Speaking Up: The White Rose
Introduction
The White Rose was a student group at a German university that spoke out against the Nazi's persecution of the Jews. They resisted the Nazis by giving out leaflets calling for the German people to stand up to the Nazi government. Learn more from the sources below!
Source A: The Scholls and the White Rose
This short video gives information about the actions of The White Rose.
As you watch, think: Why did the members of the White Rose resist the Nazis? How did they resist?
As you watch, think: Why did the members of the White Rose resist the Nazis? How did they resist?
Source C: Members of the White Rose
These photographs show members of The White Rose during their meetings, courtesy of The Daily Mail.
As you look, think: What do you notice about the members of the White Rose? What do they have in common?
As you look, think: What do you notice about the members of the White Rose? What do they have in common?
Source B: Leaflet Excerpts
These quotes come from the six leaflet written by the White Rose, as translated by Hermann Feuer.
As you read, think: Why did the members of the White Rose resist the Nazis? What did they want other people to do?
As you read, think: Why did the members of the White Rose resist the Nazis? What did they want other people to do?
Offer resistance... wherever you may be... before it is too late, before the last cities... have been reduced to rubble, and before the nation’s last young man has given his blood on some battlefield. - 1st leaflet
Three hundred thousand Jews have been murdered in this country in the most bestial way. Here we see the most frightful crime against human dignity. - 2nd leaflet
The meaning and the goal of passive resistance is to topple National Socialism [the Nazis]. - 3rd leaflet
Every word that comes from Hitler's mouth is a lie. When he says peace, he means war. - 4th leaflet
But what are the German people doing? They will not see and will not listen. - 5th leaflet
For us there is but one slogan: fight against the [Nazi] party! - 6th leaflet
Source E: Trailer for Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
This trailer is for a movie telling the White Rose's story.
As you watch, think: What do you think it felt like for the Scholls to resist - and then to be caught?
As you watch, think: What do you think it felt like for the Scholls to resist - and then to be caught?
Source D: The White Rose: A Lesson in Dissent
This excerpt from The Jewish Virtual Library's 'The White Rose: A Lesson in Dissent' tells of the motivations and actions of the White Rose.
As you read, think: Why and how did the members of the White Rose resist the Nazis?
As you read, think: Why and how did the members of the White Rose resist the Nazis?
Hans and Sophie Scholl... believed that it was the duty of a citizen, even in times of war, to stand up against an evil regime, especially when it is sending hundreds of thousands of its citizens to their deaths...
One day in 1942, copies of a leaflet entitled “The White Rose” suddenly appeared at the University of Munich. The leaflet contained an anonymous essay that said that... the Nazi regime had turned evil. It was time, the essay said, for Germans to rise up and resist the tyranny of their own government...
Another leaflet appeared soon afterward. And then another. And another. People began receiving copies of the leaflets in the mail. Students at the University of Hamburg began copying and distributing them. Copies began turning up in different parts of Germany and Austria.
The members of The White Rose did not limit themselves to leaflets. Graffiti began appearing in large letters on streets and buildings all over Munich: “Down with Hitler! . . . Hitler the Mass Murderer!” and “Freiheit! . . . Freiheit! . . . Freedom! . . . Freedom!”
Key Terms
leaflet or pamphlet - a printed paper, often meant to persuade people to do something (in this case, to resist the Nazis)