white rose essay

Search the Holocaust Encyclopedia

• Animated Map
• Discussion Question
• Media Essay
• Oral History
• Timeline Event
• Clear Selections

The White Rose Opposition Movement

In 1942 Hans Scholl founded the “White Rose” movement with some of his fellow medical students. Among the White Rose members were Sophie Scholl, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf, and Alexander Schmorell. The “White Rose” movement was one of the few German groups that spoke out against Nazi genocidal policies.

Nazi tyranny and the apathy of German citizens in the face of the regime’s “abominable crimes” outraged idealistic “White Rose” members. Many of them had heard about the mass murder of Polish Jews; as a soldier on the eastern front , Hans Scholl had also seen firsthand the mistreatment of Jewish forced laborers and heard of the deportation of large numbers of Poles to concentration camps .

At great risk, “White Rose” members transported and mailed mimeographed leaflets that denounced the regime. In their attempt to stop the war effort, they advocated the sabotage of the armaments industry. “We will not be silent,” they wrote to their fellow students. “We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!" Because the students were aware that only military force could end Nazi domination, they limited their aims to achieve “a renewal from within of the severely wounded German spirit.”

After the German army’s defeat at Stalingrad in late January 1943, the Scholls distributed pamphlets urging students in Munich to rebel. But in the next month, a university janitor who saw them with the pamphlets betrayed them to the Gestapo (German secret state police).

The regime executed Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst on February 22, 1943. Officials also eventually arrested and executed philosophy professor Kurt Huber and the rest of the “White Rose” members.

At his trial Huber remained loyal to the eighteenth century German philosopher Immanuel Kant’s ethical teaching, as he concluded his defense with the words of Kant’s disciple Johann Gottlieb Fichte:

And thou shalt act as if On thee and on thy deed Depended the fate of all Germany, And thou alone must answer for it.

Critical Thinking Questions

• What pressures and motivations moved these students to action?
• What avenues and methods do college students and protesters of any age have in today's societies? What risks might they face?

Thank you for supporting our work

We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors .

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center

• What was the cause of World War II?
• What were the turning points of World War II?
• How did World War II end?
• How many people died during World War II?

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• Spartacus Educational - White Rose Anti-Nazi Resistance Group
• The National WWII Museum - New Orleans - Sophie Scholl and the White Rose
• Jewish Virtual Library - The White Rose: A Lesson in Dissent
• History Learning Site - The White Rose Movement
• Swarthmore College - Global Nonviolent Action Database - White Rose Resistance to Hitler's Regime, 1942-1943
• BBC News - White Rose: The Germans who tried to topple Hitler

White Rose , German anti- Nazi group formed in Munich in 1942. Unlike the conspirators of the July Plot (1944) or participants in such youth gangs as the Edelweiss Pirates, the members of the White Rose advocated nonviolent resistance as a means of opposing the Nazi regime.

Three of the group’s founding members— Hans Scholl , Willi Graf, and Alexander Schmorell—were medical students at the University of Munich. While on the Eastern Front, the trio observed the murder of Jewish civilians by SS troops. When they returned to Munich, the three joined with other students—including Hans’s sister Sophie —to discuss their opposition to the Nazi regime. Coupling youthful idealism with an impressive knowledge of German literature and Christian religious teachings, the students published their beliefs in a series of leaflets under the name “the White Rose” (and later as “Leaflets of the Resistance”).

The first of those leaflets, published in June 1942, quoted liberally from the works of Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , and it advocated passive resistance to the Nazi war effort. The first White Rose essay concluded with the statement, “Do not forget that every nation deserves the government that it endures.” Using addresses obtained from a telephone directory, the leaflets were mailed to individuals across Munich. Five more leaflets followed over the next eight months, and the Gestapo became increasingly concerned about the potential threat posed by them. By early 1943, members of the White Rose were scattering leaflets by hand, and they began an anti-Nazi graffiti campaign, painting “Freedom” and “Down with Hitler” on buildings throughout Munich.

Those actions increased the risk faced by the students, and on February 18, 1943, a Nazi party member observed Hans and Sophie throwing leaflets from a University of Munich classroom building. They were arrested that day, and an investigation uncovered the participation of Christoph Probst, a fellow University of Munich medical student, in the White Rose. The Scholls and Probst were quickly tried, and the three were beheaded on February 22, 1943. In the months that followed, dozens were imprisoned for their (real or imagined) connections to the White Rose, and some, including Graf and Schmorell, were executed.

Cookie Consent

We use cookies to help provide a better website experience for you, and help us to understand how people use our website. Our partners will also collect data and use cookies for ad personalisation and measurement.

Clicking "Accept" will allow us and our partners to use cookies, learn more in our cookie policy or to change your cookie preferences, click "Manage".

To find out more about cookies and the types of cookies we are setting please visit our cookie policy .

If you'd prefer that certain types of cookie are not saved on your browser when visiting our website, use the toggles below to adjust those preferences and click "Save choices".

Strictly Necessary

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and without them you would not be able to reliably use the website. For example, logging into your account or completing forms.

Analytics Cookies

A series of cookies that collect anonymised data on how users interact with our website. This anonymous data helps us improve the website with a focus on its users, for example, ensuring the most popular content is easier to access.

View associated providers +

Marketing Cookies

These cookies track your online activity to help advertisers deliver more relevant and personalised advertising or to limit how many times you see an ad. These cookies can share that information with other organisations or advertisers.

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center is pleased to announce our third annual White Rose Student Research Contest, open to 7th – 12th grade students.

About the Contest

The 2022-2023 contest theme is JEWISH RESISTANCE IN THE GHETTOS.

Photograph by Arnold Kramer

The enormity of the Holocaust was such that no victim response to it would have stopped the Germans from implementing genocide. Jews under Nazi control faced various and overwhelming obstacles to effective resistance. Despite this, Jews repeatedly sought to oppose Nazi policy in various ways. While armed uprisings or partisan activities are often held up as examples of successful Jewish resistance, not all resistance was armed. Often the only course of action available was an act of unarmed resistance.

Successful acts of resistance took many forms, ranging from personal acts to preserve dignity; social acts to preserve the community such as organizing clandestine schools, soup kitchens and underground record keeping; political acts such as the sabotage of the German war industry; and eventually, armed uprisings. Nowhere was resistance more robust than in the ghettos where Jews last lived as families and communities and resistance activities occurred amidst extreme conditions and against enormous odds.

Contest Instructions

Using at least 3 of the documents provided below, plus a minimum of 2 outside resources, prepare an essay or documentary that addresses all parts of the following question:

Essential Question: Although armed resistance is often memorialized in art, literature and film, what other forms of resistance can people take when their beliefs, culture and lives are threatened?

• Research: Describe the goals and obstacles to one specific form of Jewish resistance in the ghettos. Explain how that method was used by one Jewish person or group.
• Reflection: Why do you think memorialization often focuses on armed resistance? Discuss how you might increase awareness and understanding through the memorialization of non-armed resistance.

You must base your research on at least three of the following documents. All documents referenced from this list are considered electronic sources and the Works Cited page should clearly denote that they were referenced from the HHREC site. That citation can take any format chosen by the teacher.

Though not one of the required documents, all students are encouraged to read United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Resistance During the Holocaust booklet for reference. Please note this does NOT count as one of the 3 required documents from the list below.

"Oneg Shabbat, "The Jewish Underground Archives in the Warsaw Ghetto

Vladka Meed discusses illegal gatherings in the ghetto

The Little Smuggler

Gela Seksztaja Paintings

"Our Town Is Burning" - Resistance Song

Testimony of Zenia Malecki

The Girl Couriers of the Underground Movement

Resistance Is . . .

