and Sophie Scholl underwent a show trial and were sentenced to death by guillotine on the same day: February 22nd, Please update your payment details to keep enjoying your Irish Times subscription.
Derek Scally in Berlin. Daring plot Back in Munich, he and his 21 year-old sister Sophie and a group of friends devised a daring plot to undermine the Nazi regime and its wartime propaganda.
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He then added that "for those women students not pretty enough to catch a man, I'd be happy to lend them one of my adjutants". Women students began shouting abuse at Giesler. He then ordered their arrest by his SS guards. Male students came to their aid and fights began all over the auditorium. Those who managed to escape ran out of the museum and after forming themselves in a large group, began marching in a procession in the direction of the university. They linked arms as they marched singing songs of solidarity.
However, before they got to the university armed police forced them to disperse. The White Rose group believed there was a direct connection between their leaflets and the student unrest. They decided therefore to print another 1, leaflets and to distribute them around the university. On 18th February, , Sophie and Hans Scholl arrived at the University of Munich with a suitcase packed with leaflets. According to Inge Scholl : "They arrived at the university, and since the lecture rooms were to open in a few minutes, they quickly decided to deposit the leaflets in the corridors.
Then they disposed of the remainder by letting the sheets fall from the top level of the staircase down into the entrance hall. Relieved, they were about to go, but a pair of eyes had spotted them. It was as if these eyes they belonged to the building superintendent had been detached from the being of their owner and turned into automatic spyglasses of the dictatorship. The doors of the building were immediately locked, and the fate of brother and sister was sealed. Jakob Schmid , a member of the Nazi Party , saw them at the University of Munich , throwing leaflets from a window of the third floor into the courtyard below.
He immediately told the Gestapo and they were both arrested. They were searched and the police found a handwritten draft of another leaflet. This they matched to a letter in Scholl's flat that had been signed by Christoph Probst. Following interrogation, they were all charged with treason. Sophie, Hans and Christoph were not allowed to select a defence lawyer.
Inge Scholl claimed that the lawyer assigned by the authorities "was little more than a helpless puppet". Sophie told him: "If my brother is sentenced to die, you musn't let them give me a lighter sentence, for I am exactly as guilty as he.
Sophie was interrogated all night long. She told her cell-mate, Else Gebel, that she denied her "complicity for a long time". But when she was told that the Gestapo had found evidence in her brother's room that proved she was guilty of drafting the leaflet. We will take the blame for everything, so that no other person is put in danger. Friends of Hans and Sophie had immediately telephoned Robert Scholl with news of the arrests.
Robert and Magdalena went to Gestapo headquarters but they were told they were not allowed to visit them in prison over the weekend. They were not told that there trial was to begin on the Monday morning. However, another friend, Otl Aicher, telephoned them with the news. The People's Court is in session, and the hearing is already under way. We must prepare ourselves for the worst. The guards dragged them out but at the door Robert was able to shout: "There is a higher justice!
They will go down in history! On this account they are to be punished by death. Their honour and rights as citizens are forfeited for all time. Werner Scholl was in court in his German Army uniform. He managed to get to his brother and sister. Hans was able to reach out and touch him, saying quickly, Stay strong, no compromises. Robert and Magdalena managed to see their children before they were executed.
Their daughter, Inge Scholl , later explained what happened: "First Hans was brought out. He wore a prison uniform, he walked upright and briskly, and he allowed nothing in the circumstances to becloud his spirit. His face was thin and drawn, as if after a difficult struggle, but now it beamed radiantly. He bent lovingly over the barrier and took his parents' hands Then Hans asked them to take his greetings to all his friends.
When at the end he mentioned one further name, a tear ran down his face; he bent low so that no one would see. And then he went out, without the slightest show of fear, borne along by a profound inner strength. Magdalena Scholl said to her 22 year-old daughter: "I'll never see you come through the door again. Else Gebel shared Sophie Scholl's cell and recorded her last words before being taken away to be executed.
It is such a splendid sunny day, and I have to go. But how many have to die on the battlefield in these days, how many young, promising lives. What does my death matter if by our acts thousands are warned and alerted.
Among the student body there will certainly be a revolt. They were all beheaded by guillotine in Stadelheim Prison only a few hours after being found guilty.
A prison guard later reported: "They bore themselves with marvelous bravery. The whole prison was impressed by them. That is why we risked bringing the three of them together once more-at the last moment before the execution. If our action had become known, the consequences for us would have been serious.
We wanted to let them have a cigarette together before the end. It was just a few minutes that they had, but I believe that it meant a great deal to them.
During the transport to the front their train had stopped for a few minutes at a Polish station. He remembered his "Iron Ration" - a bar of chocolate, raisins, and nuts - and slipped it into her pocket. He picked it up, smiled, and said, "I wanted to do something to please you.
Then he saw the eyes of an old Jewish man walking at the rear of a column of forced laborers. It was the finely modeled face of a scholar. Hans read there such an abyss of suffering as he had never before beheld. On impulse he took out his tobacco pouch and furtively pressed it in the old man's hand. Never would Hans forget the quick flash of joy which ignited in those eyes. He remembered too that spring day in a first-aid station at home.
One of the wounded men was to be discharged; the doctors had done a splendid job of patching him together. But just before his dismissal the wound suddenly and for no apparent reason began to bleed and could not be stopped.
