Vol. 52, No. 1, 2009 - Alpha Chi

38
Th e Wh i t e Ro s e
waters remained remarkably calm after their executions (Scholl 279). There was no great
swell of resistance after their deaths, only scattered graffiti on the walls of the University of
Munich: “Ihr Geist lebt Weiter”—their spirit lives on! (Lewis 95).
However, perhaps the success of the White Rose should not be measured by their
effectiveness in provoking active resistance alone. Author Michael Kater argues that even
if their leaflets were ineffective and “characterized by a mixture of high idealism and crass
naivete.... [T]he contents of these flyers and the consequences of their fearless distribution
made these young Germans...into the few true heroes of the...resistance movement” (129-30.
The mere existence of the White Rose lent it great importance. Authors Annette Dumbach
and Jud Newborn argue, “If people like those who formed the White Rose can exist, maybe
it means that this weary, corrupted, and extremely endangered species we belong to has the
right to survive, and to keep on trying” (185). The fact that they stood alone lent even more
nobility to their actions. No one expressed this idea better than the Scholls’ sister, Inge:
[The White Rose] stood up for a simple matter, an elementary principle: the right
of the individual to choose his manner of life and to live in freedom... . Perhaps
their greatness lies in the fact that they committed themselves for the sake of such
a simple matter... . It is perhaps more difficult to stand up for a worthy cause
when there is no general enthusiasm, no great idealistic upsurge, no high goal, no
supporting organization, and thus no obligation; when, in short, one risks one's life
on one's own and in lonely isolation. (14)
Whether or not the White Rose was an effective organization made little difference
to Nazi officials. Again, the mere existence of the organization lent it importance—and in
this case, a special menace. Robert Hanser expresses this idea well in his book A Noble
Treason:
This was the first opposition to the rule of Adolf Hitler that had broken through to
the light of day.... And it came from a source particularly galling to a movement
that preened itself inordinately by winning over the youth of the nation. The
universities were supposed to be hotbeds of National Socialist fervor; but here
at the University of Munich...a fissure had opened.... Who knew but what the
foundations were crumbling? (24)
This is exactly why the members of the White Rose were sentenced to die in so brutal a
fashion; the White Rose and their leaflets jeopardized Nazi control over the minds of the
youth of Germany. Hanser says it astonished Nazi officials that former members of the HJ
and young people who had been “schooled, trained, and nurtured” by National Socialism
could become its enemies (20). The White Rose exposed a fault in the Nazis' rigorous
indoctrination program, a fault the Nazis were afraid would be widened by allowing groups
like the White Rose to go unpunished. “We must put a stop to the idea that it is part of
everybody's civil rights to say, write, publish, or paint whatever he pleases,” Hitler once
said. “Everyone must know that if he raises his hand to strike at the State, then certain death
will be his lot” (qtd. in Hanser 61). Hitler kept his vow, and five young people paid for it
with the guillotine.
For the third and final time, the door at the end of the hallway opened and the guards led
Hans Scholl into the courtyard and to the door of the unmarked building. Scholl paused
before stepping inside. “Es lebe die Freiheit,” he shouted, his voice echoing around the
courtyard—Long live freedom! (Hanser 284).