Resistance of the White Rose: 70th anniversary

Just cross the road from the Avicenna bookstore in Munich, with its huge assortment of Persian literature, is the old building of the Munich University. Seventy years ago it was in the main hall of this building that the antifascist resistance group “White Rose” spread around leaflets that should reveal and condemn the nazi-crimes against the Jewish population and against political opponents of the regime. The “brave” german custodian of the university trapped Hans and Sophie Scholl and reported them to the Gestapo. This lead to the discovery of the entire group, whom the Gestapo desperately wanted to get hold of after leaflets and wall paintings claiming “Freedom”, “Down with Hitler” and “immediate end of the war” arose the weeks before.
Most members of the “White Rose” were interrogated and beheaded, after they were sentenced at the notorious “Peoples Court” (Volksgerichtshof).

Sophie Scholl (+ 22.02.1943)
Hans Scholl (+ 22.02.1943)
Christoph Probst (+ 22.02.1943)
Alexander Schmorell (+ 13.07.1943)
Willi Graf (+12.10.1943)
Kurt Huber (+ 13.07.1943)
Gisela Schertling
Katharina Schueddekopf
Traute Lafrenz

Shortly after the capture of the members of the White Rose, Leaflet No. 6 was smuggled out of Germany and later copied by the Allies and dropped from aircraft as propaganda over Nazi Germany.

At several places in Munich memorials remind people of the brave activities of the White Rose students, like a black obelisk in the Court Garden and brass copies of their leaflets placed on the square in front of the University.

Coming back to the Avicenna bookstore nearby the University building, one might see the murdered German students as brothers-and sisters-in-mind with the student rebells that shook up the streets of Tehran in 2009. Sooner or later, there also will be memorial plates in Iran, comemorating their brave standing-up against an inhuman regime.