Sophie was the first to die, out of respect for her womanhood to spare her the agony of waiting. Hans was the last one to die and as he entered the place of execution we cried out, "Es lebe die Frieheit!" (which means Long live freedom!).
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fter a little difficulty following the plan, I found the
resting place of the four of the main characters of the White
Rose. What follows are pictures of the grave sites and a
few notes about these youth. |
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First is the gravesite of Hans (left) and Sophie (right) Scholl.
Hans was the organizer of the White Rose. Hans was at first
the "perfect" National Socialist youth in most every way, the
same was true of Sophie. Their parents--especially their father
however knew better about the Regime (he spent time in prison
because of his comments, and that would not be the last). As
time went on, Hans saw more and more how evil the regime was and
decided to found a group in which passive resistance would be
the mandate. He, Alexander Schmorrel and Willi Graf were the
first members and printed leaflets that were to put matters into
perspective for the population at large. In a police state,
such as the National Socialists, information is controlled and
many times omitted. They saw it as their duty to put this to
right. In all they produced six leaflets (the seventh was
never published) which were distributed all over Germany.
Later by accident Sophie found out and insisted on being part
of he group. They were brought to trial after being discovered dropping their sixth leaflet in the halls of Munich University. During their interrogation they both tried to confess to as many of the activities as possible so as to stop anybody else from getting brought in. When Sophie found that Christoph Probst had been caught, she was shaken to her very core, because they sought most of all to protect him as he was a family man. |
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The "hanging judge" Roland Freissler was brougt in from Berlin
to officiate at this "kangaroo court". During the procedings,
Sophie made the comment, "After all, somebody had to made a
start! There are many people that already feel this way but
are too afraid to do something about it." This enfuriated the
judge. After four hours they were taken to Stadelheim prison
for execution. The Scholls briefly met their parents and Sophie
did her best to keep up a good spirit for her mother. The three
of them spent a few moments together over a cigarette (the guards
were so much in awe of them that they risked punishment to bring
them together one more time) and Christoph said, "Soon we will
all be together in Eternity. Sophie was the first to die, out of respect for her womanhood to spare her the agony of waiting. Hans was the last one to die and as he entered the place of execution we cried out, "Es lebe die Frieheit!" (which means Long live freedom!). |
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Here is the gravesite of Christoph (Christl) Probst. He is
buried here with his mother. He was a good friend of Hans
Scholl. He also served with him at the Russian front as a
Medic and went to school together at Munich University.
Scholl was carefull not to involve Probst in the activities
of the White Rose because he was the father of three children.
Christl had every reason to be part of the White Rose as he "caught a whiff of Hell" when the National Socialists took power. He was against them from the very first and had good knowledge of what they were about. He drafted the last leaflet of the White Rose. It was that leaflet found in Hans Scholl's pocket that caused his arrest. During his trial he claimed it was temporary insanity that caused him to write this after witnessing the Russian front. (he was thinking about his wife and children) Friessler, the judge, told him he was not a man and to keep quiet. Through his life Christl had more or less accepted the Catholic Faith, but never formally entered the Church. Prior to his execution, a priest baptised him into the Church. On the way to his death he was heard to say with wonder in his voice, "I didn't know dying could be so easy" | 
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| After the executions, the prison chaplain said to the Scholl family, (Christl's wife was in the Hospital after complications delivering their third child) "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. We are in darkness now, but the sun will rise again." |
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Finally, we have the gravesite of Alexander Schmorell.
He was the son of a promonent doctor in Munich.
He was a close friend of Hans Scholl and the
two of them spend much time together both at
leisure and during military service at the
Russian front.
From the markings on the grave, the whole family is
buried at this site. He was the forth member of the White Rose to die some months after the first three. He had almost escaped captivity by hiding in the Swiss alps but decided to return to the city. During an air raid he was identified by an ex-girlfriend and turned in. He stood trial with Kurt Huber, who was a later member of the White Rose and a Professor at Munich University. Kurt Huber made an excellent speech in his defence during his trial but was cut down by the tirades of Roland Freissler the judge. Schmorell and Huber were executed on the same day. |
| Their story is told in a couple of movies, most notably "The White Rose" which is in German with english subtitles. There is also many books out on the subject. When I arrived in Munich that day, I only know they were buried near the Perlach forest. I asked in my poor German where this was and surprised myself on how well I could get by. I ended up having an interesting conversation with a woman who later told me exactly where to find the place. Her daughter had been there too. It seems that at least in Bavaria, all school students are told their story. She was amazed that an American would know of them. I told here that I saw some grafiti in tuebingen that made mention of them. I later saw the movie and was so captivated by the ending that I had to see it for myself. |
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References A Noble Treason-The revolt of the Munich Student against Hitler Richard Hanser (C) 1979 ISBN: 0-399-12041-6 Ceremony of Innocence James Forman (C) 1970 |
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