In the 1930s, Hans and Sophie were enthusiastic members of the Hitler Youth.
In 1943 they, along with another student, were executed for treason.
This #VEday we’d like to say a little about the White Rose, and what may have inspired these young people to stand up to Nazism.
In 1943 they, along with another student, were executed for treason.
This #VEday we’d like to say a little about the White Rose, and what may have inspired these young people to stand up to Nazism.
Die Weiße Rose was a resistance group, which in the early 1940s printed and distributed six leaflets calling for resistance to Nazism and an end to the Second World War.
On 18 February 1943, group members Sophie (21) and her brother Hans (25) were arrested while distributing anti-Nazi leaflets at the University of Munich.
On 22 February, they were executed by guillotine, along with student Christoph (24).
On 22 February, they were executed by guillotine, along with student Christoph (24).
Further trials followed with other members of the group, including students Willi Graf and Alexander Schmorell, and a university lecturer, Kurt Huber.
The group’s last completed leaflet was smuggled out of Germany, and in the autumn of 1943 millions of copies were dropped over the country by Allied aircraft.
So what changed in the attitudes and beliefs of these young people?
One answer may lie in their reading habits.
One answer may lie in their reading habits.
The group read widely, and voraciously. They read Dostoevsky, Bernanos, Mann, Rilke, and Heine.
During compulsory Labour Service (which she hated), Sophie read Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain and Augustine’s Confessions.
During compulsory Labour Service (which she hated), Sophie read Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain and Augustine’s Confessions.
The group’s letters and diaries make frequent mention of the books they were reading, and they sometimes read communally, reading passages aloud in turn, and discussing the ideas they encountered.
After their deaths, exiled German novelist Mann dedicated a BBC broadcast to the White Rose:
‘Good, splendid young people! You shall not have died in vain; you shall not be forgotten… A new faith in freedom and honour is dawning.’
‘Good, splendid young people! You shall not have died in vain; you shall not be forgotten… A new faith in freedom and honour is dawning.’
The White Rose Project commemorated the deaths of these bright and brave individuals with an exhibition: ‘The White Rose: Reading, Writing, Resistance’, at the Taylorian Institution Library (@TAYOxford) in October 2018.
whiteroseproject.org/white-rose-wei…
whiteroseproject.org/white-rose-wei…
You can find out more in this Bodcast: Defying Hitler: The White Rose Resistance Group.
Dr Alexandra Lloyd (@alvlloyd) Lecturer in German, Magdalen College and St Edmund Hall, examines the way they used the written word to inspire resistance.
podcasts.ox.ac.uk/defying-hitler…
Dr Alexandra Lloyd (@alvlloyd) Lecturer in German, Magdalen College and St Edmund Hall, examines the way they used the written word to inspire resistance.
podcasts.ox.ac.uk/defying-hitler…