The Discussion on Fighting Aims by the Activists of the Bialystok Members of the Dror Movement, February 27, 1943

Armed Resistance in the Ghettos: The Dilemma of Revolt

Call to Resistance by the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto, January 1943

Beniaman Rosenfeld Drawings

Proclamation by Jewish Pioneer Youth Group in Vilna, Calling for Resistance, January 1, 1942

Resources for the Reflection

Rapoport's Memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising – a Personal Interpretation

The Garden of Remembrance

Additional Resources for Student Research  

Holocaust Encyclopedia - Jewish Resistance

And There Was Courage by Moshe Avital - Available through HHREC

Art and the Holocaust

Writers and Poets in the Ghettos

Spiritual Resistance in the Ghettos

Essay Requirements

• Evidence of comprehensive and accurate historical research
• Utilization and consistent citation of at least 3 of the designated documents and 2 additional resources
• Adherence to theme, demonstrating substantial supporting detail
• Proper citations – all citation styles are accepted, but citations must be consistent
• Essays must be free of plagiarism.
• Works Cited – Only sources cited in the body of the paper should appear on the Works Cited.
• Maximum of 1200 words.
• Submitted through the HHREC Website

All entries become property of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center and will not be returned. Applicants give the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center permission to reprint entries. Decisions of the judges are final.

Documentary Requirements

• A documentary is an audio/visual presentation that uses multiple source types such as images, video, and sound to communicate your historical argument, research, and interpretation of your response to this year’s topic. The reflection portion of your documentary should not exceed 90 seconds.
• Your documentary must be an original production.
• Documentaries should be at least seven minutes and not exceed ten minutes in length.
• The last portion of your documentary must be a list of acknowledgments and credits for sources of moving footage, interviews, music, and images that appear in the documentary. These source credits must be brief—not full bibliographic citations and not annotated.
• MP4 format submitted as a YouTube link.
• If selected as a finalist, students must submit the mp4 file to HHREC.

Process Paper

• Your entry must include a process paper. A process paper is a description of how you conducted your research and created your entry.
• The process paper must be 500 words and must not include quotes, images, or captions. Your process paper must answer the following questions:
• How did you choose your topic and how does it relate to this year’s theme?
• How did you conduct your research?
• How did you create your project?
• What is your historical argument?

Works Cited

Your Works Cited must meet the following requirements:

• List all sources that you utilized in developing your entry.
• Separate your Works Cited into two sections: one for sources from the required set of documents and one for sources you found to supplement your research.
• Do not attach materials to your Works Cited.
• Entries must be in mp4 format and can be submitted via a YouTube link. Finalists will need to supply the original file.

All entries become property of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) and will not be returned. Applicants give the HHREC permission to reprint entries. Decisions of the judges are final.

Guidelines for Educators

HHREC encourages teachers to utilize this contest as a classroom exercise.

• Sponsoring teachers are limited to submitting no more than 10 essays and 10 documentaries per age division.
• Educators must submit their finalist names and certify their participation through the entry form.
• Each essay or documentary should reflect the student’s own work, guided and reviewed, but not edited in detail by the sponsoring teacher.
• Entries must be submitted by the published deadline.
• Finalists and their sponsoring teacher will be recognized at a reception in May.
• All entries become property of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center and will not be returned.
• Applicants give the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center permission to reprint entries.
• Decisions of the judges are final.

Eligibility & Entry Information

The White Rose Student Research Contest is open to 7th-12th grade students.

• Each contestant is limited to one entry per year.
• Previous winners may enter again.
• Projects will be evaluated on historical accuracy, development of content and theme, and original expression according to this rubric.
• Entries are accepted in two categories – documentary or essay.
• Entries are accepted in three age divisions – 7-8th grade, 9-10th grade and 11-12th grade.
• We ask students and educators to respect the privacy of the survivors and to refrain from conducting personal interviews.
• Finalists will be identified by a panel of Blue Ribbon judges and honored at a reception in May.
• The top prize winner in each category and age level will be awarded a $300 prize.
• The sponsoring teacher of each first prize winner will be awarded a voucher worth $150 for use on professional development and/or Holocaust resources.

The contest is sponsored by the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center and an anonymous donor.

Download 2023 Student Entry Form

Download Rubric

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 31, 2023

Questions? Contact Julie Scallero at [email protected] or Robin Schamberg at [email protected] .

Members of the White Rose student resistance group, at the east railroad station in Munich, on the day the men departed to Russia for military service. Pictured are Hans Scholl (left), Alexander Schmorell (second from left, hidden), Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst (right). George J. Wittenstein (akg-images.co.uk)

The contest is named in memory of the White Rose, a resistance movement consisting of German university students. Among them were Hans and Sophie Scholl, along with several friends and their professor, were arrested and executed for distributing leaflets denouncing the policies of the Nazi regime. The project commemorates the efforts of these brave young people who gave their lives for what they believed in. May their memories inspire us to reflect upon our own responsibilities as citizens in a democratic nation.

2021 White Rose Student Research Competition

The Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center second annual White Rose Student Research Contest for Westchester County area 7th-12th grade students honored students and teachers from Irvington High School, Westchester Day School and Woodlands Middle/High School via Zoom.

Participating students who chose to compete in the contest submitted essays or original documentaries based on research of primary source and secondary source materials. Student and teacher entries included:

7th and 8th Grade Winners - Rachel Tratt, Westchester Day School and Jake Morton, Woodlands Middle School; and Finalist Annshiya Pulikkottil Sam, Woodlands Middle School.

11th and 12th Grade Winner - Alexandra Pollack, Irvington High School

Sponsoring Teachers - Christopher Barry, Irvington High School; Kasie Peralta, Woodlands Middle School; and Jill Rivel, Westchester Day School.

Jake Morton, Woodlands Middle School 7th and 8th Grade Winner

Winning entries for the HHREC White Rose Student Research Contest were identified by a panel of Blue-Ribbon judges that included Richard Berman, Ph.D. Muma College of Business, University of South Florida; Debbie Lewis, HHREC GenerationsForward speaker; Elena Procario-Foley, Ph.D. Professor of Religious Studies, Iona College; Debbie Minchin HHREC Educators Program Committee; and Audrey Reich Art Specialist, The Birch Wathen Lenox School.

The top prize winner in each age level was awarded a cash prize, and the sponsoring teacher of each first prize winner was awarded a voucher for use on professional development and/or Holocaust resources.

Jews from Subcarpathian Rus (then part of Hungary) undergo a selection on the ramp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. May 1, 1944. —Yad Vashem (Public Domain)

The 2021-2022 contest theme was Auschwitz and the Hungarian Deportations.

Seventy-seven years ago, in the spring of 1944, the Germans occupied Hungary. Between May 14 and July 9, approximately 440,000 Hungarian Jews—the last remaining intact Jewish community in Europe—were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where most were subsequently murdered. This swift, concentrated destruction was aided by local collaborators, the Hungarian government, and law-enforcement agencies. It occurred when the Vatican, the International Red Cross, the Allies, and the neutral powers already knew details of the Holocaust, especially the Hungarian situation.

Connecting Jewish Tulsa

• Holocaust Education

The Council for Holocaust Education’s mission is to assist and coordinate the Holocaust educational efforts of teachers and students in the greater Tulsa area and beyond.

We believe in the critical importance of Holocaust education for students of all faiths and backgrounds, to encourage a society that tolerates diversity and respects human dignity for all citizens. Our Holocaust education programs provide educational opportunities for students and resources to help educators teach the history of the Holocaust.

• Yom HaShoah Interfaith Commemoration event
• Kristallnacht Remembrance event
• Kristallnacht Art Contest (for middle and high school students)
• Yom HaShoah Art Contest (for middle and high school students)
• White Rose Essay Contest (for middle and high school students)

White Rose Essay Contest

The White Rose movement was an intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany led by five students and one professor at the University of Munich. The group conducted an anonymous leaflet distribution campaign that called for active opposition to the Nazi regime. The White Rose Essay Contest honors the memory of these brave individuals through their chosen medium of written work. The contest allows middle and high school students to reflect on their Holocaust studies through impactful research and a personalized writing experience, using a new theme each year. The contest meets Oklahoma Academic Standards by generating an understanding of the effects of the Holocaust, and highlighting the ramifications of bigotry, stereotyping and discrimination.

