Hans Scholl

By Kevin Seabrooke

For anyone in Germany who openly opposed Adolf Hitler or the policies of the Nazi party there were three likely outcomes—prison, concentration camp, or execution. The five students and one professor who formed the core of Die Weiße Rose (The White Rose) non-violent resistance movement in Munich continue to be remembered and honored as one of the most significant public expressions of Nazi opposition within the Third Reich during the war. They knowingly risked their lives by writing and distributing six anti-Nazi leaflets challenging the regime’s ideology. While many groups and individuals resisted Nazi rule, it was the White Rose’s public actions—followed by their swift arrest and execution—that made them such a notable example of active defiance.

At the heart of the White Rose was Hans Scholl, who was born in Ingersheim/Württemberg in 1918 and grew up in a liberal Protestant family with three sisters and a brother. The early life of Scholl and his younger sister, Sophie, reflected the prevailing atmosphere of post-World War I Germany. Their father, Robert Scholl, a liberal-minded tax consultant, instilled in his children a sense of independent thought and critical inquiry. The family lived in Forchtenberg, where Robert was mayor, then moved to Ludwigsburg, before settling in Ulm.

Hans was strongly influenced by the Bündische Jugend (Youth Movement) comprising many different youth associations that developed in the 1920s as a response to the social and political changes brought on by World War I and the rise of new political ideologies. This movement had evolved from one that had existed in Germany since the end of the 19th century, the Wandervogel (Wandering Bird), whose members hiked in the country and communed with nature as a response to growing industrialization. Infused with romantic and moral ideals these groups were influenced by medieval wandering scholars, with a strong emphasis on German nationalism and an interest in folk songs.

Hitler, who in his 1925 autobiographical manifesto, Mein Kampf, had written that “whoever has the youth has the future,” understood that the attraction and power of these groups could be harnessed. In the years before he was named chancellor of Germany in 1933, Nazi leaders had begun to organize groups that would train young people according to Nazi principles. Through these organizations, it was his intention that the “young people will learn nothing else but how to think German and act German. . . . And they will never be free again, not in their whole lives.”

In 1933, the Hitler Youth took over all but the Catholic youth movements in Germany. And those were eliminated by 1936, the same year that some form of Nazi youth group became compulsory for all “Aryan” children aged 6 and older. At 10, boys joined the Deutsches Jungvolk (German Young People) until they were 14 and promoted to the Hitler-Jugend (Hitler Youth). Girls started with the Jungmädelbund (Young Girls’ League), then moved on to the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM or Band of German Maidens).

To the dismay of their parents, who rejected fascism, Hans and Sophie were caught up in the nationalist fervor in Germany and embraced the ideals of the Nationalsozialistische deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ Party). Hans joined the Jungvolk in 1933 and quickly became a squad leader. Tall, athletic and intelligent, he would be chosen as a flag bearer at the 1936 Nuremberg Rally. In 1934, Sophie became a junior member of the BDM and also rose to a leadership position.

By all accounts, the siblings seemed to find camaraderie and a sense of purpose in the Hitler Youth organizations. It seems unlikely that, given the level of Nazi propaganda and censorship, the pair knew anything of the significance of the Reichstag fire or the Enabling Act that made Hitler a virtual dictator that same year or of his “Blood Purge”—the murder of at least 85 political opponents and the imprisonment of 1,000—in the summer of 1934.

By 1940, Hitler Youth membership had grown to 8 million, though by this time circumstances had changed dramatically for Hans. He and his younger brother, Werner, had been arrested by the Gestapo in December 1937 on charges of belonging to the banned “German Youth Group for Boys of November 1, 1929” (dj.1.11). Werner and the others were quickly released. For Hans, however, the events of the next few months would completely alter the course of his short life.

Though Paragraph 175 of the German criminal code outlawing homosexual relationships between men had existed since 1871 (and would not be repealed until 1994), it was the Nazis in 1935 that broadened the definition of offending behavior and reclassified it as a felony. An estimated 100,000 men were arrested for violating Paragraph 175 during the Nazi regime. Some 50,000 were sent to prison and as many as 15,000 were sent to concentration camps wearing a pink triangle.

