Acknowledgments
I want every single one of you to thrill to what these frail, annoying, loving people did, who they were, what they accomplished despite the times they lived in. What they did, said, wrote... MATTERS.
If you heard dancing and singing coming your way from Gettysburg on Monday afternoon, it’s because White Rose History, Volume II was finished and uploaded, and email notifications to our patient customers were sent out. (We have the best customers!)
The print version was finished in 2002/2003, with a 2007 update in early 2008. Also in 2008, we published a CD-ROM with all Protokolle and both histories.
But life moves on. Print has become so expensive that few people want print versions. We still offer print versions for the Protokolle and White Rose leaflets, available in our Print Publications collection. Most of you don’t like paying those sorts of prices, but our markup is slim as it is.
And really, does anyone have a CD-ROM drive? In 2008, we were so hip. Now? May as well put it on VHS.
Last year, we therefore decided to digitize as many of our publications as possible. We began with the Protokolle, as those are valuable for scholars whose German makes reading those documents… hard. Yet we could not escape the fact that our Histories needed to be in digital format as well. White Rose History, Volume I: Coming Together (January 1933-April 30, 1942) was uploaded last year.
I grossly underestimated how long it would take to digitize White Rose History, Volume II (WRH2). It’s substantially longer – 891 pages – with extensive appendices and a 35-page bibliography. This is not a new edition. It’s the 2002/2003 original volume, plus the 2007 update.
The task required more effort than anticipated. Not only do Microsoft and Adobe have a running feud that they won’t settle, but Microsoft has trouble communicating with itself. Think about the version of Office used in 2000-2001 during the writing of this book! In twenty years, it’s hardly the same software. (See, I called it Office! That’s a dinosaur name.)
But! It’s done. Worth every agonizing minute from November 2023 through April 2024.
If nothing else, the tedious work required re-re-re-reading their story. It still gets to me. These people are real. They’re not saints standing on pedestals crowned with haloes. I don’t like some of them, wouldn’t hang out with ‘em if they had begged me to do so. Others, I wish I had known them in 1943, seen their utter courage and nobility. Those lives? Still can make me cry.
If you want to read these histories, or if you want to check out the primary source materials that back them up, I have created a special Substack coupon just for you: Substack-Readers-Are-Good-18. Put that in at checkout, and you’ll automatically receive an 18% discount. Valid through May 31, 2024. Use it as many times as you’d like. Share it with friends. Share, but then keep reading. Please.
Because I want this true story to be shouted from the rooftops. I want every single one of you to feel that gut punch when Wilhelm Geyer, then 43, looks out over students gathered in the studio and wells with joy at their courage and the hope they bring him. I want every single one of you to echo Gerhard Feuerle’s distraught, “They have stolen my face,” and how he exhaled when he understood that among those friends, he once again had his face. I want every single one of you to be proud of Käthe when she tells Hans Scholl to STFU when he insults and berates her BFF Traute one time too many (I told you they were real - this could be a Taylor Swift song!).
I want every single one of you to hear Kurt Huber’s POWERFUL speech, the speech that sealed his death sentence. I want every single one of you to collapse with Eugen Grimminger when he hears that his beloved Jenny was murdered in Auschwitz.
I want every single one of you to thrill to what these frail, fragile, annoying, loving, brave, annoying, intelligent, thoughtful people did, who they were, what they accomplished despite the times they lived in. What they did, said, wrote MATTERS. To you, to me.
[To order print publications, primarily Protokolle and leaflets, go to the Print Publications Collection. To order digital publications, including the histories, go to the Digital Publications Collection. To simply stroll through all collections, click here.]
To end this celebration (for now), I’d like to add the acknowledgments section from WRH2. The people mentioned here mean the world to me. Some of them are the real people described above, who risked everything in dark days. Some of them are the real people who keep me sane now, in our modern era. Without all of them, this work would never have gotten past February 1995.
A book like this, the product of more than ten years of research, could not have come about without the expertise and assistance of others. Some people opened their homes and invited us to talk for as long as we wanted. Others gave materials, books, directions. Before I do anything else, I would like to recognize these folks. You mean far more to me than you know.
One person in particular provided aid at critical junctures in the work. Without him, I’d have given up long ago.
Dr. Hans Forster, who assured me that “if anyone can find out the truth about the White Rose, it’s you.” Without that telephone call, and continued evidence of faith in me and this project, I would have gone back to accounting in 1995…
Thanks also to:
Betsy Colquitt and her daughter Clare. Brilliant minds and good friends who’ve always believed I could write the real story. Few writers have people like you in their corner!