All Oklahoma Middle and High School students, grades 6-12 are eligible to enter the contest. Cash prizes awarded to both students and teachers.

Deadline: March 3, 2025

For questions or more information, contact Sofia Thornblad at [email protected]

Yom HaShoah Art Contest

The Yom HaShoah Art Contest aims to enhance student learning of the Holocaust by providing an opportunity for middle and high school students to turn their historical knowledge into works of art. Each year the contest take on a new theme to inspire artists to showcase their classroom learning using the medium of visual art. The contest meets Oklahoma Academic Standards by relating artistic ideas with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.

Deadline: April 17, 2025

What is Yom HaShoah?

Kristallnacht art contest.

The Kristallnacht Art Contest aims to enhance student learning of the Holocaust by providing an opportunity for middle and high school students to turn their historical knowledge into works of art. Each year the contests take on a new theme to inspire artists to showcase their classroom learning using the medium of visual art. The contest meets Oklahoma Academic Standards by relating artistic ideas with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding.

All Oklahoma Middle and High School students, grades 6-12 are eligible to enter the contests. Cash prizes awarded to both students and teachers.

Deadline: November 1, 2024

What is Kristallnacht?

What Is Kristallnacht?

On the night of November 9–10, 1938, Nazi leaders unleashed a coordinated wave of violence against Jewish homes, Jewish owned businesses, and Jewish places of worship in Nazi Germany. This event came to be called “Kristallnacht” in German, or “The Night of Broken Glass” in English, because of the shattered glass that littered the streets after the widespread vandalism and destruction.

JFT News and Updates

Jewish federation of tulsa 2021 e. 71st street tulsa, ok 74136 918-495-1100.

• Leadership & Staff
• Ways to Give
• Annual Campaign
• Planned Giving
• Tribute Gifts
• Tulsa Jewish Review
• Annual Report
• Get Involved
• Privacy Policy
• Staff Log-in

© 2023 Jewish Federation of Tulsa | All Rights Reserved

Skip to Main Content of WWII

Sophie scholl and the white rose.

Sophie Scholl and the White Rose movement, while less known to Americans, is a powerful example of youthful resistance to the Nazi Regime.

Within the United States, Sophie Magdalena Scholl is not the best-known resistance fighter, but her story is a powerful one. She was a key member of the Weiße Rose (White Rose)—a resistance group run by students at the University of Munich who distributed leaflets and used graffiti to decry Nazi crimes and the political system, while calling for resistance to the Nazi state and the war. On February 22, 1943, she was beheaded for treason at just 21 years old. 

Sophie was born in May 1921, the fourth of six children to an upper-middle class family in the south of Germany. Robert, her father, was mayor of Forchtenberg, an idyllic town in the northeast of the modern state of Baden-Württemberg. When Sophie was 10, the family moved to Ulm, a mid-size southern town dating back to the Middle Ages, where her father worked as state auditor and tax consultant.

After the Nazis came to power in January 1933, Sophie, along with most of her siblings, was an excited and happy follower of the National Socialist cult of youth. The teenager believed in the ideals propagated at the time. Similar to many of their contemporaries, Sophie was particularly intrigued by the focus on nature and communal experiences. She joined the BDM, the Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls) and quickly rose in their ranks. The parents, especially her father, did not like their children’s’ involvement in the Nazi youth groups and made no secret about it. A critic of the party from the beginning, who had raised their children firmly grounded in the Christian tradition, Robert Scholl viewed the developments in Germany and their children’s interest in Nazism with growing fear and horror. Lively discussions were a daily occurrence at the dinner table, teaching the children the value of open and honest conversation—a rarity at the time.

Sophie’s siblings, especially her oldest brother Hans, later to become a founding member of the Weiße Rose, also were members of non-Nazi groups of young people. These associations shared and propagated a love for nature, outdoor adventures, as well as the music, art and literature of German Romanticism. Originally seen as compatible with Nazi ideology by many, these alternative groups were slowly dissolved and finally banned by 1936. Hans remained active in one such group, however, and was arrested in 1937 along with several of the Scholl siblings. This arrest left a mark on Sophie’s conscience and began the process that eventually turned her from happy supporter of the Nazi system to active resistance fighter.

On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland and two days later, France and Britain declared war on Germany. The older Scholl brothers were sent off to fight on the front. Sophie’s life in Ulm changed as well. She graduated high school in the spring of 1940 and started an apprenticeship to become a kindergarten teacher. She eventually wanted to study biology and philosophy. In order to be admitted, students had to spend a period of time working for the state in the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD; National Labor Service). Sophie’s hopes that becoming a teacher would allow her to substitute for the RAD were quashed and she instead had to enter the service in the spring of 1941. She hated it. The military-like regimen and mind-numbing routine caused her to find solace in her own spirituality, guided by readings of theologian Augustine of Hippo. She wrote down her thoughts, noting that her “soul was hungry"—she longed for an autonomous life, an end to the war, and for happiness with her boyfriend Fritz Hartnagel, who was now fighting on the Eastern front. Her doubts about the regime grew.

When she finally moved to Munich to study biology and philosophy in May 1942, her brother Hans, a medical student at the same university, and some of his friends had already begun to actively question the system. Serving on the Eastern Front, they learned about the crimes committed in Poland and Russia first hand and saw the misery with their own eyes. They knew they couldn’t remain quiet. Starting in June 1942, they began printing and distributing leaflets in and around Munich, calling their fellow students and the German public to action. Other members of their circle joined in the endeavor, writing four pamphlets until the fall of the same year. As a student, Sophie had seen the flyers and applauded their content as well as their authors’ courage to speak truth to power. When she found out about her brother’s involvement, she demanded to join the group. She did not want to stay passive anymore.

The White Rose was a small endeavor with large consequences. At its core were siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, their fellow students Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, Christoph Probst, and a professor of philosophy and musicology at the University of Munich, Kurt Huber. Together they published and distributed six pamphlets, first typed on a typewriter, then multiplied via mimeograph. At first, they only distributed them via mail, sending them to professors, booksellers, authors, friends and others—going through phone books for addresses and hand-writing each envelope. In the end, they distributed thousands, reaching households all over Germany. Acquiring such large amounts of paper, envelopes, and stamps at a time of strict rationing without raising suspicion was problematic, but the students managed by engaging a wide-ranging network of supporters in cities and towns as far north as Hamburg, and as far south as Vienna. These networks were also activated to distribute the pamphlets, attempting to trick the Gestapo into believing the White Rose had locations all across the country.

In reading the group’s leaflets today, one cannot help but think of how chillingly accurate they were in their accusations and calls to action, and the powerful insights they provide about Nazi Germany: The third pamphlet reads: 

“Our current ‘state’ is the dictatorship of evil. We know that already, I hear you object, and we don’t need you to reproach us for it yet again. But, I ask you, if you know that, then why don’t you act? Why do you tolerate these rulers gradually robbing you, in public and in private, of one right after another, until one day nothing, absolutely nothing, remains but the machinery of the state, under the command of criminals and drunkards?”

White Rose Pamphlet

In their attempt to gain traction for the resistance and to stop the war effort, they gave clear advice and advocated sabotage of Hitler’s war machine. Their fifth pamphlet stated: “And now every convinced opponent of National Socialism must ask himself how he can fight against the present ‘state’ in the most effective way….We cannot provide each man with the blueprint for his acts, we can only suggest them in general terms, and he alone will find the way of achieving this end: Sabotage in armament plants and war industries, sabotage at all gatherings, rallies, public ceremonies, and organizations of the National Socialist Party. Obstruction of the smooth functioning of the war machine….Try to convince all your acquaintances…of the senselessness of continuing, of the hopelessness of this war; of our spiritual and economic enslavement at the hands of the National Socialists; of the destruction of all moral and religious values; and urge them to passive resistance!”