Hans, who told the Gestapo he had not known it was illegal, admitted a previous relationship with another boy in his youth group and took all the blame himself. In a letter to his parents from prison in Stuttgart, Han wrote that he had struggled in secret with his sexual urges. The traumatic experience of having his life exposed and torn apart by the Gestapo was the impetus from which his loathing of Nazism really began to grow. In another letter to his parents from prison, he vowed to do “something great for the sake of mankind.”

This is an aspect of Hans’ life that remained in shadow for decades and was completely left out of The White Rose: Munich 1942-1943, written by his oldest sister, Inge, and published in 1983. The book features letters, diary excerpts, and transcriptions of the White Rose leaflets, as well as accounts of the trial and execution. But there is no mention of his arrest for violating Paragraph 175. She feared the moral and ethical bravery exhibited by Hans would be tarnished by any hint of homosexuality and made Sophie the focus of the story—something many films, books and articles continue to do to this day.

Surprisingly, Hans was acquitted on both counts in June 1938, given leniency by the judge for his career in the Hitler Youth. Though the prosecutor had asked for a years’ sentence for Paragraph 175, the judge dismissed the homosexual affair as a “youthful failing.”

Hans then entered the Reichsarbeitsdienst (Reich Labour Service or RAD) a compulsory labor service for young German men, often serving as a precursor to military service and designed to instill discipline and loyalty to the state. Following this service, he began medical studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in the summer semester of 1939.

As with most young people entering university, Hans was now exposed to a much wider range of ideas and perspectives. He met professors and fellow students who held Christian-ethical viewpoints that stood in stark contrast to the prevailing Nazi ideology. This exposure to dissenting voices and alternative moral frameworks was crucial in developing his critical thinking and providing intellectual support for his growing opposition to Nazism. This hub of diverse perspectives and challenges to the dominant narrative was a stark contrast to the rigid indoctrination of the Hitler Youth and likely gave him a sense that he was not alone in doubting the regime.

Hans would undergo another personal and moral transformation when he was drafted into the Wehrmacht as a medical orderly and sent to the French front in May 1940, where he would attain the rank of medical sergeant. Here he witnessed firsthand the devastating human consequences of the Nazi regime’s aggressive policies and ideology. Any illusions he might still have held regarding the glory or justification of the war would have been shattered by the suffering he witnessed. The experience would have further amplified his sense of the war’s futility and the moral bankruptcy of those who initiated and perpetuated it.

Hans resumed his studies in Munich in April 1941 and was assigned to the 2nd Student Company of the Army Medical Squadron—where in June he would meet Alexander Schmorell, the future co-founder of the White Rose movement. The young men shared literary and artistic interests, as well as a growing disillusionment with National Socialism.

In the fall of 1941, he was introduced to the Catholic intellectuals Theodor Haecker and Carl Muth—indeed, Hans and Sophie would rent rooms in Muth’s house until late 1942, when Allied bombing raids made it uninhabitable. This period marked a profound transformation for Hans, moving him from an initial enthusiastic supporter of the Nazi regime to an individual deeply critical and actively seeking alternative perspectives. The influence of Muth and Haecke introduced a strong ethical and religious dimension to Hans’ developing critique of Nazism

The White Rose movement would officially begin in June 1942 with the first Flugblätter der “Weißen Rose” Wider die “Diktatur des Bösen” (leaflet of the “White Rose” against the “dictatorship of evil.”) The text for each leaflet was typed on a typewriter, then retyped onto the stencils of a hand-cranked mimeograph machine that Hans bought and kept stored in the basement of Josef Söhngen’s bookstore, a place where the group gathered and had access to banned literature.

They produced about 100 copies of each of the first four leaflets, distributed between June 27 and July 12, 1942. Friends and associates helped with money for paper and postage so that they could be mailed to officials and intellectuals in Munich and other cities. Some were placed in public phone booths. Hans and Schmorell were appealing to a more educated audience by quoting extensively from the Bible, as well as the works of classical thinkers and writers such as Aristotle, Novalis, Goethe, and Schiller. “Please make as many copies as possible of this leaflet and distribute them,” was typed at the bottom of the first leaflet.

