PRAISE FOR SOPHIE SCHOLL AND THE WHITE ROSE
“Regrettably, it’s time to remember the rise of Nazism and what brave people did to stand up to it, only to find out they stood up too late. It’s all there in Sophie Scholl and the White Rose.”
Alan Alda, actor and author and Arlene Alda, author
“Scholl is to young Germans what Anne Frank is to young Jews.”
Dr. Ralf Horlemann, German Consul General to New England
“Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl and their colleagues demonstrated courage and conviction, morality and decency in a world bereft of such qualities . . . Their deeds were exemplary then, and have only grown in significance. Sadly they seem more urgent, more compelling at this moment in time, three quarters of a century later.”
Prof. Michael Berenbaum, American Jewish University
“Powerful and compelling . . . Among the indispensable literature of modern political culture.”
Hans-Wolf von Wietersheim, Das Parlament
“Those who seriously study the Holocaust and its lessons today do not focus on perpetrators or victims alone. They also examine the bystanders who do nothing . . . Sophie Scholl and the White Rose is among the most compelling books to focus on such exemplary role models. This 75th Anniversary edition deserves to be read and read again.”
Rabbi Meyer H. May, Simon Wiesenthal Center
“Newborn and Dumbach weave the personal story of each resistance member into a thrilling narrative rich in historical details.”
Haaretz Literary Supplement, Israel
“From its very first paragraph I found this book so suspenseful that I couldn’t put it down . . . Their daring, their conviction that all of humanity has sacred value in a world where the so-called ‘Aryan Übermensch’ was slaughtering millions considered ‘subhuman’ brought to mind the very disturbing specter today of neo-Nazi, extreme-right movements rising in the USA and elsewhere.”
Steve Guttenberg, actor, producer and author
“This is a wonderful book. The story of the White Rose is so important.”
Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate
“As this compelling account makes clear, the White Rose students still have the power to inspire people from all walks of life to speak out against injustice.”
Norman Lear, TV Producer
“Impressive, highly readable and beautifully researched . . . This book drives home the high cost of courage in a world gone mad.”
Susan Rubinowitz, Political Reporter, New York
“The words of these German students resound ever more strongly, helping us to fight anti-Semitism and other hatreds today and, if need be, tomorrow. When people ask what could have been done? How could Hitler have been opposed? Give them Sophie Scholl and the White Rose. That will answer their question.”
Prof. Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of Denial: Holocaust History on Trial
“Heart-wrenching and inspiring . . . a story few readers will forget.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“A dramatic story of courage during the darkest period of the 20th century . . . And it’s a story with new chapters unfolding. This book is a fundamental resource and a memorable read.’
Toby Axelrod, author and reporter
“Powerful, inspiring. Shows how threats to human rights, spirit and dignity demand a response.”
Caryn Eve Murray, Newsday
“Could change your life forever.”
Dayton Daily News
“Dumbach and Newborn have told their compelling story beautifully.”
Washington Jewish Week
“Matters of Human Rights, Justice, Peace, Courage and Conscience find resonance with the story of the White Rose.”
Prof. James McNutt, Thomas More College, Kentucky
“Inspiring . . . and could not be more timely. This is a book worth reading anytime, anywhere.”
Studs Terkel
“Jud Newborn and Annette Dumbach’s powerful book . . . is, alas, not just a reminder that we must continue to ‘sing out danger’ and ‘ring out a warning.’ It carries an urgent and immediate message to all Americans as we face attempts to divide us . . . warns us and inspires us to speak out now, urgently and defiantly . . . Their book is much more than history. It is a must-read tool for saving our own country.”
Peter Yarrow, author
“Riveting and incredibly moving. Absolutely and most highly recommended!”
Wendy Adele-Marie, Prof. of History and Jewish Studies, Oakton Community College
“The lessons to be learned from this book are invaluable, especially in light of current world events and the need for new heroes to step forward.”
Hedy Berman, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
CONTENTS
Preface to 75th Anniversary Edition
Foreword by Studs Terkel
Sophie Scholl and the White Rose
Appendices
1 Leaflets of the White Rose
2 List of Indicted members of the White Rose
3 Transcript of the Indictment
4 Transcript of the Sentences
5 Article in Münchner Neueste Nachrichten
6 Article in Völkischer Beobachter
7 Radio Series “German Listeners,” Thomas Mann
8 Leaflet issued by National Committee for Free Germany
List of illustrations
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Sources
Not in the flight of thought
But in the act alone is there freedom.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Executed by hanging in Flossenbürg Concentration Camp, April 1945
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Elie Wiesel
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, December 10, 1986
Cast off the cloak of indifference you have wrapped around you. Make the decision before it is too late!
Leaflet of the White Rose Resistance, January 1943
To the German men and women who resisted, this book is dedicated.