In January 1943, the group felt empowered and hopeful. Their activism seemed to be working, rattling the authorities and sparking discussions amongst their peers. Their group was well-organized and they were about to set up even more connections to other underground resistance groups. Observing the political situation in Germany in January of 1943, Sophie and the White Rose members believed a change in the country was imminent. The German army’s disastrous defeat at Stalingrad was a turning point on the Eastern Front, and voices of dissent grew louder at the University of Munich after students were publicly called out as leeches and war resisters. This encouraged them to work more boldly, distributing the flyers directly in person and writing slogans like “Down with Hitler” and “Freedom” on the walls around Munich. Their sixth—and last—pamphlet reads: “Even the most dull-witted German has had his eyes opened by the terrible bloodbath, which, in the name of the freedom and honour of the German nation, they have unleashed upon Europe, and unleash anew each day. The German name will remain forever tarnished unless finally the German youth stands up, pursues both revenge and atonement, smites our tormentors, and founds a new intellectual Europe. Students! The German people look to us! The responsibility is ours: just as the power of the spirit broke the Napoleonic terror in 1813, so too will it break the terror of the National Socialists in 1943.”

Hans and Sophie distributed them at their university on February 18, for their fellow students to find walking between classes. At some point, in what we can assume was an attempt to make even more people see the flyers, Sophie pushed a stack off a railing unto the central hall. What is now an iconic scene in every movie and documentary about the group, was the moment that changed everything. The pamphlet drop was seen by a janitor, a staunch supporter of the Nazis, who had Hans and Sophie immediately arrested by the Gestapo. The draft for the seventh pamphlet was still in Hans’ bag, which led to Christoph Probst’s arrest the same day.

The three endured a mock trial after long and arduous interrogations. They took all blame for the White Rose’s actions. This attempt to save their friends from persecution failed in the end, and Willi Graf, Alexander Schmorell, and Kurt Huber were arrested later in February and put to death shortly after.

After a half-day trial led by the infamous Roland Freisler, president of the People’s Court, Hans, Sophie, and Christoph were sentenced to death for treason. Despite this horrific prospect, Sophie did not waver. Freisler asked her as the closing question whether she hadn’t “indeed come to the conclusion that [her] conduct and the actions along with [her] brother and other persons in the present phase of the war should be seen as a crime against the community?” Sophie answered: 

“I am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the best that I could do for my nation. I therefore do not regret my conduct and will bear the consequences that result from my conduct.”

Sophie Scholl

Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst were executed by guillotine on February 22, 1943.

While their deaths were only barely mentioned in German newspapers, they received attention abroad. In April, The New York Times  wrote about student opposition in Munich. In June 1943, Thomas Mann, in a BBC broadcast aimed at Germans, spoke of the White Rose’s actions. The text of the sixth leaflet was smuggled into the United Kingdom where they were reprinted and dropped over Germany by Allied planes in July of the same year.

In post-war Germany, the White Rose was and is revered. A myriad of schools, streets, and a prestigious award are named after individual members, the group or the siblings Scholl. Sophie’s story looms especially large in the history of Ulm, my hometown. She personifies the importance of acting according to one’s beliefs and of following your conscience, even in the face of great sacrifice. In our collective memory, her story reminds us to not be silent, and fight for what Sophie wrote on the back of her indictment a day before she was killed: Freiheit—Freedom.

English texts of the pamphlets are from White Rose Translation Project  and The Holocaust Research Project .

Tanja B. Spitzer

Tanja B. Spitzer, a native of Germany who came to New Orleans a little over a decade ago to study at Tulane University, is an expert on transatlantic history and cultural diplomacy.

Explore Further

Eleanor Roosevelt's Response to Germany's Invasion of Poland

In her September 2, 1939, My Day column, Eleanor Roosevelt reacts to the news of Germany's invasion of Poland, sharing her dismay at Adolf Hitler's actions and expressing sorrow for the European nations facing the crisis.

The Allies of World War II

World War II was a global conflict involving nearly every country in the world. But who was on each side—and why?

The Axis Powers of World War II

The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s

This legislation was the culmination of efforts by American citizens, activists, and politicians across the political spectrum to insulate the United States from foreign conflicts and prevent the country from being drawn into another global war. 

Meet the Author: Stephen O. Sears, 'Sunniland'

The novel Sunniland follows a young geologist in Florida monitoring the development of a new oil well while facing a German U-boat rampage taking place in the nearby Gulf of Mexico in the spring of 1943.

Landing Vehicle Tracked: Armored Ship-to-Shore Movement

On display in the John E. Kushner Restoration Pavilion, The National WWII Museum’s LTV-4 is a testament to American innovation.

Operation Dragoon: Invasion of Southern France

Originally designated Operation Anvil and intended to support the hammer blow of the Normandy landings two months earlier, the renamed Operation Dragoon fulfilled an American desire for a lodgment in southern France that shifted forces from the strategic cul-de-sac of Italy.

The 'Lost Olympics' of 1940 and 1944

The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) plans for the 1940 Summer Games took many unexpected turns as the world drifted toward global war. 

History | February 17, 2023

Hans and Sophie Scholl Were Once Hitler Youth Leaders. Why Did They Decide to Stand Up to the Nazis?

Archival evidence offers clues on the radicalization of the German siblings, who led a resistance movement known as the White Rose

Jud Newborn

Co-author,  Sophie Scholl and the White Rose

Hans Scholl and his younger sister Sophie entered the atrium of the University of Munich with about 1,700 copies of their sixth anti-Nazi leaflet packed into a suitcase. It was February 18, 1943—the same day Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, seeking to boost morale after the German Army’s defeat at Stalingrad , held a fanatical rally calling for “ total war .” The hall, with its classical colonnades and skylight, was empty but would remain so for only ten more minutes. Quietly, the siblings placed stacks of leaflets outside classroom doors on every floor.

On their way to the exit, the Scholls realized they still had around 100 pamphlets left. Mounting the stairs again, they reached the atrium’s highest gallery. From there, the pair pushed the flyers over the balustrade, sending them floating down to the floor. Below, a janitor named Jakob Schmid spotted the leaflets. As he bounded up the stairs, determined to catch the culprits, the bell rang for the change of class, and students began pouring into the atrium. Schmid reached the third floor, where he stopped Sophie and Hans. “You are under arrest!” he cried out . The two siblings froze.

On the morning of February 22, 1943, just four days after their arrest, Sophie, Hans and their comrade Christoph Probst stood before the notorious People’s Court during a show trial —a mock proceeding designed to influence public opinion rather than deliver real justice. The three were found guilty of treason and beheaded that afternoon by guillotine , a method of execution revived for broader use under the Nazis. Hans was 24 and Probst 23; Sophie was 21.

Today, the Scholls are celebrated for their pivotal role as members of the White Rose , a small, clandestine, anti-Nazi resistance group. They joined the activist network after becoming disillusioned with the Hitler Youth, in which they were both leaders as teenagers. Castigating the German middle class for abandoning its Christian values and leadership roles, the White Rose set out to rouse the masses from their “ slumber ” and encourage passive resistance against the fascist regime.

The White Rose’s core consisted of six University of Munich students—Hans, Sophie, Probst, Alexander Schmorell , Willi Graf and Traute Lafrenz —and a philosophy professor named Kurt Huber . (All except Lafrenz were eventually executed by guillotine.) A loose network of supporters and sympathetic acquaintances aided the group’s resistance efforts by distributing leaflets and providing money to purchase supplies, among other contributions.