The first and fourth leaflets were written by Hans, who co-authored the second and third with Schmorell. The content of these early leaflets directly addressed the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime—explicitly mentioning the Holocaust and the systematic extermination of the Polish aristocracy and Jewish people. The first leaflet urged Germans to confront their complicity, stating that every nation deserves the government it endures, and called for active opposition to the ruling “irresponsible clique.”

A second leaflet came out in June, condemning crimes committed by Germans in the name of National Socialism, specifically denouncing the persecution and mass murder of Jews as a crime against humanity, and asked its readers “Why do the German people behave so apathetically in the face of all these abominable crimes, crimes so unworthy of the human race?”

“We must attack National Socialism wherever it is open to attack. We must bring this monster of a state to an end as soon as possible. A victory of fascist Germany in this war would have immeasurable, frightful consequences,” declared the third White Rose leaflet. This text defined passive resistance, advocated sabotage of the war machine, and argued that the defeat of National Socialism was more important than a military victory over Bolshevism. It ended with, “Please duplicate and distribute!”

Growing bolder, the fourth leaflet said that “every word that comes from Hitler’s mouth is a lie. When he says peace, he means war, and when he blasphemously uses the name of the Almighty, he means the power of evil, the fallen angel, Satan.” This missive primarily targeted devout Lutherans and religious Catholics by incorporating biblical references from Solomon’s proverbs and the strong Catholic imagery found in the writings of Novalis in an appeal to their moral conscience and urged them to resist. Readers were assured that the authors of the White Rose were not in the pay of foreign powers and declared, “We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!”

Hans, Schmorell and others of their inner circle in their military medical company, were sent to the Eastern Front in Russia on July 23, 1942, forcing a halt to their resistance activities.

They would be in Russia until November, providing medical service to the troops as clinical training. On the way to the front they spent several days in Warsaw, where they were horrified by the criminal treatment—beatings, indiscriminate murder—to which the Jews in the ghetto were subjected. They would go on to see more death, pain and wartime atrocities at the front. They would also meet and become acquainted with local Russians under occupation. The Russian experience would radicalise the young men.

During this time Hans was able to see his younger brother Werner, who was stationed nearby serving as a medical officer in the Wehrmacht. Werner had been the first of the Scholl siblings to openly resist the Nazis by resigning from the Hitler Youth in the summer of 1939, a move which barred him from attending university. The brothers saw each other regularly during these three months. After he returned to Munich, Hans would see his brother only one more time, in the courtroom during his trial. Werner, 21, was listed as missing in action on the Eastern Front in June 1944.

Hans and the other White Rose members, which now included Willi Graf, who they had met on the way to Russia, returned to Munich on November 6, 1942, and expanded their efforts, hoping to find and encourage activists at other universities. Allied bombing of German cities and setbacks at the Russian front had begun to change the public mood. Christoph Probst, one of Schmorell’s close friends, and Munich university philosophy professor Kurt Huber also joined the resistance efforts. Sophie also now became involved. She had known of the resistance since the first leaflet. Hans had mailed it to their parent’s home in Ulm, where Sophie had read it and recognized a reference. She found the book in Hans’ room, with the passage underlined.

The fifth leaflet was an “Appeal to all Germans!” written in late January 1943 by Kurt Huber, based on a draft by Hans. No longer was the group calling for passive resistance, but urging the nation in direct language to break with National Socialism and overthrow the regime. The letter closed with, “Support the resistance. Distribute the leaflets!” An estimated 5,000 copies of this one were produced. In addition to the mailings, which were now sent out to a much wider area, the leaflets were delivered by hand at night all over Munich. As if that were not risky enough, Hans, Schmorell, and Graf would then spend several nights writing “Freedom” and “Down with Hitler!” on buildings throughout the city.

The final White Rose leaflet, written by Huber, was addressed specifically to “Fellow Students!” in Munich, appealing to their intellect and conscience to resist the Nazi tyranny, drawing on the grief following the defeat at Stalingrad to stir patriotic feelings against National Socialism—“Our people stand ready to rebel against the Nationals Socialist enslavement of Europe in a fervent new breakthrough of freedom and honor.”