It lay close to the jugular vein of the neck, and there was but one thing to do: to find the vein and tie it. However, all efforts were useless; the man bled to death under the doctors' hands.
Hans went out into the corridor, deeply shaken. At that moment he met the young wife of the man who had died. She had come to call for her husband: beautiful, radiant, blissful in her expectation, carrying a large bouquet of bright flowers. When, when will the state finally recognize tnat it has no higher duty than to safeguard the happiness of the millions of ordinary people?
When finally will the state forget about the ideals that ignore the needs of simple everyday life? And when will it understand that a small step, however difficult it may be, taken in the direction of peace for the individual, as for nations, is greater than victory in battle?
The accused Hans Scholl occupied his thoughts for a long time with the political situation. He arrived at the conclusion that just as in , so also after the seizure of power by the National Socialists in , it was not the majority of the German masses but the intellectuals in particular who had failed politically. He therefore decided to prepare and distribute leaflets intended to carry his ideas to the broad masses of the people.
He therefore decided to prepare and distribute leaflets intended to carry his ideas to the broad masses of people. He bought a duplicating machine, and with the help of a friend, Alexander Schmorell, with whom he had often discussed his political views, he acquired a typewriter.
He then drafted the first leaflet of the White Rose and claims singlehandedly to have prepared about a hundred copies and to have mailed them to addresses chosen from the Munich telephone directory.
In doing so, he selected people in academic circles particularly, but also restaurant owners, who, he hoped, would spread the contents of the leaflets by word of mouth.
These seditious pamphlets contain attacks on National Socialism and on its cultural-political parties in particular; further, they contain statements concerning the alleged atrocities of National Socialism, namely the alleged murder of the Jews and the alleged forced deportation of the Poles.
Nothing is so unworthy of a civilized nation as allowing itself to be "governed" without opposition by an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base instinct. It is certain that today every honest is ashamed of his government.
Who among us have any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes - crimes that infinitely outdistance every human measure - reach the light of day? It is impossible to engage in intellectual discourse with National Socialism because it is not an intellectually defensible program.
It is false to speak of a National Socialist philosophy, for if there were such an entity, one would have to try by means of analysis and discussion either to prove its validity or to combat it.
In actuality, however, we face a totally different situation. At its very inception this movement depended on the deception and betrayal of one's fellow man; even at that time it was inwardly corrupt and could support itself only by constant lies.
After all, Hitler states in an early edition of "his" book a book written in the worst German I have ever read, in spite of the fact that it has been elevated to the position of the Bible in this nation of poets and thinkers ; "It is unbelievable, to what extent one must betray a people in order to rule. We do not want to discuss here the question of the Jews, no do we want in this leaflet to compose a defence or apology. No, only by way of example do we want to cite the fact that since the conquest of Poland three hundred thousand Jews have been murdered in this country in the most bestial way.
The better part of the nation will fight on our side. Cast off the cloak of indifference you have wrapped around you. Make the decision before it is too late! Do not believe the National Socialist propaganda which has driven the fear of Bolshevism into your bones. Do not believe that Germany's welfare is linked to the victory of National Socialism for good or ill. A criminal regime cannot achieve a victory. Separate yourself in time from everything connected with National Socialism.
In the aftermath a terrible but just judgment will be meted out to those who stayed in hiding, who were cowardly and hesitant. On February 22, , the People's Court, convened in the Court of Assizes Chamber of the Palace of Justice, sentenced to death the following persons: Hans Scholl, aged 24, and Sophia Scholl, aged 21, both of Munich, and Chrstoph Probst, aged 23, of Innsbruck, for their preparations to commit treason and their aid to the enemy.
The sentence was carried out on the same day. Typical outsiders, the condemned persons shamelessly committed offences against the armed security of the nation and the will to fight of the German people by defacing houses with slogans attacking the state and by distributing treasonous leaflets. At this time of heroic struggle on the part of the German people, these despicable criminals deserve a speedy and dishonorable death. Hans Scholl was born on September 22 nd Unlike his sister, Sophie , Hans could be very outspoken and impulsive but he was also a determined boy who could be moody on occasions.
Hans had a great knowledge of the Bible, which he read avidly. He joined the Hitler Youth movement in March and threw himself into it with great gusto. Hans excelled at most opportunities offered by the Hitler Youth movement and in a short space of time was promoted to Squad Leader in charge of boys.
In particular, Hans excelled at sport and he was put in charge of the physical training programme for new recruits.
It was also his task to ensure that all those in his squad listened to Hitler Youth radio addresses that went out each week. They wanted Hans to create a blueprint for how all Ulm Hitler Youth units should be. Hans was encouraged to look at the way the German Boys League of the First of November youth group operated. He was a communist and had been imprisoned in Dachau once the Nazis had gained power.
Members of d. They went camping but not in the traditional areas of Germany such as Bavaria and the Rhineland. Sweden and Finland were popular destinations. A great emphasis was put on reading Russian literature and most members tried to learn to play the balalaika, a Russia instrument. It was a curious group for Hans to be told to examine as it seemed to be diametrically the opposite of everything the Hitler Youth stood for. However, he did as he was ordered and was very taken by what the d.
However, it also brought him into conflict with the very people who had originally ordered him to look at the way the d. However, it continued to meet in secret. The Ulm Hitler Youth authorities got to know of this and Hans was stripped of his squad leader status. The rank was only restored once he made a full promise that the group would never meet again.
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