Sophie Scholl and the White Rose

The gripping story of the Munich university students who set up an underground resistance movement during World War II

By all accounts, the White Rose activists were among the first within Germany to speak out widely against the mass murder of Jews, in their second leaflet in June 1942. Their legendary distribution of flyers at the University of Munich appears to have been the only fundamentally political public protest against Nazism to be staged by Germans during the 12 years of Adolf Hitler’s rule. The last words of the group’s fourth leaflet became its legacy: “We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!”

Eighty years after their executions, the leaders of the White Rose are counted among the greatest Germans of all time. Numerous schools, streets and plazas are named for them, and monuments honoring their activism appear throughout the country. They have been the subject of plays , documentaries and feature films . One of these movies, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days , was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2006 Academy Awards.

Yet two mysteries about the White Rose long bedeviled laypeople and scholars alike: What motivated the 1937 transformation of the teenaged Hans and Sophie from fanatical acolytes of Nazism to passionate anti-Nazis? And why did Hans and his friends choose the “White Rose” as the name of their resistance organization?

The answers to these two questions appear to be interwoven. According to previously ignored Gestapo interrogation transcripts, along with my own subsequent research , anti-gay Nazi policies played a pivotal role in the radicalization of the Scholl siblings, helping to turn them into exemplars of civil courage .

On December 13, 1937, Hans, then a fresh-faced, 19-year-old cavalry recruit and Nazi stalwart, was suddenly arrested by the Gestapo. Another 20 teens from his hometown of Ulm were also rounded up. Of the charges against Hans, the most serious was that of homosexual activity, “perpetrated” when he was 16.

The files surrounding Hans’ first arrest have been accessible in Düsseldorf since the Nazi era. But they remained largely unexamined for almost six decades. Only in 1999 did German sociologist Eckard Holler discover the documents, which he discussed in an obscure booklet on the German Youth Movement that attracted little notice. Then, in 2003, the Center for White Rose Studies published English translations of the transcripts in book form.

Even after these titles were published, Inge Scholl , the siblings’ oldest sister and the self-proclaimed keeper of their story, remained the main source of information on the arrest. She’d thoroughly misled the public in her 1952 book, The White Rose , and consistently thereafter, creating the false narrative that Hans was arrested solely for joining the illegal youth group d.j.1.11 (short for “Deutsche Jungenschaft vom 1.11.1929,” or “German Boys’ Federation from November 11, 1929”) in 1937.

Gestapo records show there was much more to the story. Prior to December 1936, when all youth organizations other than the Hitler Youth were declared illegal, many young Nazis felt no contradiction in belonging to alternative groups like the d.j.1.11. Hans, for his part, became involved with the d.j.1.11 well before it was outlawed.

Homoeroticism, but not outright homosexuality, was a fundamental element in all-male groups like the d.j.1.11., evolving out of the turn-of-the-century Wandervogel (“ Wandering Birds ”), an anti-bourgeois movement formed in response to the industrial age.

Hans Blüher, the primary proponent of the Wandervogel, described homoeroticism as a kind of glue that bound these young men together as they wandered through nature, its energy sublimated and directed outward for the vital task of cultural renewal. As one of Blüher’s own nature-loving mentors put it : “Where does the vitality that is capable of giving rise to such a movement of masculine youth come from, if not from men who, instead of loving a wife or becoming the father of a family, loved young men?”

For most members of such youth groups, these adolescent attachments were simply a phase that passed as they grew older and began dating girls. For Hans, however, things were different.

Sexual relationships between men were anathema to Nazism. The notorious Paragraph 175 of the German criminal code, which outlawed such behavior, was made far more stringent in September 1935. Mere allegations led to wide-scale persecution, including the arrests of more than 100,000 men , as well as the imprisonment of at least 50,000. Some 5,000 to 15,000 of these individuals were sent to concentration camps, where they were treated with contempt, subjected to punitive labor and sometimes castrated, all while wearing a pink triangle on their uniforms.

Up until his 1937 arrest, Hans had thought himself the ideal Nazi youth: decisive, devoted, even fanatical. He hadn’t even known that same-sex intimacy was a crime, or so he claimed in his Gestapo interrogations . Nonetheless, he admitted to continuing his relationship with a “special friend,” the younger Rolf Futterknecht , for nearly two years. He described it to the Gestapo as “an overpowering love … that required some means of relief.”

Only 6 of the approximately 20 boys rounded up were indicted, and just 2 were ultimately tried and convicted. One of them was Hans, whom the Gestapo had entrapped in a web of corroborating evidence from which he could not extricate himself.

The Gestapo transcripts reveal remarkably candid testimony in which Hans strove to justify himself while protecting Futterknecht. “I am inclined to be passionate,” Hans said. “I can only justify my actions on the basis of the great love I felt for [him].” Later in the interview, Hans added, “I can hardly comprehend my behavior today.”

The circumstances of Hans’ arrest raised unexpected concerns in his mind about his sexuality. Indeed, in the very first letter written to his parents from prison in Stuttgart on December 14, 1937, Hans revealed that he had long carried a deep, secret burden regarding his sexual urges. “Through my tireless work on myself,” he told them, he thought he’d managed to be “washed clean again.”

Hans was found guilty on June 2, 1938, with the state’s prosecuting attorney asking for a one-year prison sentence. But the normally harsh judge decided on just one month, which he counted as time already served. The judge cited Hans’ exemplary record, a general amnesty for members of illegal youth groups and the many strong testimonials offered in his defense, ruling that the teenager’s same-sex relationship had amounted to an adolescent aberration.

The traumatic experience of having the Gestapo dig into the most intimate details of his life and put him on public trial for something he thought he’d successfully suppressed fed a gradual transformation in Hans’ views. Soon, his feelings about Nazism turned from admiration to loathing. As early as December 18, 1937, in a letter to his parents from prison, Hans vowed to redeem himself by becoming “something great for the sake of mankind.”

Beyond the roots of Hans’ radicalization, one of the longstanding mysteries surrounding the White Rose was the origin of its name. Though scholars can’t say for certain, many have good reason to believe a banned novel called The White Rose , first published in Germany in 1929, found its way into Hans’ hands. Its left-wing author, who wrote under the pseudonym B. Traven , was most likely an actor and communist revolutionary who used the stage name Ret Marut . He fled from Germany to Mexico following the collapse of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919.

The reclusive Traven, who had a dozen passports with different aliases, never revealed himself to the public. He wrote at least eight novels in exile before the Nazi takeover in 1933, though only one was a resounding success: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , which inspired the classic 1948 film by John Huston, with Humphrey Bogart as its star. Once the Nazis came to power, Traven’s radical writings were deemed so inimical that his entire oeuvre was tossed onto bonfires. Still, his novels were widely read by members of youth groups like the d.j.1.11. The White Rose may also have been known to Schmorell, Hans’ closest collaborator and a co-founder of the resistance group.

In Traven’s novel, the White Rose is the name of an idealized hacienda , or large estate, where mixed-race mestizo peasants live in harmony until a ruthlessly exploitative American oil executive arrives on the scene. The businessman orders the murder of the village’s illiterate leader, then presents the dead man’s signature on a bill of sale for the oil-rich lands. The local governor tells the villagers he will try to win back their freedom, even though he knows his efforts against the imperialist juggernaut will fail.

This story would have resonated powerfully for Hans and Schmorell as the idea of creating a group to resist the Nazis coalesced in their minds. (Hans was by no means a communist, but Schmorell was decidedly socialist in inclination.) Its rejection of racial prejudice, as well as its denouement, shared a kinship with the spirit and message of the German White Rose. As the governor tells the displaced citizens toward the end of the book :

I promise you I’ll do everything in my power to discover the truth. And I promise you that when I’ve found the truth, the White Rose won’t have been plucked for nothing. If, perhaps, it can never bloom again in all its beauty, it shall certainly not fade away, never. It shall bear fruit that will ripen. And that shall be the beginning of the liberation of the country and its citizens.

