On February 18, 1943, at the height of the Second World War, two German students at the University of Munich stepped into the main building, reached the top of the stairs, threw a stack of leaflets over the railing, and drifted down into the crowded campus. This flyer is part of the sixth installment in a series of self-proclaimed "White Roses", which calls on students to stand up to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi war machine.
The White Rose pamphlet reads: "The day of reckoning has come, and we, the German youth, will confront the most despicable ** in the history of our nation....Students, the German people are looking forward to us!
At the University of Munich, two students who had dropped pamphlets at the campus were discovered by the campus janitor and handed over to the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police. This is for the students siblings Hans and Sophie Schauer. Soon after, Hans, Sophie, and their friend Christoph Propst were executed for being convicted of treason. In the months that followed, the same fate befell many of the White Rose Resistance's companions.
Today, Sophie Schauer's name is a symbol of courage, faith and youthful inspiration in Germany. Sophie, who is only 21 years old, does not use force, but uses her thoughts and ideals to fight against that remnant of power.
"The Awakening of Hitler's Youth".
In 1921, Sophie was born into a ** religious family. When Hitler and his National Socialist Party came to power, she was only 12 years old. Despite her parents' critical views of the Nazi Party, she, like her classmates and siblings, was keen to participate in Nazi youth activities, including the Hitler Youth for boys and the German Girls' League for girls. With her passion and leadership skills, Sophie quickly rose to prominence.
When Sophie graduated from high school, Germany was at war, and both of her older brothers and boyfriend were drafted into the army. She cherished the patriotic feelings of her youth, but those feelings were gradually replaced by the pain of young people killed on the front lines, fear of family and friends, and contempt for the fascist police state that controlled every aspect of life.
Sophie was bright and ambitious, hoping to study biology and philosophy Xi university, but was forced to work for a year at the National Labor Bureau. She was unhappy with the militarized management and headache-inducing trivialities there. In her diary and letters to her boyfriend, we see a young woman who longs for peace and freedom.
Hildegard Kronawitter, president of the White Rose Society in Munich, said: "In these documents, we can see how Sophie grew from a child to a thinking young woman. "The more we get to know her, the more we are moved by her ideas and strong views. ”
The leaflets called for passive resistance and sabotage.
In 1942, Sophie entered the University of Munich to study Xi, where her brother Hans was already studying medicine. Hans and his friends were drafted into the army as medical personnel on the Eastern Front, where they witnessed atrocities such as the mass ** of Polish Jews and the needless deaths of countless German soldiers.
Unable to suppress anger against Hitler's regime, Hans and a small group of like-minded friends founded the White Rose in June 1942 and began publishing and distributing underground leaflets calling on ordinary Germans to stand up against Nazism.
Hans and his friend Alexander Schmorell wrote in the first leaflet:'How much shame will we and our children endure when our veil is lifted and the most brutal crimes are **?Therefore, in this last moment, everyone must resist as best they can, realizing that as a member of the **religion and Western culture, we have a duty to oppose the catastrophe of humanity, to oppose fascism and all similar ** systems. '"
In the second leaflet, Hans and Schmorell accurately pointed out that the German concentration camps were massively ** against Polish Jews"The most horrific crime against human dignity is an incomparable crime in the entire history of mankind"。
In the third leaflet, White Rose called on ordinary Germans to carry out clandestine sabotage wherever they worked: whether in military factories, ** offices, newspaper offices or universities"Each of us has the ability to contribute to the overthrow of this system"。
Sophie participated with her brother"White roses"Resistance movement, and actively assisted in the publication and distribution of leaflets in Munich and other German cities. Given wartime rationing and travel restrictions, this was not an easy task. The third leaflet reads:"Please copy and circulate the !!"She longed for the leaflets to reach more Germans who opposed the regime.
They know the danger but choose to act
By 1943, Sophie and the rest of the White Rose group realized that the war was not going in Germany's favor. In late 1942, the devastating Battle of Stalingrad cost Germany 500,000 troops. As a result, White Rose began to take bolder steps to inspire a disappointed public to take action.
The group graffiti was scribbled all over Munich, writing the words "Freedom" and "Down with Hitler". Instead of handing out flyers in secret, they decided to hand them out on campus in person.
"I wouldn't say they're too idealistic to understand the dangers of what they're doing," Cronavet said. They knew the danger, but they chose to act.
Sophie and Hans's sixth leaflet, written by one of their professors, Kurt Huber, ends with a hopeful exhortation: "Our nation is about to rise up against the oppression of National Socialism against Europe, in a new, pious breakthrough of freedom and glory!."”
Sophie initially denied any connection to the Flyer or the White Rose group, but when Hans confessed her role, she did.
Sophie said to the interrogators: 'We are convinced that Germany is doomed and that every life sacrificed for this failed cause is a senseless sacrifice. In particular, the sacrifice of Stalingrad prompted us to take some action against (in our opinion) senseless bloodshed. It is clear to me that we are acting in order to put an end to the current regime. ’”
Sophie and Hans try to protect the other White Rose comrades, claiming that only the two of them are responsible for writing the leaflets, but their friends end up being caught up in the investigation and suffer the same cruel fate - being guillotined. Other members of the White Rose executed by the Nazis included Alexander Schmorell, Willie Graff, Kurt Huber, and Christoph Propst.
During Sophie's trial and conviction, there was an extraordinary artifact, and that was a document listing the charges against her by the state. Sophie wrote it in decorative font on the back of the document"freiheit"The word (freedom).
"It's really moving," Kronavet said. "She had just learned in prison that the prosecutor had asked for her to be sentenced to death. But after she read the letter, her answer was'Free'。
Before being executed, Sophie's last words were: "It's sunny today, I have to go." But how many people died on the battlefield in these days, and how many young and promising lives were there. What does it matter if our actions wake up thousands of people?”
The sixth leaflet was quietly taken out of Germany and reached England and the United States. The German writer Thomas Mann, who is in exile, praised the members of the White Rose in the United States, saying: "Well done, wonderful young man!."You will not die in vain, you will not be forgotten. [.A new faith in freedom and honor is dawning. ”