The “White Rose” Martyrs of WWII Germany
Ching-Chih Chen（陳清池）

On a beautiful July morning during the first year of the covid pandemic, I was taking a walk on the quiet campus of California State University, San Marcos. Seeing lovely white roses blooming on a tree, I stop to take a closer look and found that it is not a random flower tree but part of an inconspicuous and informal memorial. A small black painted cast iron plaque placed in front of the seven foot tall rose plant accompanied by a matching two foot tall vertical cylindrical water tank. Out of curiosity I stopped to read the plaque inscription which goes as follows:

“The White Rose Memorial honors the White Rose Society, the courageous group of medical students at the University of Munich who secretly produced pamphlets in 1943 calling for open resistance to Hitler’s genocidal Nazi regime. In retribution for their actions denouncing the horrors of the Holocaust, some were guillotined. Others survived to bear witness.

You are invited to water the White Rose named Courage, giving it life in a symbolic act of solidarity, caring and justice.”

Following the suggestion, I watered the flowering tree with the black ladle chained to the water tank. My curiosity about the historical event led me to search for more information online. The following is a brief account of the tragic and powerful story of six White Rose members who were beheaded for treason against the Nazi regime:

The most notable two of the six martyrs were Sophie Scholl and his brother Hans Scholl who was a medical student at the University of Munich and a founding member of the informal White Rose group consisting of mostly university students. Serving in the eastern front after Hitler invaded Poland, Hans and his friends learned directly about the crimes committed in Poland and Russia and saw with their own eyes the misery suffered by the civilians. For them being Christians, “their deeply held Christian universal human rights further fueled their opposition to Nazi ideology.” They could not remain silent. Starting in June 1942, they began secretly writing, printing and distributing leaflets in and around Munich, calling their fellow students and the German public to nonviolent action. Sophie, a freshman in philosophy and biology, had seen the flyers and applauded their content and their authors’ courage to speak truth against the Nazi regime. When she found out about her brother’s involvement, she demanded to join the group. She did not want to stay passive anymore.

At the core of the White Rose, in addition to the Scholl siblings were their fellow students Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, Christoph Proust, and a professor of philosophy and musicology at the University of Munich, Kurt Huber. Together they published 6 pamphlets. At first, they only distributed them via mail, sending them to professors, booksellers, authors, friends and others. In the end, they distributed over ten thousands, reaching households all over Germany. They criticized the current German state as “a dictatorship of evil” and “the machinery of the state, under the command of criminals and drunkards.” They advocated sabotage of Hitler’s war machine.

The German army’s disastrous defeat at Stalingrad in January 1943 was a turning point. It consequently empowered and encouraged the White Rose members to work more boldly. They began distributing flyers directly in person and writing slogans like “Down with Hitler” and “Freedom” on the walls around Munich. On February 18, Hans and Sophie distributed about a couple of thousands of the sixth leaflet at their university. Unfortunately their pamphlet dropping was seen by a janitor who reported immediately to the Gestapo that resulted in the arrest of the Scholl siblings. When the Gastapo searched the Scholl siblings, they found a draft of the 7th pamphlet in Hans’ bag, which led to Christopher Probst’s arrest the same day.

The three young anti-Nazi activists endured long and arduous interrogations. They took all blame for the White Rose’s actions. However, this attempt to save their friends from persecution failed in the end. They were tried, sentenced to death for treason by the infamous People’s Court on February 24, and virtually immediately executed by guillotine later that day. Sophie had written “Freedom” in German on the back of her indictment while Hans’ last words were, “Long live to freedom.” Christoph Probst was married. “His wife was not yet out of hospital after the birth of their third child. She did not learn of her husband’s fate until after the execution.” He was 24 years old as was Hans while Sophie was just 21. Prison officials who witnessed the execution recalled Sophie’s courage. Her final words were “Such a fine, sunny day, for and I have to go...but what does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action? The sun still shines.” The three of them would later be buried side by side at a cemetery not too far from the prison where they were beheaded.

Before the end of February 1943, many other White Rose members were arrested and three of them would ultimately be put to death before the year’s end. These three martyrs were Professor Kurt Huber, who was 50 years old, and two university students Alexander Schmorell and Willi Graf. Many arrested and sentenced university students were just being sympathetic to the White Rose. The Scholl siblings’ parents and two sisters were also arrested. The father, Robert Scholl who was a pacifist, was sentenced to two years in prison in August 1943 while the three women were found not guilty.

During the war, few Germans knew about the White Rose resistance, but New York Times reported it in April of 1943. And, a copy of the sixth White Rose leaflet was smuggled into the United Kingdom. In the summer of 1943, the allied powers air dropped millions of copies of this leaflet, which they retitled as “The Manifesto of the Students of Munich”, all over the German cities.

In post-war Germany, White Rose heroes have been revered. Memorials were built, and many schools, libraries and streets named after them. At the University of Munich, a plaza across from the main university building was named Professor Huber Plaza while the university‘s Gueschwister-Scholl Institute was named after the Scholl siblings. In addition, for their courage and love of freedom, Sophie and Hans would become among the most admired and respected Germans in modern history. They were even ranked the fourth by a TV survey in 2003 ahead of “J.S. Bach, Goethe, Gutenberg, Bismarck, Willy Brandt, and Albert Einstein.”

In short, the White Rose anti-Nazi martyrs fought for Freedom to the death. They were aware of the risk of their endeavor to oppose one of the most barbarous dictatorship regimes and its war efforts. However, for Freedom and Human Rights these young idealists chose not to remain in silence by venturing onto the dangerous path of challenging the Nazi regime. They demonstrated their extraordinary courage that their elders lacked. About Sophie, a writer wrote, “Her life and ultimate sacrifice are widely commemorated as a symbol of the struggle for the preservation of freedom and human rights.”

Having been deeply moved by the story of young White Rose idealists’ life and death, I would water the flowering white rose plant every time I happened to walk by the Memorial. And, my pit bull would be commanded to sit in front of the memorial while I watered the flowering tree! Afterward, I would reward her with a training treat.