When asked about the origins of the “White Rose” name during his Gestapo interrogation on February 20, 1943, Hans offered a rambling response, adding, almost offhandedly, “It is possible that I chose the name on an emotional basis because at the time, I was under the influence of Brentano’s Spanish ballad ‘Die Rosa Blanca.’” This explanation has been widely accepted in Germany. But there are no Spanish romantic ballads by Clemens Brentano of that name.

There was , however, a decidedly romantic poem titled “ La Rosa Blanca ,” and it was the epigraph to the 1929 and 1931 German editions of Traven’s The White Rose , a leftist, utopian novel about deceit, exploitation and oppression:

Along the edge of the barranca, Bathed daily by the Golden Sun, Caressed by Lady Moon at night, Faithfully blooms the White Rose.   Every day at dawn, The birds sing thy praise; How thou’st bloomed since God created thee, Forever flourish, White Rose.   And though one day I too must wither, White Rose, may’st thou bloom on, And my last life’s breath Will be my farewell kiss to thee.

If, as now seems likely, Traven’s novel was a primary inspiration for the group’s name, why did Hans give the Gestapo such a vacuous explanation? Perhaps he didn’t want the secret police to know he’d been influenced by a communist author. But another intriguing explanation comes to mind. Hans may well have been trying to divert the Gestapo’s attention away from Josef Söhngen , a 47-year-old gay bookseller who secretly nurtured the White Rose by providing a meeting place, a cellar in which to hide the group’s duplicating machine when needed and an endless supply of banned books from his secret cache.

Though other members of the White Rose frequented Söhngen’s bookstore, it was only Hans who became close friends with him. Hans often would turn up outside the door to Söhngen’s apartment late at night, seeking solace through the kind of intensely intimate conversation he almost certainly could not share with others.

From July to November 1942, Hans, Schmorell and Graf were forced to take a break from their studies—and their burgeoning activism—to serve as medics on the Eastern Front. There, they witnessed with their own eyes the misery of Jewish prisoners in the Warsaw Ghetto . “Warsaw would sicken me in the long run,” Hans wrote to his parents in July. “Half-starved children sprawl in the street and whimper for bread. … The mood is universally doom-laden.”

Appalled by the violence and injustice they’d witnessed, the friends returned to Munich determined to step up their resistance efforts by distributing leaflets throughout Germany and Austria. Ultimately, the White Rose circulated at least 7,000 leaflets in 16 major cities, from Munich to Frankfurt to Vienna to Berlin, conveying the impression that the group’s membership was widespread, not just a handful of indefatigable students hand-cranking out pamphlets in Munich.

The leaflets were like nothing the Gestapo had ever seen—not rigid ideological tracts aimed at the working classes, but passionate, erudite manifestos that quoted Friedrich Schiller, Plato and Laozi. “The guilt of Hitler and his accomplices goes beyond all measure,” read the group’s fifth leaflet . “Tear up the cloak of indifference you have wrapped around your hearts. Make your decision before it is too late !”

Hans regularly showed drafts of the White Rose’s leaflets to Söhngen. While Hans had previously suggested distributing leaflets at the university to other group members, he only confided in Söhngen and Sophie after deciding to execute the plan. The bookseller sharply warned Hans not to take such a dangerous risk.

When the Gestapo ransacked Hans’ apartment on February 18, they found a letter from Söhngen that Hans had hidden under clothing in a bureau drawer. The discovery led the Gestapo to search Söhngen’s apartment, where they found every missive the bookseller had received from Hans from the time they first became acquainted in Munich. Söhngen was arrested soon after.

The Gestapo already had a file on Söhngen as a gay man who’d had a soldier visit him at night in the months prior to his arrest, presumably for a sexual liaison. During Söhngen’s interrogations, however, investigators focused narrowly on the White Rose. They attempted to intimidate the bookseller by asking repeatedly if he was aware that Hans’ record had been “besmirched” by his 1937 arrest and 1938 conviction. Söhngen, of course, denied it.

It was only in August 2018, when she was almost 100 years old, that Traute Lafrenz , a member of the White Rose and a former girlfriend of Hans, felt able to speak openly about her frequently discussed romantic relationship with the resistance leader. Along with my colleague Robert Zoske, a Lutheran pastor and the author of a 2018 German biography of Hans, Be a Flame! Hans Scholl and the White Rose , I’d been encouraging Lafrenz to discuss her past. In a recorded phone conversation with Zoske, Lafrenz explained that Hans had had a “deep problem” that “tormented him greatly”—one that he kept “dreadfully secret.”

Hans had attempted “to eliminate this conflict by focusing on higher ideals,” she said, but he could “never free himself of it.’” This burden was “so significant for him” that it “formed his character profoundly.” Lafrenz further confirmed that, contrary to legends about their supposedly passionate but short-lived relationship, the pair had never engaged in any sexual activity.

As for Hans and Söhngen, there is no evidence indicating the two shared a sexual relationship. But they both felt deeply marginalized by Nazi society and politics. Hans’ feelings of being stigmatized for his earlier arrest would only have increased his trust in the bookseller as a key confidant.

In a 1946 account submitted to the Munich Institute for Contemporary History ’s collection of postwar eyewitness testimony, Söhngen said that Hans had “simply [been] the young friend who came to me to escape the constant stress.” The two would discuss poetry or religion, “or often relax in silence with a glass of wine.”

Their correspondence while Hans was on the Eastern Front was warm and deep but careful given the military’s censorship of letters. In one missive written toward the end of his service, on September 9, 1942, Hans ecstatically praises the wide-open expanses of Russia, saying they are “as boundless as love itself.” He writes exuberantly about the liberating effect of this environment, which allowed him to acknowledge “fantasies” he had not dared give voice to in the stultifying confines of Germany. And he tells Söhngen how eager he is to share his experiences in full when they are finally together again, as his feelings are “far too weighty for a mere piece of white paper to bear.”

When the Gestapo later ransacked Hans’ flat, they found Söhngen’s careful reply hidden in a bureau drawer. “Such a radiantly beautiful autumn day it was when your so very lovely letter arrived—so beautiful that this day will remain with me as the pinnacle of all that which I hold beautiful,” he’d written. “Moreover, it opened up your innermost being to me, and I now believe I can see clearly that of what I had only before had an inkling. I have grown very reserved in my readiness and so take joy to find confirmation.” Söhngen seemed to have read between the lines, interpreting Hans’ words as a willingness to finally accept his own sexuality and (perhaps incorrectly) consider pursuing a deeper relationship with the bookseller himself.

Hans’ final words before his execution included messages for each of his closest friends and family members. In his sister Inge’s original unpublished eyewitness memoir, submitted, like Söhngen’s, to the Institute for Contemporary History in 1946, she states that her brother’s last message was directed to an unnamed individual, shared while a “tear ran down his cheek” as he bent over to hide his emotions. Inge avoided stating the gender of that anonymous person, but later on, in her 1952 book, she identified them as a woman. By then, she’d taken to presenting Hans as a lothario, so many readers and researchers presumed she was referring to one of his girlfriends.

Inge didn’t publish the words of this last, mysterious farewell. Söhngen, however, knew the precise contents of this message, as Hans’ mother had conveyed it to him personally. The bookseller included it in his memoir: “The most beautiful and yet sorrowful acknowledgment, from his mother … mere minutes before his execution: ‘If I should survive these times, I would want to be as ready as [Söhngen] was, to help students—even at risk of my own life.’”

Hans’ strategy of downplaying the duo’s relationship seems to have worked. Though Söhngen was sentenced to six months for failing to turn in two leaflets he’d admitted to receiving anonymously by mail, he was only required to serve three months and was otherwise judged to be an unimportant figure in the White Rose investigation.