While lectures were in session at the University of Munich on February 18, 1943, Hans and Sophie took a suitcase full of copies of the sixth leaflet to leave outside of each room. When they had finished, there were still leaflets left. What happened next is not definitively known, but most accounts depict Sophie throwing the extra leaflets from the balcony down to the atrium floor—an act witnessed by a senior janitor who took the pair to the university president’s office, where they were arrested by the Gestapo.

Robert Mohr, the primary Gestapo interrogator, initially believed Sophie might be innocent. Mohr would say after the war that he tried to lead Sophie to testify against Hans, to say she was under his influence, in order to save her life. But she refused, declaring, even after Hans had confessed, that she was solely responsible. The pair tried to shield the others from persecution, but were unsuccessful. Hans, who had been caught carrying Probst’s handwritten draft for a seventh White Rose leaflet, tried to tear it up and swallow it. Probst was also arrested.

The head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, ordered the family members of the White Rose to be rounded up based on the Nazi principle of Sippenhaft (guilt by relation). The students and Huber were expelled from the university and those who were medics in the Wehrmacht were discharged. This allowed them to be tried by the infamous Judge Roland Freislerin of the Volksgerichtshof (People’s Court), a special Nazi court operating outside the normal legal framework and known for its politically motivated judgments.

Just four days after their arrest, Hans and Sophie, along with Probst, faced a sham trial on February 22, 1943, that disregarded all principles of justice. Though defendants were not permitted to speak, a defiant Sophie reportedly interrupted the judge multiple times, with statements such as, “what we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves.”

When Werner arrived home in Ulm on leave in February 1943, he found out about the arrest of his siblings. He and his parents, Robert and Magdalena, went to the trial in Munich. They barged into the courtroom as the verdict was about to be read, but his parents were removed.

In uniform, Werner managed to stay and found a chance to take the hands of Hans and Sophie as they were led out of the court. Robert and Magdalena would get one more chance to see their children, but Werner was not permitted. Werner and his parents went home, planning to return the next day.

All three defendants were beheaded by guillotine at Stadelheim Prison in Munich just hours after the verdict. Hans’ final words of defiance before his execution were, “Es lebe die Freiheit!” (Long live freedom!).

Gisela Schertling, who was in a relationship with Hans, turned herself into the Gestapo two days later, incriminating herself and others. In July, she would recant some of her testimony, saving the lives of four members of the group. She herself would be sentenced to a year in prison.

A second trial of 14 White Rose members for high treason was held on April 19, 1943. Schmorell, Graf, and Huber were sentenced to death and 10 others received prison sentences. Falk Harnack, who knew and communicated with some of the members of the White Rose, was acquitted. Harnack’s brother, Arvid, was one of seven members of the Berlin-based resistance group Red Orchestra who were executed on December 19, 1942. They were hung with piano wire from meathooks to prolong death. Arvid’s wife, Mildred Fish Harnack was executed by guillotine on February 16, 1943.

Bookstore owner Josef Söhngen was sentenced to six months in prison on July 13, 1943, for possession of two of the White Rose leaflets.

After the execution of Probst and the Scholls, Munich student Hans Leipelt typed several copies of the sixth White Rose leaflet adding the title “…and yet their spirit lives on!” before passing it on to his sister and other dissidents in Hamburg in April 1943. Late that summer, while Leipelt and his girlfriend, Marie-Luise Jahn, were collecting money for Huber’s family—who were destitute after his arrest—when they were denounced and then arrested.

At trial in the People’s Court in Donauwörth on October 12, 1944, Leipelt and Jahn were sentenced to death for “preparation of high treason” until Leipelt convinced Jahn’s lawyer to incriminate him alone. Jahn’s sentence was changed to 12 years in prison. Leipelt was decapitated on January 29, 1945. More trials would be held in Munich, Saarbrücken, and Hamburg.

Eventually, some 60 White Rose associates would be tried in court, with some of them receiving long prison sentences.

In July 1943, the White Rose would reach their largest audience when Royal Air Force bombers dropped more than five million leaflets—titled “A German Leaflet […] The Manifesto of the Students of Munich”—over German cities including Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg and the cities of the Ruhr region. The sixth White Rose leaflet had been passed on by Helmuth James Graf von Moltke to the Norwegian bishop Eivind Berggrav before finally making its way to Britain.

Back to the issue this appears in