| Title | : | Sophie Scholl and the White Rose |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1851684743 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781851684748 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 238 |
| Publication | : | First published July 1, 1986 |
Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Reviews
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It bothered me from the outset that on the front cover this book is described as having an animated narrative that reads like a suspense novel.
I hope not, I thought. I don't want a novel.
Yes, there were some tense moments, in which members of the WR risked life and limb by mailing large quantities of anti-Nazi leaflets around Germany, whilst the dreaded Gestapo loitered everywhere. And in parts it did have novel qualities, that had me thinking of Hans Fallada's Brilliant 'Alone in Berlin', but on the whole this detailed account of the White Rose felt more like a history lesson, a return to the classroom, that it did a gripping novel. Which was what I'd hoped.
My knowledge of the White Rose and their activities had previously been pretty slim - a group of students are sentenced to death for spreading their hatred for the Third Reich. And this book did a great job of filling in the many blanks. How did it all start? who were its founders? How did many of them get caught, before being charged with treason? I now feel bloated with WR data, and definitely got my moneys worth. Annette Dumbach clearly goes about her research with much passion, and even includes at the back of the book - all the leaflets (which turned out to be far longer than I thought) written by the White Rose and the Resistance, photos/mugshots of those charged, including the defiant looking brother & sister Hans and Sophie Scholl at the time of their arrest - February 18, 1943, chillingly, the actual guillotine used for execution, and the Munich courtroom where the defendants were tried (which surprised me as to how small it was). I also learned to my great joy that the good old RAF reprinted one of the leaflets, and air-dropped millions of copies over Germany in July 1943.
For all the fascination I found with this book, it is still, ultimately so tragic. I actually started to think that all these events, and all the terror, all the deaths, and all the carnage of WW2 simply didn't really happen, how could it? But it did. The white Rose students played just a small role in the battle against such evil, but they did make a difference. And all these years that have passed, they still have the power to ignite and inspire people to speak out against injustice.
An extract from the forth printed White Rose leaflet-
"Who has counted the dead - Hitler or Goebbels? Neither of them! In Russia thousands are lost daily. It is the time of the harvest, and the reaper cuts into the ripe grain with wide strokes. Mourning enters the country cottages, and there is no one to dry the tears of the mothers. Yet Hitler feeds lies to those people whose most precious belongings he has stolen and whom he has driven to a meaningless death. Every word out of 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. His mouth is the foul-smelling maw of hell, and his might is at bottom accursed. True, we must conduct the struggle against the National Socialist terrorist state with rational means, but whoever today still doubts the real existence of demonic powers has completely failed to understand the metaphysical background of this war. Behind the concrete, visible events, behind all objective, rational considerations, we find the irrational element: the struggle against the devil, against the servants of the Antichrist!" -
My impression of the Scholls and the White Rose movement (too strong) / organisation( barely that) / gang (?) from when I first learnt of then around the age of seventeen or eighteen was that they were sweet, but silly. After reading this book my first impression hasn't shifted much if at at all.
The Scholls formed a small group of Munich students, they wrote and distributed six anti-Nazi leaflets from Juneish 1942 until 18th February 1943 when they were caught. Then they were executed.
That was the Scholls, briefly, now the book. It seemed to me to be pitched at people who had heard of the Scholls or the White Rose but didn't know much about Germany. Reading the book the questions in my mind were who wrote the leaflets, when, how did they manage the practical side, and why did they even start - these questions didn't interest the author, the question of why was only obliquely addressed with the curious suggestion that they might have been motivated by Heidegger - well his writings, not in person which given his association with the Nazi regime would have been odd.
To my mind, three ways present themselves as to how to approach on the Scholls - a Gestapo view focusing on becoming aware of these leafleteers, attempts to find out more and to track them down down (the advantage of this is that there is some documentary evidence) - a comparative view looking at them in the context of resistance movements in Germany as a whole they were typical in that they emerged relatively late, once allied victory looked to be somewhere between extremely likely and inevitable, they were also typical in that the ideological spectrum of those involved from semi-communist left to authoritarian militaristic right wing was quite broad - or thirdly something focused on the details of the Scholls and their circle, this I gather reading between the lines would be the most difficult since reasonably enough they were quite secretive (often a good idea when involved in clandestine resistance movements) and mostly young, and not particularly exceptional on the face of it, the Scholls were Protestants from Swabia, the others Catholics, mostly students, a couple were in the army as medics, their access to amphetamines helped to fuel the operations of the group, perhaps contributing to their ultimate carelessness.