Only minutes after delivering his final message, Hans—long tormented for loving men, who had promised to become “something great for the sake of mankind”— called out as he crossed the Gestapo prison’s cobblestoned courtyard on the way to the guillotine, declaring, “Long live freedom!”

This article was adapted from an essay previously published on Jud Newborn’s website.

Editor's Note, March 3, 2023: This article previously stated than Söhngen's case was dismissed. In fact, he served three months.

Get the latest History stories in your inbox?

Click to visit our Privacy Statement .

A Note to our Readers Smithsonian magazine participates in affiliate link advertising programs. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission.

Jud Newborn | READ MORE

Jud Newborn is a New York-based author, writer and curator, as well as a multimedia lecture and storyteller. He has presented his programs throughout the USA, at the United Nations and from Canada to Cape Town. Awarded his PhD with distinction by the University of Chicago, he served as the founding historian and co-creator of New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. He is the co-author of the critically acclaimed Sophie Scholl and the White Rose and is currently working on the first American feature film about the White Rose. Website: judnewborn.com

White Rose Society Essay Contest

Topic: “children and the holocaust”, sponsored by the jewish federation of peoria.

Instructions  |  Registration

A poet once remarked that the death of a child is the loss of infinite possibilities. What, then, can be said about the more than one-and-a-half million Jewish children who were murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust years (1933-1945)? Of course, many more boys and girls suffered unimaginable hardships and bore witness to the brutality of the Nazis. Some survived. Many did not. Regardless of how experiences varied from country to country, children’s lives were changed forever. The purpose of this essay contest is to record the stories that must be told to yesterday’s, today’s and tomorrow’s children

Part A: Research the history of a specific child or youth who was caught in or witnessed the events of the Holocaust in Europe. This person could have lived in a ghetto, been hidden, carried out clandestine activities, been a part of a kindertransport, known the horrors of concentration camps and/or experienced the Holocaust in a myriad of other ways. He or she could have been a Jew or a non-Jew, or have been a part of a family or a group of children suffering the same fate. Describe the conditions under which this individual lived and the circumstances that impacted his/her life during the Holocaust years. If he or she survived, briefly explain what happened after 1945.

Part B: Tell how learning about the Holocaust through the personal story of this  one individual makes the Holocaust more meaningful to you.

Papers must be delivered in person or mailed to: The Jewish Federation of Peoria

2000 pioneer pkwy. suite 10b, peoria, il 61615., phone: 309-689-0063open to students 7/8 grade peoria and tazewell counties; public, parochial and home schooled..

Prizes sponsored by Jay Goldstein, VP Robert W. Baird

2021 Winners:

Upcoming Events

Jewish telegraphic agency.

• Man arrested for ISIS-style plot to kill ‘as many Jewish people as possible’ in NYC September 8, 2024
• Amir Tibon, Israeli journalist and Oct. 7 survivor, on life, hope and betrayal after the massacre September 6, 2024
• Speaking to Jewish Republicans, parents of Omer Neutra say politicians are failing to bring the hostages home September 6, 2024

Support the Federation

Jewish federation of peoria.

2000 Pioneer Parkway, Suite 10B Peoria, IL 61615

Phone: (309) 689-0063 E-mail

Get Involved

Jewish Federation of North America (JFNA)

Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA)

Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI)

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)

Honoring the Past, Protecting the Future

The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education teaches the history of the Holocaust, applying its lessons to counter indifference, intolerance, and genocide.

Through Hell to the Midwest – A Mapping Project of Local Survivors

This project is experiencing technical difficulties. Please check back as data is being continuously restored.

“Through Hell to the Midwest” is a mapping project that traces the stories of survivors who settled in the Kansas City area. Using oral history testimony collected by the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education and dually housed in the Fortunoff Archive at Yale University . Dr. Amber Nickell , Professor Hollie Marquess , and student Sarah Keiss from the Fort Hays State University History Department have mapped these survivors and their experiences. Each map tells the story of one Holocaust survivor, tracing their steps from their hometowns in Central and Eastern Europe, through their Holocaust experiences to their new lives in Kansas and Missouri.

Programs & Events

Beginning august 29/30, 2024, lunch and learn: resist.

Once democracy has been destroyed, ordinary citizens must ask themselves what next? In these cases, individuals have differing options and agency depending on their position and particular privilege. For some this might mean taking a different route in daily life to avoid giving the Nazi salute, while others might engage in acts of sabotage or armed revolt. This five-week course, taught by MCHE Historian Dr. Shelly Cline will detail courses of action available and taken by those under Nazi control.

This program is offered both in-person and on Zoom and requires registration.

Through September 2024

Banned book give-away.

Beginning on May 10, 1933 the Nazis burned books deemed “un-German” in the public squares of university towns throughout Germany. More than 25,000 books were thrown into bonfires during ceremonies that included torchlight parades, band music, “fire oaths,” and speeches by Nazi officials, university professors, and student leaders.

MCHE is committed to applying the lessons of the Holocaust to the world today, which includes the free exchange of ideas, open access to published materials, and civil discussion of conflicting points-of-view. We invite you to register to read a banned or challenged book leading up to Banned Books Week!

September 11, 2024 at 6:30 pm at the Truman Presidential Library and Museum

Americans who dared: aiding refugees during the nazi era.

During the 1930s and ‘40s, some Americans overcame enormous challenges to help Jewish refugees who were seeking to escape from Nazism’s grip. Most worked within networks of religious or humanitarian organizations, using both legal and illegal means to overcome significant obstacles, including restrictive US immigration laws. This lecture will focus on Americans who took extraordinary risks, and sometimes jeopardized even their own safety, to assist people in areas of Europe that Nazi Germany controlled or occupied.

Daniel Greene is Subject Matter Expert at USHMM and Adjunct Professor of History at Northwestern University. He curated Americans and the Holocaust, an exhibition at USHMM in Washington, DC.

This program is presented in partnership with The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Generous support has been provided by the donors to the Jean G. Zeldin Partners in Holocaust Education Fund at the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education.

Wednesdays at 12 pm on Zoom beginning October 9

Bringing europe home.

Join us for this series of presentations by MCHE’s Dr. Shelly Cline and Jessica Rockhold as they share the history and the current state of memorialization which was explored in our inaugural 2023 European Study trip when we visited Munich, Prague, Krakow and Budapest and the associated Holocaust sites in and around each of those cities.

These sessions are free and open to the public with registration. All are offered on Zoom at 12 pm and videos will be posted to the MCHE YouTube Channel in the days following each presentation. The series will be offered weekly on Wednesdays from October 9 through November 6, 2024.

October 9, 2024 at 6:30 pm on Zoom

The third reich’s other victims: queer identity and holocaust memory after fascism.

This presentation by Dr. Jennifer Evans presents the latest research into LGBTQI victims of the Nazis, including who was targeted when and why. It then explores the struggles for victim recognition and restitution in the postwar period, both within queer communities and at the national level. It discusses the establishment of a memorial in central Berlin dedicated to queer victims and the broader implications of remembering such atrocities in today’s world.

This program is offered in partnership with Congregation Kol Ami in recognition of National Coming Out Day.

2025 – Germany, Poland, Lithuania

Mche european study experience.

This European study tour is open to MCHE members. Travel in 2025 will include Berlin, Krakow, Warsaw, and Vilnius. Stops include Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, the Warsaw, Krakow, and Vilna Ghettos, Sachsenhausen, and Ponar.

Spring 2024 Newsletter and 2023 Impact Report

Learn from the survivors. Explore Testimonies

Frank adler, ethel ardow, ralph berets, esther bergh, warner bergh, evelyn bergl, zdenko bergl, felicia brill, margalith clarenberg, iser cukier, tola cukier, mche statement regarding hate speech on campuses, december 8, 2023, mche statement regarding october 7, october 12, 2023, mche statement regarding holocaust revisionism statement from mahmoud abbas, september 7, 2023, find more upcoming events., americans who dared: aiding refugees during the nazi era – dr. daniel greene.

