SCHOLL, Hans

Hans Scholl 24, his sister Sophie 21 and Christoph Probst 23 guillotined in Stadelheim Prison on Feb.22nd 1943 were members of "The White Rose" an anti-Nazi student group formed at Munich University. With unparalleled courage stemming from their liberal protestant beliefs, they left copies of their 5 leaflets outside lecture theatres and in cities in Germany and Austria. Others they posted to members of the Munich intelligentsia who handed them into the Gestapo. The Scholls and Christoph were living on borrowed time. Both men as medical students were also required to serve on the Eastern Front. In their second leaflet they wrote of the Nazi atrocities and announced the slaughter of 300,000 Jews in Poland. This was the first attempt by anyone to inform their fellow Germans of the Holocaust. They hoped for a revolt at the university. Instead on Feb. 18th Sophie a Biology student and Hans were caught by the janitor, Jakob Schmid, a Brownshirt, leaving copies of their 5th leaflet. A show trial 4 days later before the fanatical, haranguing pro-Nazi judge, Roland Freissler, resulted in their death sentences. At 5PM that afternoon the blade thrice fell. In the aftermath their families were shunned by the public with the university having also publicly congratulated Schmid. Copies of a 6th leaflet were later smuggled out of the country and in 1945 dropped by allied aircraft over cities in Germany. Today, Hans, Sophie and Christoph are honoured at hundreds of locations. Included is the courtroom where they were condemned. Their pen was indeed mightier than the guillotine.