I admit I was one of the millions of Americans who had never heard of the White Rose Resistance’s work in WWII Germany. I find that unfortunate because the theme of the resistance should impact all of us: standing up for what is right in God’s eyes, no matter what the cost.
The White Rose Resistance is a David vs. Goliath story—young people against the Nazi regime. Sadly, Goliath won in this case. But these young people left a legacy that inspires us all to be aware of what is going on around us, resist following the crowd or corrupt leaders, and use our voices to bring necessary change that follows biblical principles.
Following World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, many Germans were dissatisfied with how they were treated on the international stage—economically and otherwise. The Great Depression in the 1930s affected many countries and accelerated Germany’s internal conflicts—particularly when the ruling government attempted to solve the problem by printing extra money, creating massive inflation.
Various political parties wrangled for power, each claiming they had the answer to raise Germany from the ashes to new greatness. One of these parties, the Nazi Party, gained much support because its leader, Adolph Hitler, was a charismatic visionary.
Once in power, Hitler’s government removed people’s freedoms to achieve its agency. The National WWII Museum summarizes Hitler’s ultimate goal:
“In the new Germany, all citizens would unselfishly serve the state, or Volk; democracy would be abolished; and individual rights sacrificed for the good of the führer state. The ultimate aim of the Nazi Party was to seize power through Germany’s parliamentary system, install Hitler as dictator, and create a community of racially pure Germans loyal to their führer, who would lead them in a campaign of racial cleansing and world conquest.”
One strategy toward racial purification and building a new world order focused on the children of Germany. The Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls were created to indoctrinate boys and girls into Nazi ideology as they grew to adulthood. All other youth groups were disbanded, and children were expected to join one of these new groups. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that moving German youth into these programs was designed to dismantle existing structures, replacing old ways with the Nazi Party’s ideas. By the end of Hitler’s first year in power, these programs contained two million children.
After Germany invaded Poland in 1939 and instigated World War II, war atrocities and accelerated Holocaust policies caused many Germans to sit up and take notice. The young people who were supposed to be indoctrinated to follow Nazi policies became some of its strongest opponents.
Within the first few months of school in 1942 at the University of Munich, a medical student named Hans Scholl started a social group to talk about culture, music, writing, and medicine. It wasn’t long before they were talking about what was happening at the hands of the Third Reich, and members of the group knew they had to take non-violent action to bring attention to issues that many Germans were unaware of.
Hans and his friend Alexander Schmorell called the effort The White Rose Resistance (with the white rose symbolizing peace). Their idea was to write leaflets that, according to the Global Nonviolent Action Database, “attacked the Nazi regime and mentioned its crimes, from the mass extermination of Jews, to the dictatorship and the elimination of the personal freedoms of Germany’s citizens. Furthermore, it called the Nazi regime evil, and called for Germans to rise up and resist the oppression of their government.”
Starting in June 1942, the White Rose Resistance aimed to distribute these leaflets far and wide—within the University of Munich and beyond. Hans and Alexander were joined by Hans’ sister Sophie who enrolled at the university near the end of summer. Another friend, Christoph Probst, joined the efforts, as did medical student Willi Graf. Kurt Huber, a philosophy professor at the university, also added to their efforts.
Hundreds of individuals got involved, and girls carried leaflets by train. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum reports that members transported and mailed mimeographed leaflets denouncing the regime. “We will not be silent,” they wrote to their fellow students. “The White Rose will not leave you in peace!”
One leaflet is an especially mature challenge to readers:
“Our current ‘state’ is the dictatorship of evil. We know that already, I hear you object, and we don’t need you to reproach us for it yet again. But, I ask you, if you know that, then why don’t you act? Why do you tolerate these rulers gradually robbing you, in public and in private, of one right after another, until one day, nothing, absolutely nothing, remains but the machinery of the state, under the command of criminals and drunkards?”
Students also started a graffiti campaign which was much more dangerous work.
Sophie and Hans were raised to be Christians, and their father was displeased at Nazi authorities forcing his children to join mandatory groups. Their faith informed their sense of right and wrong and their choice to resist wrong. Older German Christians who protested the war, like priest Clemens August Graf von Galen and writer Carl Muth, also inspired their views that they had a Christian duty to combat Nazi policies.