500 W US Hwy 24, Independence, MO 64050

MCHE Lunch and Learn: RESIST

Jewish Community Campus 5801 West 115th Street Overland Park, Kansas

Your contributions power our mission.

Support our mission to teach the history of the Holocaust, applying its lessons to counter indifference, intolerance, and genocide.

Featured Resources See All Resources

Holocaust history, dr. jeffrey herf – the jewish enemy: nazi propaganda during world war ii and the holocaust, dr. william meinecke – building the racial state, visualizing genocide: the auschwitz album and the process of genocide – dr. fran sternberg – auschwitz speaker series, be a part of our future..

Our mission is to teach the history of the Holocaust, applying its lessons to counter indifference, intolerance, and genocide.

Consider making a gift today.

Get in touch with us.

5801 West 115th Street STE #106, Overland Park, KS 66211

(913) 327-8192

[email protected]

The White Rose Essay: Resources/Works Cited

Benchmark Dates

3/27 Identify and Annotation Documents 

3/28 Cite Documents & Draft Thesis Statement

3/29 Outline and Draft Essay or Documentary

WORK ON THIS OVER THE WEEKEND

4/1 Revise Essay or Documentary

4/2 Edit Essay or Documentary

4/3 Edit Essay or Documentary

-Turn in to Canvas

4/4 Clean Up for Contest Entry

4/5 All Entries Due to MCHE

- Teachers will submit

1. Login to Noodle Tools using your computer login information.

a.) If asked to revalidate, the password is smart

b) Talk with Mrs. Harvey if you need a login

2. Create a project titled: Last Name, First Name-White Rose

a) Change Citation Level to ADVANCED

3. Share your project with your White Rose

4. Start citing your sources on the Sources page .

• Noodle Tool Help Videos

Logging in, Revalidating, Creating an Advanced Project, & Sharing

Export Noodle Tools Source to Google Doc Works Cited Page

• Document Map
• Thesis Help
• In-Text Citations/Paraphrasing
• Outline/Rough Draft
• Reflection Help
• Revising/Editing

Cite 3 Documents from the designated documents list

Plus a minimum of 2 additional resources*

You must cite all of your sources in a Works Cited page and within your final paper using In-Text Citations .

Required Document citations must reference the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education either in the main part of the citation or the annotation: Accessed via Midwest Center for Holocaust Education

Thesis Template

How To-Upload to Noodle Tools

Outline Help

White rose template, transition help video, avoid 'quote-stacking' -- where you put one quote right after another without explaining the first quote. , also, you don't have to use the entire quoted sentence. you can quote pieces of a sentence and embedded within your own words., always remember to insert your in-text citation right after your quote or at the end of a paraphrased sentence..

Help with Logging into Noodle Tools and Creating an Advanced Project

Adding research prompt and sharing to teacher in Noodle Tools

* Export Noodle Tools Source to Google Doc Works Cited Page *

Upload Document to Noodle Tools

Reflection:

Based on your research, what responsibility do you believe the u.s. has toward refugees and immigrants in today’s world, consider the u.s. immigration policies during the holocaust and today. after researching the policies and actions of the u.s. during the holocaust, what responsibility do you believe the u.s. has toward refugees and immigrants in today’s world , maybe helpful links.

U.S. History with Refugee Timeline

U.S. Immigration Services Website

International Rescue Committee

Breakdown of reflection:

Draw parallels between actions taken (or not taken) by u.s. citizens, organizations, or government during 1933-1945 and today. , tie in examples from holocaust research to modern-day examples., your examples of actions taken need to reflect your stance on u.s. responsibility towards refugees and immigrants, edit/revise tips ppt--watch, avoid passive voice video, revision/editing checklist, word count: -highlight just your essay (not the cover page or your works cited) -go to “tools” at the top of the page -click on “word count” -maximum 1600 words (w/ 1/4 devoted to reflection)--remember in-text citations do not count, so you will want to subtract the words within your citations for an accurate count, mche judging rubric essay, mche judging rubric documentary.

• Last Updated: Apr 2, 2024 8:57 AM
• URL: https://bluevalleyk12.libguides.com/whiteroseessay

White Rose Tribute Event 2022

View the White Rose Tribute Event Digital Program Booklet

2022 WHITE ROSE TRIBUTE EVENT

A legacy of leadership tess wise white rose award  honoree dr. rita bornstein.

Bidding Still Live!

History of The White Rose

About dr. rita bornstein.

About the 2022 Tess Wise White Rose Award Honoree, Dr. Rita Bornstein:

As the thirteenth president and the first woman to hold that title, Rita Bornstein came to Rollins College in 1990. For the next fourteen years President Bornstein was also an author, teacher, and accomplished fundraiser. Under her leadership, Rollins focused on strengthening its commitment to excellence, innovation, and community. Dr. Bornstein oversaw Rollins’ most ambitious fundraising effort, widely considered to have transformed the College. As a true upstander in our community, Dr. Bornstein has served over the years as a board member of both local and national for profit and non-profit boards.

Today, we are honored to have her on our capital campaign committee for the future Holocaust Museum for Hope and Humanity. She is a dedicated and passionate champion of our mission and vision. Her unwavering support will help to ensure that future generations of students learn from the painful lessons of the Holocaust and serve as advocates for justice, democracy, and peace. Dr. Bornstein has supported her passion for the project with a significant financial gift.

Event Video, Press Release and Photos

2022 White Rose Tribute Event

Grant Cornwell, Peg Cornwell, and Linda Chapin

Lauren Grabell Allen Laurie Levin Carolyn McDowell Lauren Nelson

Hali Poteshman Josh Roth Kathy Turner Paula Wyatt

2022 Supporter Circles

Circle of valor, circle of hope, circle of resilience, circle of courage, tess wise white rose honorees.

2021 The Massey Family 2020 Mayor Jerry L. Demings 2019 Joanie Holzer Schirm 2018 Jeffrey Miller & Ted Maines 2017 Mayor Buddy Dyer 2016 Valeria & Jim Shapiro 2015 Susan & Gordon Arkin 2014 Harris Rosen 2013 Helen Greenspun 2012 Dr. Richard Lapchick 2011 Dr. Ron Blocker 2010 Governor Bob Graham 2009 Rita and John Lowndes 2008 Alexis and Jim Pugh 2007 Harriett and Hy Lake 2006 Tess and Abe Wise 2005 Marilyn & Sig Goldman

2004 Suntrust Bank, Central Florida 2003 Judy Albertson 2002 Joe R. Lee, CEO, Darden Restaurants 2001 Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate 2000 20 yr. Anniversary Celebration – Dreamers 1999 Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation 1998 Survivors 1997 Henri Landwirth/Give Kids The World 1996 Tom Werner, President, Florida Hospital 1995 University of Central Florida 1994 Junior League of Greater Orlando 1993 Linda Chapin, Chairman, Orange County Commission 1992 Scholars 1991 Dr. Schott, Superintendent, Orange County Public Schools 1990 Dr. Gianini, President, Valencia Community College 1989 Charlie Reese, Orlando Sentinel

Generations of Generosity

851 N. Maitland Avenue, Maitland FL, 32751

Museum Hours:

Sunday: Noon – 4pm Monday: Closed Tuesday – Thursday: 10am – 4pm Friday: 10am – 1pm Saturday: Closed

407-628-0555

MAKE YOUR RESERVATION

Thank you for your commitment to a better future

Your generous gift today will help us continue educating people about the important history and lessons of the Holocaust in order to create a more just, caring and inclusive community free of all forms of hate and bigotry.

• Board of Directors
• Join Our Team
• Make a Planned Gift
• Survivor Testimonies
• Educator & Classroom Resources
• Britannica's Holocaust Resources
• Other Holocaust Centers

We are thankful to our partners who help provide funding for our cultural season