Dumbach and Newborn's approach is a bit novelistic, skipping backwards and forwards in time with sweeping digressions until page 122 (of 185) when the group start work on their fifth leaflet and there is then a continuous narrative until the end. Before then things happen at random, not all the leaflets are discussed, we don't learn how the group came together or what motivated them to search for a method of resistance or why writing leaflets in particular, but we do learn of their efforts to reach out and make contact with other resistance movements via the younger brother of a man arrested for resistance activities (which seems very ameteurish, but it seems the Gestapo were not watching who he was getting into contact with, not that any of them could have known that) and a business man in a group discussing the post-war, post-Hitler ordering of Germany he is strong-armed by the Scholls into writing them a cheque for 500 Reichmark - a fatal mistake for him since cash is harder to trace.
This retelling is quite novelistic, but not novel like enough to be exciting, neither analytical nor a close investigation to be interesting in an exciting way. Quite why Sophie Scholl gets her name on the front cover I don't know, she only dominates the story from the 'trial' onwards when she was a cool as a cucumber and demonstrated sang froid to the end, how the authors know that they don't say, I wondered if they wanted to write a martyr's life for her - but the account isn't quite that, the martyr I believed oughtn't get caught quite so accidentally, but rather deliberately.
At the end of the account of the Scholls and their activities (buying stamps, envelops and paper in small quantities so as not to create suspicions, staying up all night cracking out copies of their leaflets on a mimeograph, posting leaflets to addresses taken from the phone book) are translations of their leaflets - these are not rousing calls to arms, great careers in advertising did not await them had they not been guillotined by the Nazis. One of their group did have an escape plan in case they were to be rounded up by the Nazis - they involved laying low in a PoW camp for Russian prisoners and then heading across country to Switzerland, in the event he couldn't get into the camp and didn't have the clothing to get through the snow in February.
So my impression remains that the group was sweet but silly, writing leaflets was maybe as effective as painting graffiti, not everybody had supplies of conveniently available Jews or Trades Unionists to help hide or smuggle abroad. It's not a bad book, though I didn't find it particularly clear, I do hope though that there are better books on the subject in print. -
You may only be one person, but you have the power to change the world.
Before they were activists, they were just like you and me. From Frederick Douglass to Malala Yousafzai, Joan of Arc to John Lewis, Susan B. Anthony to Janet Mock—these remarkable figures show us what it means to take a stand and say no to injustice, even when it would be far easier to stay quiet.
Men and women who resisted tyranny, fought the odds, and stood up to bullies that threatened to harm their communities. Along with their portraits and most memorable quotes, their stories will inspire you to speak out and rise up—every single day. Especially speaking out against Fascism and Adolph Hitler had to be incredibly hard to do but yet there was people who stood up to even him and paid with their life.
Sophie Scholl and Hans her brother along with members form the White Rose.
https://i2.wp.com/www.whatshernamepod... The White Rose is a shining example of resistance to Hitler, but also of the ruthlessness which the Nazis authorities showed when faced with any opposition. People who have never lived under a totalitarian government have difficulty understanding how difficult it was - and how dangerous - to organize opposition to the government. The Nazis in particular were organized right down to the street level and people were encouraged to inform on their parents, relatives, and friends to the Gestapo; in short, anyone who manifested disagreement with the Nazis could be in serious trouble. Despite knowing that the likely outcome to resistance would be death, the member's of the White Rose acted against the Nazi's anyway.
What a remarkable read on a subject I knew nothing about that existed during WWII. The heroes in this story must not be forgotten to remind us that we can do tremendous good by bravely taking action when others are brainwashed or afraid. Great book on a subject that I highly recommend. -
On 22 February 1943 Sophia Magdalena Scholl (“Sophie Scholl”), 21 years old, single but engaged to Fritz Hartnagel, was beheaded by the Nazis. A few minutes after that her brother Hans Scholl, 24 years old, single, met his appointment with the same guillotine which decapitated his younger sister. Thereafter, their dear friend, Christoph Probst, 23 years old, married with three very young children (the youngest of whom was only four months old) followed suit. They’d been sentenced to die by a Nazi kangaroo court which conducted a trial and came up with its sentence just in the morning of that same day. Their crime: High Treason. What did they do? They founded a clandestine group of mostly young German university students called “The White Rose”. Through anonymous leaflets which they printed and distributed first in Munich (where they studied) and then later in other parts of Germany, mainly through the postal system whose recipients where taken from phone directories, they had urged resistance to Hitler and his Nazi regime.
