The White Rose (German: die Weiße Rose) was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to dictator Adolf Hitler’s regime. The six most recognized members of the German resistance group were arrested by the Gestapo, tried for treason and beheaded in 1943. The text of their sixth leaflet was smuggled by the jurist Helmuth James Graf von Moltke out of Germany through Scandinavia to the United Kingdom, and in July 1943, copies of it were dropped over Germany by Allied planes, retitled “The Manifesto of the Students of Munich”. Copies of White Rose pamphlets have been embedded in the pavement of Geschwister-Scholl-Platz (Scholl Siblings’ Plaza) outside the central hall of Ludwig-Maximilian University, where the students attended. They were eventually captured strewing pamphlets from the balcony of the central hall of the main building; there is a memorial picturing all seven conspirators there. Two large fountains are in front of the university, one on either side of Ludwigstraße, one dedicated to Hans and Sophie Scholl and the other to Professor Huber. Many schools, streets, and other places across Germany are named in memory of the members of the White Rose. The asteroid 7571 Weisse Rose is named after the group.
Monday’s Monument: The White Rose, Munich, Germany
