LintraFeb 23
John Autry

February 22, 1943

Sophie Scholl, a 22-year-old White Rose (Weisse Rose) activist at Munich University, was executed after being convicted of urging students to rise up and overthrow the Nazi government.

There are many memorials in Bavaria and Germany to Sophie and her group, the White Rose, but little is known outside of Germany. They were medical students who organized nonviolent resistance to Hitler, and were arrested for printing and distributing anti-Nazi flyers.

Sophie, her brother Hans, a former member of Hitler Youth who started White Rose, and Christof Probst, the three young people in the photo, were executed. Few White Rose members survived the war which is why the story is not well known.

#SophieScholl

Feb 22 at 9:01pmWeb
Show threadChoFeb 23
@JohnAutry Almost every larger town here in Germany has a street named in their honour. Even a lot of schools bear their names.
Show threadGarrulous Ambivert #SNP1SGP2Feb 23
@JohnAutry
The BBC podcast "History's Youngest Heroes" did an episode on them
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00282hq
BBC Radio 4 - History's Heroes, History's Youngest Heroes, Hans and Sophie Scholl and the White Rose

A brother and sister mount a daring campaign against the Nazis.

BBC
Show threadDr. Kiara KioraFeb 23
@JohnAutry Notable survivors who helped preserve the group's history included Inge Scholl (the Scholls' sister), who wrote the first major account of the group, and Jürgen Wittenstein, a medical student who took many of the iconic photos of the group.
Show threadLinda Rose SmitFeb 23
@JohnAutry so ein schöner TTag, und ich muss gehen’
Show threadLukefromDCFeb 23

@JohnAutry Best possible response to this would have been for the resistance to take out ten randomly chosen SS or Gestapo agents in the streets, and warn the Nazis that any counter-reprisals would trigger more of the same until the whole town has to choose sides. Give them a strong dose of their own medicine and see how they like it.

I read somewhere that escalating reprisals and counter-reprisals did in fact force whole towns into the resistance.

Late in the war, many US, British, and Russian soldiers took the position that members of the SS did not get to surrender and were executed where they stood if captured or cornered.

Show threadAmy KirkFeb 23
@JohnAutry I learned about them in school here in the UK. I also learned about the groups that liked to go out and beat the shit out of the Hitler Youth when they went out rambling in the countryside.
Show threadOyu F'kaFeb 23

@JohnAutry Thank you for this - as you say, very little is known about the resistance within nazi germany.

I know it existed....how could it not, tbh?

Would it be a safe assumption that the white flower she is wearing, (not a rose?), was a silent sign of resistance?

Show threadJohn AutryFeb 23
@Oyu_Fka Interesting question. I'm afraid that is above my pay grade.
Show threadOyu F'kaFeb 23

@JohnAutry Well, if it's any help, I've just ploughed through Wikipedia, and find no reference to wearing a white flower as symbolic of resistance...and, logically speaking, considering how few they were, it would have been fool-hardy to do so.

Conclusion: Pure coincidence ☹️.

Show threadJohn AutryFeb 23
@Oyu_Fka Did the same before my initial response.
Show threadts 🚇Feb 23
@JohnAutry thank you so much for sharing this. Important to #remember there are always people resisting evil. Chattel slavery faced opposition. Women all along have known they deserve the right to make their own decisions. And we continue to reject apartheid and exploitation as we push for real freedom
Show threadDr. Kiara KioraFeb 23
@JohnAutry The story of the White Rose is a powerful testament to moral clarity in the darkest of times. While the executions of Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst on February 22, 1943, are the most well-known, the movement’s reach and subsequent legacy were broader than often realized.
Show threadTabby Schaf🇺🇦❤️🖤Feb 23
@JohnAutry I was asked by an Albanian guy. If Germany hasn"t any national hero. I answered: yes the White Rose.