Hans Scholl

For the astronomer, see Hans Scholl (astronomer)

Hans Scholl (September 22, 1918 - February 22, 1943) was a young college student living in Germany who is remembered for helping to publish and distribute leaflets for the White Rose non-violent resistance movement in Nazi Germany.

Scholl and his group questioned the dictator Adolf Hitler and his brutal policies against the Jews. After being arrested for distributing the group's sixth leaflet, Hans Scholl, along with his sister Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst were convicted of treason. They were soon made a public example and all were executed by guillotine only a few hours later.

The White Rose consisted of Hans, Sophie, Christoph, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, and Professor Kurt Huber. The main purpose of their leaflet production was to denounce the rise of the Nazi regime. They began by anonymously mailing the leaflets to doctors, scholars, pub owners and other names that they took from the phone book. Their actions took on a level of more danger, however, when they personally began leaving them on two different campuses, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, where they studied, and the University in Hamburg. They plead with the German citizens to actively resist the measures and tactics that were being used to govern their country.

Early life

Hans Scholl was born on September 22, 1918 to Robert and Magdalena Scholl. His father, Robert, participated in politics, being mayor of Ingershein near Crailsheim. The family then moved and Robert served as the mayor of Forchtenberg am Kocher. The Scholl family was unique in that they grew up not only valuing education, but also discussion major political and theological ideas. Hans had a happy childhood that was fostered by his parents, especially her father, ability to encourage the Scholl children to think for themselves, to form opinions, and to value ideas. Hans was an apt pupil and studies that the secondary school in Kunzelsau before his family left Forchtenberg.

In 1932 the Scholl family moved to the city of Ulm, where Robert established his own consulting office. It was during these years that the Scholl children were required to join the Hilter Youth groups. The Hitler Youth groups promised a united Germany. They were to be happy and productive groups that worked on the mental and physical improvement of Germany's rising generations, and because of this, Hans was excited to be a part of it. However, Hans slowly became very critical of the group as his discussed it with his father. Hans realized what he had come to think of as the definition of liberty and freedom could not be found in a fascist government. Hans' father was emphatically against the rising power of Adolf Hitler.

His disappointment in the Hitler Youth, and National Socialism in general, led Hans to join the "Jugendbewegung" (Youth Movement). This movement concentrated on reading the books that had been ordered to be burned by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda manager.

In 1937, Hans Scholl was arrested and briefly jailed after being accused of subversive activities involving his participation in the youth movement. In 1939, Hans was drafted for a two year service in the military. This allowed him to begin studies in medicine at the university. It also brought him into contact with several friends who shared his same beliefs about the government. In the summer of 1940, Hans was part of the German Army invading France, where he served as a member of the medical corps. He saw the horrors of war and had an insight to the many horrors that were going to continue to hit Europe if Hilter were not stopped.

When Hans returned to Munich he formed the "White Rose" Resistance movement. He was joined by his sister, Sophie, and several of the friends: Christoph Probst, Kurt Huber, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf and Jugen Wittenstein. Most members of the group had seen what violent tactics lead to, and thus they adopted the strategy of passive resistance. These students decided to fight against the racial discrimination in Germany, the same way many American's were fighting against racial discrimination in the United States. There main form of fight was with words. The group met together to publish leaflets that called for the restoration of democracy and social justice.

The White Rose

In 1942, the White Rose took on a more active role after Hans' experience as a medic during Operation Barbarossa. Until this time, Hans had only heard about the cruelty the Jews were suffering, but over the next few months, he saw first hand the horrific treatment they were subjected to. Also serving with him were his fellow classmates from the university: Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf and Jugen Wittenstein. Together, they witnessed the murdering of several Jews by the Schutz Staffeinel (SS) in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland as well as the horrors taking place in the Soviet Union.

When Scholl returned to Germany in October, 1943, he and the White Rose had more than enough information to fuel the subjects of the leaflets. They began publishing leaflets en masse, going into detail about the murderous mission of the SS. While the leaflets were first sent to names and addresses taken from telephone directories, they wanted to concentrate their efforts on mailing university lecturers and the owners of bars.

In Passive Resistance to National Socialism, published in 1943 the group explained the reasons why they had formed the White Rose group: "We want to try and show that everyone is in a position to contribute to the overthrow of the system. It can be done only by the cooperation of many convinced, energetic people - people who are agreed as to the means they must use. We have no great number of choices as to the means. The meaning and goal of passive resistance is to topple National Socialism, and in this struggle we must not recoil from our course, any action, whatever its nature. A victory of fascist Germany in this war would have immeasurable, frightful consequences."

The White Rose group fully believed that the potential to change the course of Germany was within the attitudes and actions of the young people of Germany. If the young people would unite to take a stand against the current situations, then they had the potential to overthrow Adolf Hitler and the Nazi government. In one leaflet, Fellow Fighters in the Resistance, they wrote: The name of Germany is dishonoured for all time if German youth does not finally rise, take revenge, smash its tormentors. Students! The German people look to us.