PREFACE TO 75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
The 75th Anniversary of the White Rose movement is enough to justify a new edition of this book. It is seventy-five years since those extraordinary days from February 18 to February 22, 1943 when Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl—as representatives of their equally important comrades—stepped into history by enacting what amounted to the first fully fledged public protest by Germans against Nazism to occur since Adolf Hitler’s consolidation of power in 1933. But there are more reasons than this anniversary to justify—indeed, to demand—a new edition. The symbol and reality of the White Rose students has only grown in importance, within Germany and internationally, since the publication of our earlier edition.
A visitor in postwar Germany would have experienced a country with a shocked and sullen ambivalence about its recent past. This was perhaps not so surprising, considering that the rest of the world was also struggling to come to terms with the deeds of the war. However, when we first heard, and tried to learn more about, the White Rose underground resistance movement, our questions were met with silence and a bristling resentment at our raising them at all. Some said angrily that the White Rose members were traitors to their country in a time of war. Others said the students were spoiled adolescents who showed no concern for their unknowing families and friends, who ended up paying for their suicidal acts. Another widespread opinion was that they were university-bred romantics who enjoyed the daring and danger of playing games with the Gestapo.
It was the same kind of silence one encountered if th
e concentration camps and death camps were mentioned. The hostility was strong and the message was clear: these subjects were taboo and not to be brought up in company. This taboo remained until the late 1970s when an American TV series “Holocaust” became an unexpected hit. More than fifty percent of the adult German population viewed at least one episode of the show, and special telephone lines were set up to deal with the thousands upon thousands of calls the network received from viewers expressing anguish, grief, animosity, rage, shock, horror, disbelief—the gamut of human emotions. Critics pointed out that the series was a Hollywood version of what happened, not a German one, but the wound had been opened.
Soon afterwards, two well-known Munich film-makers introduced the White Rose to the screen. Michael Verhoeven’s “The White Rose” and Percy Adlon’s “Five Last Days” won numerous awards and made a deep impression on the German public. It was a searing experience for an audience to watch Hans, Sophie and Christoph go to their death by guillotine. As the film ended, photographs of the real protagonists flashed on the screen reminding the viewer that these events were true and had actually happened.
The members of the White Rose have since captured the imagination of Germans throughout the country. Members have been honored with street signs, plazas, schools and other institutions named after them, including Germany’s greatest humanitarian literary award, the Geschwister-Scholl Prize. There are also memorials dedicated to the group—most importantly in front of the Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich, where the White Rose Foundation has “scattered” piles of White Rose leaflets made of metal around the square. No student can enter the university’s halls of learning without first recalling the deeds of the White Rose. Germany’s former president Richard von Weizsäcker gave an address at the University of Munich in 1993, which he began by quoting a few lines from one of the White Rose leaflets: “Cast off the cloak of indifference you have wrapped around you. Make the decision before it is too late!” He then addressed the audience in his own words, arguing that the decisive issue was how students today reflect on the legacy of the White Rose:
“More than half a century has passed since the White Rose called out these words before their arrest and death . . . Each new generation, including our own, realizes that those words are really addressed to us. Again and again, we feel their deep echo . . . Each person is responsible for what he does and for what he allows to happen. In the darkest moment of 20th Century history, the White Rose demonstrated this truth.”
For German society today, the White Rose members epitomize and embody one of the highest values that Germans cherish: “Civil Courage.” Having spent more than seven decades coming to terms with the crimes of the Nazi era, most Germans know the importance of individual responsibility in speaking out against attempts to undermine their hard-won democracy. Time and again they have gathered in protest against anti-Semitism, anti-immigration and, more recently, the rise of right-wing political factions. We fear that not only Germans but all of us will be increasingly called upon to protest against the growth of divisive or extremist groups. There are many ways to be what we call a “White Roser” today. While we do not advocate or encourage anyone to risk his or her life—quite the opposite—the smallest acts of non-violence will serve to have wider ramifications in the fight against injustice.
It is to all of you who read this book, and take its message to heart today and in the future, that we dedicate this new edition.
FOREWORD
By Studs Terkel
Jud Newborn and Annette Dumbach have captured a very import-ant aspect of the Nazi era. In this marvelous work, they explore something extraordinary that was happening among a remarkable group of young German students—particularly a brother and sister, Hans and Sophie Scholl.
Whenever I see a white rose, I think immediately of those two, and of their heroism amidst the horror. They let us know that even in Nazi Germany there were some among the young, however few in number, who represented the best that there was in the world.
The authors have done a truly wonderful job in conveying the significance of the White Rose. This is a book worth reading anytime, anywhere.
The gallantry. The humanity.
SOPHIE SCHOLL ANDTHE WHITE ROSE
PROLOGUE
February 25, 1943
IT WAS GROWING DARK in Berlin; a raw night was seting in. A slim young man in a slightly shabby field-gray uniform was pacing up and down beside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a solemn and massive structure that loomed above the fashionable section of western Berlin.