It was just five days before that when the brother and sister were caught scattering copies of one of these leaflets in parts of the University of Munich early in the morning. They were detained and then later placed under arrest by the Gestapo. One-by-one the other White Rose members and sympthizers fell into the Gestapo’s hands, first of whom was Probst. Several others were sentenced to death (including one much beloved university professor who continued working on a book he was writing up to and until his execution), while the rest received stiff prison sentences.
The fate of these dissenters, especially those who were condemned to death, was horrific as it can be yet, compared to the deaths most of us would likely meet, their end can truly be described as beautiful. Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen, a member of the German nobility who was executed at Dachau for failing, at age 60, to answer a civil-defence conscription call, had written in his diary:
“I never saw these…young people (of The White Rose). In my rural isolation, I only got bits and pieces of the whole story of what they were doing, but the significance of what I heard was such I could hardly believe it…They died radiant in their courage and readiness for sacrifice, and thereby attained the pinnacle of lives well lived…We will all of us, someday, have to make a pilgrimage to their graves and stand before them in shame.”
In 2006, the award-winning German film “Sophie Scholl: The Last Days” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. I watched it after reading this book and it was almost perfect—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baRvF... -
A book about a piece of documented history that may not be as well known or as popular
during WW2. -
This was okay, I expect this book to be a little more exiting, I was spoilt after reading the Edelweiss Pirates series.
It is good to read that teenagers in Germany did fight back, very sad novel but worth reading. -
This book is beautiful. It records the story of the White Rose movement of professor and students at Munich University who wrote acerbic leaflets attacking the Nazis and received brutal treatment at the hands of the Gestapo when discovered. Although counterfactuals are difficult because you would be a different person brought up in a different milieu I doubt I would have had the courage to resist Nazism with the passion and intensity that they did. I love them to bits. Like the Warsaw uprising, they were doomed in the face of the Nazi behemoth but at least they resisted the evil and I hope that the likes of Hans and Sophie Scholl had happy moments in their short lives in amongst the enormous pain of living in the worst regime in human history and may those happy moments live in eternity.
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לסקירה מפורטת בעברית קישור לבלוג שלי -
https://sivi-the-avid-reader.com/סופי... -
Ho finalmente approfondito la storia dei fratelli Scholl e della Rosa bianca, conosciuta solo da un film.
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I watched the movie Sophie Scholl a couple years ago and, I'll admit it, I was so moved I cried. I knew there had to be books about the true story behind the movie, and found this book secondhand. It then promptly became lost in the shuffle and giant pile of other books I've read since. I wish I had read it sooner.
The book follows the very true and very amazing story of the White Rose, a group of university students who wrote and distributed leaflets calling Germans to revolt against Hitler during WWII. While focusing on Sophie and her brother Hans, it also explores the backgrounds of all the other major members of the group and their contributions to the writing and editing of the leaflets, as well as the dangers of distributing them. These students embodied fearlessness, representing the indignation of people oppressed by their government and the ideal reaction to such oppression. I couldn't help but feel both empowered by reading this book and awkward as I wondered if I could ever be as bold as these students, how I would act in a similar situation.
The nice thing about reading books about history is that the reader usually knows what's going to happen next. Having watched the movie, I knew they would be caught by the Gestapo, and after a short trial, quietly and immediately executed. Even if I had forgotten the ending the book explains their executions in the preface, and had I skipped that, I'd learn a summary of the entire story by page 10. So if there was any chance of any anger for my supposed spoiler, I hope the book ruining it so quickly as well spares me! What I was surprised about most as I read the book was how little the movie strayed from the truth. The true story seems so unbelievable and dramatic, there was little to exaggerate for the big screen. There is a section of photos in the center of the book, among them a picture of the back of Sophie's indictment, where she had boldly written the word "freedom"(but in the German "freiheit," of course). If that doesn't seem dramatic enough, there is Hans Scholl shouting "Long live freedom!" right before his beheading, a moment in the movie that I was certain was added in for the benefit of the audience.