Kathy Eaves, a friend from a million years ago who recently joined this effort and is bringing extraordinary project management skills to bear. Wow.
Georg and Elfriede Forster, Hansi’s parents, for a place to stay, warm clothes, and maps of Munich these last thirty years. And for giving me home-made jelly. And Hansi’s room.
The Geyers!, every last one of you, but especially Hermann, Wilhelm Jr., and Elisabeth. You adopted us when we were lonely. Thursdays over coffee and cake became the highlight of our trip, something we looked forward to. Thanks too for sharing your father’s papers, no holds barred. Special, special family.
Fritz and Elisabeth Hartnagel. You welcomed us despite your sister’s no. Thank you for joining the battle and daring to contradict her gospel.
Friedlinde and Hellmut Kohlermann, for sparing time to give us a guided tour and for letting us explore nooks and crannies. Between talk of Thunderbirds and Route 66, we saw children hugged and obstinate kids coaxed into tough tasks. We affirm the work you do and how your family touched Sophie Scholl.
Hermann Krings, whose love for Willi Graf never diminished. You have honored your friend so well, so well.
Traute Lafrenz, for opening up despite the pain. I honestly hope we can talk some more. We do not know nearly enough about your contribution to the White Rose, about the views you held long before there was a White Rose. What it must have taken for you to do what you did, in the face of obstacles that would have overwhelmed a lesser person…
Gwen and John Miertschin. Friends from a million years ago who have always believed. And kept me sane.
Herta and Michael Probst, who didn’t know what to make of your crazy new Americans. But who warmed up and told stories that made us laugh and cry and want to know more. What a legacy you have left your children and grandchildren — and us!
Lilo Ramdohr, on the subject of “real people!” My dear lady, just thinking about you makes me smile — real big! You have this amazing capacity to love people, an openness and warmth that embraced us the moment we walked in your door. Be hugged, and know that the affection we feel for you is genuine.
Domenic Saller, who loves his grandmother Lilo so very much. My favorite Lausbua… Please don’t change. And keep digging for truth. You’re good at it.
Gustel Saur, who lost two brothers to the Nazis. You must have been an awesome teacher. We learned a great deal from you in a short time. Because of you, I got a “handle” on Otl Aicher that would have eluded me otherwise.
Erich and Herta Schmorell, people indelibly printed on our hearts. It’s not just the asparagus and wine. How lucky we are to have seen with your eyes and heard with your ears, to know your love for Schurik up close! There is so much beauty in your home — beautiful artifacts, beautiful memories, and most of all, beautiful spirits.
Finley Shapiro, for teaching me to “Access” data, making the organization of fact possible — and in so doing, enabling me to sort out fiction.
And Armin Ziegler and dear Brigitte, for sharing my passion for getting this incredible story right! I wish every historian had another pingelig historian reading their words. I was lucky that you were so patient.
Special thanks to Marie-Luise Pieratt nee von Gronau, Harriet Dishman nee Grooters, Irmtraud Feigs, Olan Hankins, and Joe Wilson, German language and Germanistik teachers and professors who made a difference.
Marie-Luise Pieratt nee von Gronau (1967-1969), daughter of a member of the 20 July 1944 resistance, who told us what it was like growing up in the Third Reich. How you hated your father for forbidding you to join BDM. You only understood as an adult how right he had been. I listened!
Harriet Dishman nee Grooters (1969-1972). Best. German. Teacher. Ever. You made us write auf Deutsch when our German was shaky. You gave me the tools to do this work. Thanks for continuing friendship, even now!
Irmtraud Feigs (1973-1976). A child of postwar Germany, you were the first to talk out loud about life in those days. And how much Nazism prevailed, for too long.
Olan Hankins (1975-1977). You tolerated my obsession with Bavarian folk literature, which came in handy once White Rose “happened.”
Joe Wilson (1980-1981). Thank you, thank you, thank you, for putting up with “guff” from your fellow professors who ridiculed you for seeing the connection between technology and Germanistik. You encouraged my nerdiness and showed me why databases are invaluable. In the days when “databases” were generated by punching holes in cards. Bet they never apologized, eh? — Search for the color BLUE in Schiller’s complete works.
© 2024 Denise Elaine Heap. Please contact us for permission to quote. To order digital version of White Rose History, Volume II, click here. Digital version of White Rose History, Volume I is available here. [Acknowledgments © 2002 Denise Heap.]