Sophie would later testify that her conscience and Christian conviction led her to nonviolent resistance against Hitler and his followers.
They gained supporters far and wide, building networks in other towns to distribute the pamphlets so that the Gestapo thought they were larger than they were. However, their efforts were not long-lived. A university janitor discovered their work on February 18, 1943, and alerted the Gestapo (the German secret state police). Hans, Sophie, and Christoph were interrogated, then executed by guillotine on February 22, 1943. Huber and Schmoller were later caught and executed. In subsequent trials, roughly 10-20 associates were tried and imprisoned.
There are many other stories of Christians who either resisted the Nazis or helped Jewish people to hide or escape from the enemy. Two of the notable brave include:
Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) was a Dutch woman who lived in Holland during WWII. Along with her father and sister, she hid several Jews in their home/watchmaker shop as their form of resistance against the Nazis. Through other family members and friends, Corrie connected with the “secret underground” interested in protecting the Jews from the Nazis. Though the ten Booms attempted to be very careful, they were betrayed and eventually arrested. Corrie’s father died in prison, while Corrie and her sister, Betsie, were eventually sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. It was here (as well as in prison) that the sisters sought to spread the love of Christ by memorizing and reciting the Word of God and showing kindness to all. Though Betsie died in the camp, Corrie was set free and continued Betsie’s legacy by ministering to former concentration camp inmates. Corrie’s story was recorded in the famous book The Hiding Place, which has been made into several movies (the latest coming to theaters in August 2023).
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German pastor and theologian. Immediately after Hitler’s rise to power, he was already concerned that people were making an idol of Hitler. Bonhoeffer resisted that Party’s efforts to remove Christians of Jewish descent from churches, just one of the many dehumanizing activities the Nazis inflicted on their enemies. He spoke and wrote against the regime and felt compelled to join a conspiracy that attempted to assassinate Hitler and end the war. He was imprisoned for two years and executed shortly before the end of the war.
Franz Jägerstätter (1907-1943) was an Austrian farmer drafted into the German army during World War II but refused to sign a loyalty oath to Hitler or fight. His reasons were born out of his Christian faith, which motivated him to refuse any connection with the Nazi regime. He was executed for sedition in 1943 but has since been remembered as a hero for his stance. His story has been told in the book In Solitary Witness and in movies like A Hidden Life.
The White Rose Plot is a 1983 German film that dramatizes the resistance working together and the Gestapo’s efforts to hunt them down.
The Last Five Days is a 1982 German film on Sophie Scholl’s interrogation.
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days tells the story of Sophie’s last days.
The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943 by Inge Scholl is one of the first nonfictions book about Sophie and Hans’ brother, written by their sister, Inge Scholl.
Sophie Scholl and The White Rose by Annette Dumbach and Jud Newborn is a nonfiction book about the White Rose Resistance.
The White Rose Resists: A Novel of the German Students Who Defied Hitler by Amanda Barrett is a historical fiction novel about the group.
We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler a history book by Russell Freedman.
At the Heart of the White Rose: Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl is a book edited by Inge Jens and translated into English by J. Maxwell Brownjohn. You can read letters excerpted from the book—both Sophie’s letters and Hans’ letters—at Plough Publishing’s website.
The graphic novel Freiheit! by Andrea Grosso Ciponte depicts the last nine months in the lives of the White Rose Resistance’s members.
The story of the White Rose Resistance and other Germans who defied Hitler’s regime has gained new public attention in the last few years. Many of their stories are being told—for example, Angel Studios is crowdfunding for Truth & Conviction, a four-part limited series about 16-year-old Helmuth Hubener, whose Jewish friend is arrested by the Nazis. Joined by two friends, Hubener led a resistance that led him to the highest court in Nazi Germany. You can find out more about the project at Angel Studios’ website.
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/Pornyot Palilai
Further Reading:
10 Holocaust Movies for Holocaust Remembrance Day
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Discipleship
10 Inspiring Movies about Christian Martyrs
Bonhoeffer Transferred to Buchenwald Concentration Camp
Director Mark Herman Looks at the Holocaust with New Eyes
Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).
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