On 16 February 1943 a sign appeared on a building in Munich “Out with Hitler! Long live freedom!” The sign was part of the resistance movement led by German students to the Nazi regime, The White Rose.
The White Rose anti Nazi group was non violent and distributed leaflets. Between June 1942 and the arrest of leading members of the group in February 1943 they had produced 6 pamphlets with a 7th in draft form.
Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and Christoph Probst were caught, interrogated, and executed by guillotine. Sophie and Hans had been distributing leaflets at the Ludwig Maximilian University on 18th February and reported to the authorities by the janitor and Gestapo informant Jakob Schmid. Christoph who had prepared the draft of the 7th leaflet was also arrested.
On 22 February 1943, Probst, Sophie Scholl, and Hans Scholl were tried and condemned to death in Munich’s Stadelheim Prison. In the following months dozens were arrested, interrogated, imprisoned and some executed.
“Do not forget that every nation deserves the government that it endures.”
The White Rose — Student Resistance in Nazi Germany