The White Rose group also began painting anti-Nazi slogans on the sides of houses. This included "Down With Hitler", "Hitler Mass Murderer" and "Freedom". They also painted crossed-out swastikas.

Arrest and Trial

On February 18, 1943, Sophie and Hans went to the University of Munich to distribute the sixth leaflet published by the White Rose. A member of the Nazi Party, Jakob Schmidt, said that he saw the two throwing leaflets off the third floor of a building, into the courtyard below. Schmidt called for the Gestapo and the two were arrested. They were searched and the police found a handwritten draft of another leaflet in Hans' pocket. The writing on this letter matched the writing of a letter the Gestapo found in Sophie's apartment that had been written by Christoph Probst. Christoph was then arrested.

Just a few days later, after intense interrogation, Hans, Sophie, and Christoph were brought before the People's Court on February 21, 1943. The notorious Judge Roland Freisler presided over the hearing. The outcome of the trial declared that all three were guilty of treason and condemned to death. Lawfully, there was a ninety day waiting period before the death sentence could be carried out, enough time to appeal the decision, but the rules were not followed. The Scholl parents barely had time to travel to Munich and say their farewells to their two children. On February 22, 1943, at 17:00, Hans, his sister Sophie and their friend Christoph Probst were executed by guillotine by executioner Johann Reichhart in Munich's Stadelheim Prison. The executions were supervised by the enforcement chief, Dr. Walter Roemer. Just before he was executed Hans Scholl shouted out: Long live freedom!

Before the executions were carried out, Hans tried to gain freedom for his sister. Claiming that it was only himself that was involved. The gestapo agent who interrogated her gave her the opportunity to blame all the actions on her brother as well, so that only Hans and Christoph would die. Instead, Sophie took all of the blame, claiming that it was she and Hans alone who instigated the leaflets and that Christoph should go free. Christoph Probst was married and had three small children at home. Both of the Scholls tried to get Probst cleared of any charges because of his young family.

The deaths didn't end there. Several others of the group were also killed or spent time in prison.

After the arrests of the original friends of the White Rose, a group of chemistry students at the University of Munich took up their cause. Armed with only a typewriter, they copied out hundreds of the leaflets and continued disseminating them. Many other groups, including Traute's friends in Hamburg likewise used the White Rose leaflets in their resistance efforts. Copies of the leaflets were smuggled out of Germany, into Sweden, and finally made their way to England. The British Royal Air Force dumped plane loads of the sixth leaflet, Dr. Huber's, on Germany.

Legacy

The square where the central hall of Munich University is located has been named Geschwister-Scholl-Platz after Hans and Sophie Scholl, the square next to it Professor-Huber-Platz. Many schools, streets and places all over Germany are named in memory of the members of the White Rose. They are considered heroes by the people of Germany, and many young people today look to their example for inspiration.

In Germany Sophie Scholl is a national icon. Playwright Lillian Garrett-Groag stated in Newsday on February 22nd, 1993 that "It is possibly the most spectacular moment of resistance that I can think of in the 20th Century... The fact that five little kids, in the mouth of the wolf, where it really counted, had the tremendous courage to do what they did, is spectacular to me. I know that the world is better for them having been there, but I don't know why." In the same issue of Newsday, Holocaust historian Jud Newborn stated that "You can't really measure the effect of this kind of resistance in whether or not X number of bridges were blown up or a regime fell... The White Rose really has a more symbolic value, but that's a very important value."

The group's activities were the subject of three German films: Percy Adlon's Fünf letzte Tage (1982), Die weiße Rose (1982), directed by Michael Verhoeven and released in the United States (subtitled) as "The White Rose"; and Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage from 2005, directed by Marc Rothemund.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Hans Scholl Spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk Retrieved December 7, 2007.
• Scholl, Hans, Inge Jens, and Sophie Scholl. 1987. At the Heart of the White Rose: letters and diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060157054
• Axelrod, Toby. 2001. Hans and Sophie Scholl: German Resisters of the White Rose. Holocaust biographies. New York: Rosen Pub. Group. ISBN 0823933164
• Scholl, Inge, and Dorothee Sölle. 1983. The White Rose Munich, 1942-1943. Middletown, Conn: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0819560863
• Flynn, Adrian. 2007. The White Rose and the Swastika. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198321026

External links

• In Memoriam Dheap.com. Retrieved December 7, 2007.
• Hornberger, Jacob G. The White Rose: A Lesson in Dissent Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved December 7, 2007.
• Wittenstein, George J. 1997. Memories of the White Rose Historyplace.com. Retrieved December 16, 2007.
• Marcuse, Prof. Harold. 1993. Marcuse Remembering the White Rose:German Assessments, 1943-1993 History.ucsb.edu. Retrieved December 16, 2007.
• The White Rose Shoaheducation.com. Retrieved December 7, 2007.
• Hans Scholl Jlrweb.com. Retrieved December 7, 2007.
• Text of leaflets in English and German Jlrweb.com. Retrieved December 7, 2007.

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