The White Rose Movement

The White Rose Movement was a non-violent resistance group in Germany during the time of the Holocaust. This was a time when Jews were being persecuted, sent to concentration camps and murdered. There were a total of six million jew killed under the order of Adolf Hitler. The White Rose was made up of students from the University of Munich and lasted from June 1942 until February 1943. During that short amount of time, they made six anti-war and Nazi anonymous leaflets which were all distributed to the public. They also created graffiti campaigns in Munich.

The members: The group was made up entirely of students in their early twenties and one philosophy professor called Kurt Huber. The students were called: Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, Alex Schmorell, Christoph Probst, Heinrich Guter, Traute Lafrenz, Falk Harnack, Jürgen Wittenstein, Marie-Luise Jahn, Josef Söhngen, Hubert Furtwängler, Wilhelm Geyer, Manfred Eickemeyer, Willi Graf, Heinrich Bollinger, Helmut Bauer, Harald Dorhn, Katharina Schüddekopf, Rudi Alt and Wolfgang Jaeger.

The German Youth Movement, (an educational and cultural movement for young people that started in 1896), Influenced the White Rose. The White Rose Movement was encouraged by ethical and righteous considerations. in the month of July 1942, there were several members who had to go to Russia and serve for the army. Here they saw the horrors of war and how badly the Jews were treated by the Germans. The students in Russia were given insight on how badly the jews had been treated from local Russians as one of the men from the movement spoke Russian. When the students returned to Germany that November, they recounted their stories to the others in the movement, and the White Rose began to condemn fascism and militarism.

The leaflets were normally distributed in Munich University, and it was there that Has and Sophie Scholl were arrested by the Gestapo. They were seen throwing the leaflets