International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

The White Rose (Weiße Rose) was an anti-Nazi resistance group founded in June 1942 by Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell, who were subsequently joined by Scholl's sister Sophie, Christoph Probst, and Willi Graf, all of whom were students at the University of Munich. The core group also included and was advised by philosophy professor Kurt Huber and later expanded into a network of supporters in Berlin, Freiburg, Hamburg, and Vienna. Compared to other youth opposition groups such as the Edelweiß Pirates (Edelweisspiraten) and the Swing Kids, (Swingjugend), White Rose resistance was both distinctly political and guided by religious and humanistic principles. Motivated by their Christian sense of responsibility and their idealistic and philosophical cultural heritage, the group produced and distributed a total of six leaflets that called for resistance. These pamphlets drew on the ideas of a wide range of philosophers, theologians, and classical writers including Aristotle, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, and Laozi. In the first phase of activities in June and July 1942, four leaflets aimed at mobilizing the educated elite by condemning the elimination policies against the Jews and Poles, appealing to the responsibility and guilt of all Germans for the crimes perpetrated in their names, and urging passive resistance to Hitler by sabotaging arms production and war ... log in or subscribe to read full text