The soldier walked back and forth as if he were waiting for someone. It was 1800 hours—6:00 pm. People were still leaving work at that time, and some were going into the shops that had not yet closed for the evening.
The young man in uniform, Falk Harnack, had been raised in Berlin but had spent years away, studying in Munich, and now was on military duty, stationed at a town near what used to be the Czech border. He had a sensitive, finely chiseled face, light hair, and pale eyes—an artist’s face. In fact he was an artist, a dramatist, and had been a director at the National Theater at Weimar—before the war.
The city’s appearance undoubtedly depressed him. Germany had been at war for about three and a half years now, and each week of combat on faraway fronts made cruder and deeper lines in Berlin’s weary countenance. Each time Harnack came to the capital, fewer of the elegant shops on Tauentzienstrasse and Kurfürstendamm were still in business; the lights were dimmer on each visit.
Falk Harnack probably had no right to be in Berlin that day: he may not have had a pass, or permission to leave his unit at Chemnitz. But like many others, he could have calculated on slipping through the variety of spot checks and military controls on the trains. There were so many men in uniform in the Third Reich, it was impossible to check them all.
Harnack was supposed to meet Hans Scholl at the Kaiser Wilhelm Church at six. As the minutes passed, he might have surveyed the passing scene, perhaps lit a cigarette and tried to relax. On the streets around the traffic island where the church was located were men in uniforms much like his own, only theirs were dusty or smeared. Some of the soldiers had bandaged arms and legs, some walked on crutches or with canes. Berlin was a major transit-point for troops returning from the Russian front; even the walking wounded would take advantage of a few hours’ layover to take in the sights of the capital city. There were army uniforms everywhere: no one even seemed to notice them amid the scattering of men in the smart blue of the air force—Göring’s elite, the gentlemen fliers—and the Party men, in well-pressed brown with their red armbands, emanating health and importance.
It was time for Harnack to move on. Hans Scholl, the student from Munich he was expecting, had not arrived. However, a second rendezvous had been set up for seven o’clock if the first didn’t work out. Harnack might have reflected about where to go to spend the three-quarters of an hour or so that remained, and perhaps even considered entering the church—not that he was much of a believer. But the very presence of the church, its bleak power, might have triggered raw memories that would be impossible for any man in his situation to repress totally.
On Christmas Eve, two months before, the Harnack family had joined together to sing a hymn, “I Pray to the Power of Love.” Arvid Harnack, Falk’s elder brother, had requested that the family sing it, after his death. Arvid had been executed by the Gestapo at Plötzensee, a fortresslike prison on the outskirts of Berlin, a few days before Christmas.
Perhaps Harnack chose instead to stroll down the blacked-out streets rather than enter the church. He would blend in easily and inconspicuously with the pale and expressionless passersby on Ku-damm. But his thoughts and reflections could not be ordinary ones. His brother, a prominent official in the Economics Ministry, had been arrested, tortured, and executed as a member of the skeletal German resistance, and now, only ten days ago, his American sister-in-law, Arvid’s wife Mildred, had been executed in the same way. Mildred Fish Harnac
k, an American woman who had met Arvid at the University of Wisconsin at Madison years before, had given up her homeland and family to share the challenge and perils of living in an alien land that grew colder and more implacable with every passing year: she too was gone.
In all likelihood, the young man didn’t allow himself to dwell on such thoughts. He was in Berlin to meet Hans Scholl and introduce him and his friends in Munich—the group that signed its clandestine leaflets “The White Rose”—to the “center” of the German resistance; at least that was the way Hans Scholl had put it when they met in Munich a few weeks before.
Scholl was a South German type, not at all Prussian in mentality or appearance; he was a tall, dark fellow, with brown eyes and enormous intensity. He was in his mid-twenties, just five years younger than Falk, although undoubtedly Harnack felt decades older in experience and outlook. When he had first met Hans Scholl and his friend Alex Schmorell and they talked about organizing resistance, the two South Germans had struck him as enraged innocents, a volatile combination. They had seemed almost unaware of the dangers they were exposing themselves to. But Mildred and Arvid had known the dangers, had had no illusions about the kind of enemy they were dealing with; had that knowledge helped them?
Mildred’s hair had turned completely white in those months in the Gestapo cell, her face had become smaller but even more vibrant and alert. She had been given a six-to-ten-year prison sentence at the secret trial, while the men in the network were sentenced to death: her sentence was almost an act of mercy. But it was countermanded by Adolf Hitler himself and Mildred had to die, like Arvid and the others, strangled on a rope attached to a meat hook. The prison pastor reported that as they took her away her last words were “And I loved Germany so much. . . .”
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