Even after the narration of the story and all the trials of the rest of the members is over, there is the series of appendixes, where the texts of many documents concerning the trial are translated to English to read. There are all of the leaflets the White Rose wrote, along with a seventh that had only made it to its rough draft before the arrest. There are documents of their "crimes" as documented by the German government of the time, as well as the information they had gathered about the situation at the time. There are also articles that had been published in newspapers about their executions, as well as one from The New York Times that was originally published in 1943. I also found myself staring at the picture of their duplicating machine among the appendixes, thinking of the descriptions of the sleepless nights spent copying leaflets.
This book is for anyone interested in the history of WWII, a story with a very strong female character, or a suspense story filled with surprising details and bold characters. -
Part history, part, biography, and part unabashed tribute, this book tells of a small, idealistic group of students at the University of Munich, calling themselves the White Rose, who actively resisted the Nazis during 1942 and early 1943, and paid for it with their lives. They produced thousands of leaflets denouncing the Nazis, warning Germans that they would be morally culpable for the regime’s actions, and calling for resistance. At great danger to themselves, they transported the pamphlets to various cities all over Germany. From these locations, they mailed the pamphlets to people in other cities throughout Germany and Austria, selected at random from directories.
We think of Munich as cradle of the Nazi movement, but it also was home to this daring, idealistic group (which also came to include one of their professors). These young people also risked their lives by painting anti-Nazi graffiti around the university and city, including just a few meters away from the heavily guarded monument that the Nazis put up to commemorate their origins.
Although the entire group was eventually caught and the central figures, including the siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, were executed, their pamphlets made their way to the Allies, and who reproduced one and dropped it in large numbers over Germany.
It was inspiring to read about the decision the White Rose students took to move from disgust with the Nazis’ ideology and their perversion of German patriotism, their sacrifice of a whole generation of young Germans serving in the military, and the mass murder of Jews and others, to taking action, and to read that many Germans (albeit a minority) were unsympathetic to the Nazi cause and some did risk their lives by opposing them.
The book also fills in some blanks about what life was like for ordinary people living in Nazi Germany and how the reversals Germany started experiencing in 1942 and early 1943 affected morale. These included Allied bombing of German cities and disasters on the Russian front, notably, the surrender of two hundred thousand troops at Stalingrad. -
Strange title as if the book has a central character, it is Sophie's brother Hans. Possibly the title is a publisher's decision to follow on the success of the Sophie Scholl film.
Much is conjecture - particular conversations, scnes and so forth - but robust imaginative insight is crucial to good history. The book charts not only the history of the White Rose resistance movement but the whole network of interior resistance within Nazi Germany. There are also succinct interpretations of German nationalism from the time of Napoleon, and philosophical movements. Overall, this is an uplifting story of courage and sacrifice with the universal dimension which promises that even in the midst of evil, amongst indifference and cowardice and self-interest, ther are good people who do good things.
I have yet to look at the appendices which contain the seven leaflets of the White Rose which the group managed to distribute across Germany, court judgments, and New York Times reports. -
Aggghhhhhhhhhhh well my heart is lying in a hundred bleeding pieces on the floor. In a good way.
…
Why have I never heard of these people? I mean, I had heard of Sophie Scholl and Hans, but why hadn't I heard MORE about them? And why hadn't I ever heard of the rest of them? Willi and Christoph and Professor Huber and SHURIK? And CHRISTOPH? And SHURIK??
*sobs* Shuuuuuuuriiiiiiiiiiiiiik.
Obviously I do not have very coherent thoughts at the moment. Except that I love these people. A lot. Also: man, did they DIE WELL.
���
Ow. -
This book’s title singles out Sophie Scholl, but it’s really about all of the members of the White Rose Resistance. In fact, her brother Hans was the leader of the group, although she played an equally important part. She was only 21 years old when she was executed for her anti-Nazi activities in Munich. She died that year along with her brother and other members of the White Rose - Hans, three other students , and a University professor. They wrote a total of 6 leaflets during a period of less than 6 months and secretly distributed them. Hans and Sophie were caught dropping copies of the last leaflet at their University.
This book is special because it’s not about the Nazis alone. The authors write about the political and philosophical history of Germany that conflicted with, but also enabled, the rise of the Nazis. It’s wonderfully written and not a downer. In fact, after their deaths, the leaflets were still distributed, read in other countries by resistance fighters, and even air-dropped into enemy territory. This book did not sadden me, but instead I found it uplifting. In the worst of circumstances, when everyone else is in the belly of the beast following “group-think,” there is still something within humans that tell them something is wrong. Perhaps it’s simply a conscience. I don’t know. And to risk your life for what you believe…..I still can’t fathom what drives someone to do that.
