Flugblütter der Weissen Rose

Facsimile of the second White Rose leaflet, distributed by members of the White Rose, a German anti-Nazi group formed in Munich in 1942. Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell wrote the first four leaflets, possibly with contributions by Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst. The second leaflet calls Nazism a cancer on German society, states that the murder of Polish Jews by the Germans is a crime against humanity, and urges the citizens of Germany to resist the Nazi rule. The group was founded by students from the University of Munich in the late spring of 1942, and members consisted of Hans, Alexander, Sophie Scholl, Willi Graf, and Christoph Probst. They created and distributed thousands of copies of six different leaflets written between March 1942 and February 1943. During this time the group expanded into an organization of student members in Hamburg, Freiburg, Berlin, and Vienna. On February 18, Hans and Sophie were arrested after they were seen distributing the leaflets around the university in Munich. After their arrest, the Gestapo quickly captured several other members of the group. On February 22, Hans, Sophie, and Christoph were sentenced to death and executed. In April, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, and Kurt Huber, a professor at the university who wrote the sixth leaflet, were sentenced to death and executed later in the year.