Here’s an example of an amazing sentence in the book. It’s in reference to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on April 19, 1943, the largest single revolt by Jews during World War II: “When the powerless and the oppressed, no matter how hopeless their situation, refuse to accept the will of their oppressors, we are all touched with grace.” -
My new hero. I'm so glad I read Traudle Junge's memoirs. If not for her story, when, or even would I of ever heard this inspiring, heroic, horrific tale of these University Students ready and willing to take on Hitler, even unto death. A quote from one of their leaflets, "We will not be silent. We are your bad conscious." They were known collectively as "The White Rose." Sophie and her brother Hans along with Christophe Probst and their teacher/advisor Karl Huber were beheaded. Sophie was 21.
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„Mért ne legyek tisztességes! Kiterítenek úgyis.”
Ha csak azt nézzük, mit ért el Sophie Scholl és a Fehér Rózsa szervezet, az eredmény elkeserítő. Lelkes amatőrök, akik pár szórólappal próbálták megmenteni a világot – mégpedig micsoda szórólapokkal! Csupa filozofálás, moralizálás, citátumok Goethétől, Schillertől, Arisztotelésztől… nehéz elképzelni, hogy mondjuk a sarki hentes egy árva mukkot is értett volna mindabból, amit Hitler és a rezsim szemére hánytak. Igazuk volt, nagy ügy, de ér valamit az olyan igazság, amit a sarki hentes nem ért? Aligha rövidítették meg akár csak egy perccel is a háborút, és mivel ez volt a céljuk, mondhatjuk, kudarcot vallottak. Még saját egyetemi közegüket sem váltották meg – feljelentőjük, Jakob Schmid gondnok úr a müncheni egyetem aulájában lelkes ováció közepette vette át a nyomravezetőnek járó vérdíjat. (Jakob Schmid, jegyezzük meg ezt a nevet: a spiclik és feljelentgetők védőszentje ő, az ember, aki a nála tisztábbakat örömmel kínálja fel étkül a hatalomnak. Lesz még szobra a Nemzetvédelmi Egyetem kertjében.) Mindaz, amit a Fehér Rózsa elért, a tagok kivégzése után füstté vált és elillant a brutális hitlerizmus közbelépésekor. Mintha sosem lett volna. Csak némi frusztráció maradt, meg az önmentegetés, ami még jó húsz évig uralta a német közbeszédet, a Brunhilde Pomsel – Goebbels titkárnője – által is megfogalmazott vélemény: hogy sajnáljuk persze Schollt és barátait (hisz oly fiatalok voltak), de hát miért nem maradtak kussban? Miért nem lapítottak, mint mindenki más? Ha meghúzták volna magukat, élő németek maradtak volna. Tisztességben megőszült, élő németek.
Csak hát az van, hogy néha nem lehet tisztességben megőszülni.
És mégis, minden reménytelensége ellenére ez egy felemelő kötet. Mert arra tanít, hogy az ember nem azért kell jót cselekedjen, mert cserébe bármi jutalmat remél. Hanem azért, mert egyszerűen nem tehet mást. Mert ez az imperatívusz, az egyetlen hiteles, szuverén választás: jót kell tenni. Ezek a srácok, Hans Scholl, Alexander Schmorell és a többiek a keleti fronton lementek az oroszok kalyibáiba, népdalokat énekeltek velük (katonanyelven ezt fraternizálásnak mondják), szembeszálltak a hadifoglyokat bántalmazó náci őrökkel, ellátmányukat odaadták egy csontsovány nőnek, aki sárga csillagot viselt – aztán hazamentek, és röplapokat osztogattak. Csoda, hogy nem kapták el őket már előbb a Gestapo emberei, vagy akár a partizánok. Schollék talán pontosan tudták, hogy ennek az egésznek nem sok hozadéka van, ha a háború egészét nézzük. Talán nevezhetjük őket ezért naivnak, idealistának. De ha azt vesszük, mit őriztek meg önmagukból – az életük árán –, olyasvalamit, amit a német nép (szinte) egésze fityingekért elvesztegetett… nos, talán nem is döntöttek rosszul.
Ez a könyv sok szempontból felrúgja a klasszikus történelmi munkák szabályait. Érzékenyebb, személyesebb, mint amit megszokhattunk. De jó okkal az – gondolom én –, mert nem az az elsődleges célja, hogy bemutassa, mi történt, hanem hogy érzékeltesse ennek az egésznek a súlyát. Hogy láttassa magát a Poklot – hisz minden embernek, aki szabadon akar gondolkodni, a totális rezsim a Pokol, mert ott a keze, a szája, a szíve, a méhe, az agya nem az övé, hanem a nemzet tart rá igényt. Scholl és társai ki akartak szabadulni a rendszer fojtóhurkából, és ezért az életükkel fizettek. De ha a másik opció az, hogy nincs saját kezünk, szánk, szívünk, méhünk és agyunk, akkor ez – meglehet – nem is olyan nagy ár.
A hős nem az, aki egy tömeg részeként kockára teszi az életét: ő csak egy csavar a rendszerben. A hős az, aki ki mer lépni a rendszerből, és azt mondja: nem teszem meg, mert megtenni nem szabad. -
My first introduction to the White Rose was via a lecture when I was at university. I was doing a course called 'Europe at War' and we'd reached the Second World War and Nazi Germany. I heard about this group of students who had written and distributed pamphlets resisting the Nazis and how they had tragically been caught and executed. What really stuck with me though was a story about Hans, which is recounted in this book. Hans was coming home from the front by train when he saw a young Russian Jewish girl, a forced labourer working on the railway line. He had his rations and handed them to this girl. She saw his Nazi uniform and threw it in the dirt. Hans picked it up, brushed it off and went and picked a daisy. He placed the package on the ground in front of the girl, and put the daisy on top. He then told her "I only wanted to bring happiness". He then walked away.
This book brought the other members of the White Rose to life for me and I love them all for their bravery and their disregard for their own safety and for caring and acting while the rest of the German population sat mute. I will, however, always have a special place in my heart for Hans Scholl. Long Live Freedom.
WE WILL NOT BE SILENT -
Sometimes I think I don’t need to read any more about WWII, and always I am wrong. With the world today as it is, I am grateful for examples of twenty-somethings that have gone before me in standing firm in their convictions. This book made me want to know more about The White Rose and the students that comprised it, and to be more intentional about forming my convictions about God’s character, justice, and action.
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was slow in the beginning and focused a lot on histories of germany that dragged on and that i didn’t think were entirely necessary to the story, but it definitely picked up later on
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It was fascinating to read about a German Nazi resistance group. Even more so because they were young students who had grown up in the fervor and brainwashing era. They came to age after 1933 and still had enough intelligence, morality, and conviction to realize that the Nazi regime was criminal and abhorrent.
Especially in times like these, we need to look towards the brave people who had stood up to tyranny. -
This is an updated version of "The Shattering of the German Night," recommended to me by Dr. George Wittenstein, a personal friend of the Scholls.
The story is a moving one, no matter who writes it, but this new edition was more carefully researched yet maintains an extremely compelling narrative. -
Deeply moving and well written. The book expands beyond the title as it also covers Hans Scholl and the core of the White Rose members in Munich.
It is abundantly clear to us the grotesqueness they were fighting against so I found it interesting to discover they were fighting for and those individual experiences that guided them - Hans Scholl's individual creativity, Sophie Scholl's intellectual curiosity, Kurt Huber’s anti-imperialism, Alexander Schmorrell's Russian background, Willi Graf's Catholic faith and Christoph Probst's Jewish family (although these stories were by no means their sole reasons). Nazi resistance was not monochromatic and ranged in cultural and political motivation.
Nazism didn't thrive solely on enthusiastic party members, it succeeded from quiet support and those who acquiesced. It hinged on those who saw the evil and wrongdoing but turned a blind eye or resigned themselves to what transpired. It is inspiring to read of the courage of the White Rose that they were not going to be counted with the masses that became complicit with the Nazi system. Freedom is more important than self-preservation. -
This is a solid and worthy story , though I empathise with those who are irritated by the OTT accolades that inevitably accompany a book with worthy subject matter or question why of the plotters Sophie is the titular character - but then ,why Fawkes not Catesby ?
The white rose were a student movement who distributed anti nazi literature in Munich university and paid for doing so with their lives . Some readers have called them sweet but naive , which seems unduly patronising ; one can see the early allure of Hitler Youth and the need to act on the revulsion that followed this ; one can argue that they were swept along by romantic naivety and could have kept their heads down ; but their courage and conviction to fight evil was indisputable and their posterity deserved . The inspiration of existentialism was an aspect I found interesting , especially when churches were trying to capitulate a but; in some cases to argue for the Jews yes , but in others for survival .
This is decently written and a good story to be aware of . -
Every young person on this planet needs to read this book or be exposed to this young woman's story. I can't emphasize enough how important this book is and how much we need to take heed of Sophie's example, for our children and their children.
This book affected me in many deep ways, but one was the importance of knowing religion, philosophy, and how tyrants can turn them on people, for good or ill.
Another aspect that really made me think was the fact that Sophie was so young when all of this happened. It is as if she knew her life would be short-lived, and she lived that short amount of time with a mission in mind. As a young woman myself, I desperately want to live up to the things Sophie did and how she changed those around her by doing what was right in a time when doing so could get you killed.
She was and still is an inspiration.
Read this to your children. Talk about it with friends. Don't let the story of the Scholl children be forgotten because one day, our lives may depend on it. -
My son introduced me to this part of history when he started a coffeehouse called The White Rose 14 years ago. I said I was surprised he would gravitate towards that period of history because the true stories from that time broke my heart, too. When I was 12, I had read The Diary of Anne Frank and it always haunted me. This little known chapter in the German resistance movement during Hitler's hold over Germany is about this cruel dictator and the determination of these brave young people I read it all in one sitting. It was so riveting , I ordered the DVD from the library. A must-read. Watch the DVD too.
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More a textbook than a novel/biography but still a fascinating and terrifying insight into this terrible time in history and these incredibly brave young people.
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semenjak tahun kmrn nonton sophie scholl: the final days jd makin kepo sama cewek pemberani ini!
ㅡYUK YG BLM NONTON FILMNYA NONTON DEH!
jadi, kalo buku ini tuh ngasih tahu soal white rose, yaitu organisasi yg menentang kedudukan jerman di bawah hitler. mereka tuh udh tahu kalo jerman di bawah hitler tuh ga seperti narasi yg selama ini hitler omongin. mereka jg tahu kalo jews banyak yg disiksa sampe tewas. makanya mereka tuh akhirnya bikin gerakan dgn cara nyebarin leaflet soal ajakan buat ngebuka mata soal kepemimpinan jerman di era hitler yg nyatanya makin ngebuat perang.
sophie scholl sendiri bnr2 cewek berani, diceritain doi awalnya cewek biasa2 aja yg ga tau sama sekali soal white rose. tp karena kakaknya udh gabung duluan, hans scholl, dan doi denger soal isu2 itu. akhirnya doi mutusin buat gabung. pd hari sblm dia ditangkep, dia sm kakaknya nyebarin selebaran di universitasnyaㅡDAN ITU BERANI BGT SIH. soalnya dulu univ di jerman nyambung gitu sama instansi pemerintahan.
sampe akhirnya sophie dan kakaknya ketangkap terus dipenjara dan diinterogasi, sampe akhirnya white rose diputuskan sebagai pengkhianat negara. dan pengkhianat hukumannya? hukum mati 😭😔.
aku seneng sih baca buku ini jd makin tahu soal white rose dan gerakan2nya, trs jg ada lampiran terjemahan leaflet yg mereka sebarin tuh isinya gimana. jadi makin tahu di setiap pemerintahan yg "kejam" pasti ada segelintir org2 yg mandang dr sisi lain dan lebih ngutamain empati. -
I can't recommend this book enough... It's a little known chapter in the German resistance movement during Hitler's hold over Germany. It truly brings to life what life is like in a totalitarian state, and the determination of these brave souls is one hell of a read. Once you get into the meat of it, you won't put it down - as I read the second half of the book in one sitting. It's smoothness and captivation is balanced by excellent historical context, combined with the daily events, inspirations, and journal entries of the group. It is well researched and historical, with a great influx of the emotional, philosophical, and spiritual aspects that were instrumental in driving this small group into action.
"If people like those who formed the White Rose can exist, believe as they believed, act as they acted, maybe it means that this weary, corrupted, and extremely endangered species we belong to has the right to survive, and to keep on trying."
