Eighty years ago this week
White Rose storytellers tend to skip over the painful events of this week. They should not.
The last ten days of White Rose resistance before the first arrests - February 8 through 17 - tend to be portrayed as calm before the storm. As students preparing for a big operation at the university on February 18. Sophie Scholl peacefully listening to classical music, Hans Scholl plus Alexander Schmorell and Willi Graf serenely generating more leaflets to be distributed on campus on the 18th.
Occasionally these storytellers will wonder aloud about poor decisions made on the 18th. Why Hans and Sophie did not run away from the heavy-set Jakob Schmid as he lumbered up the staircase at the university. Why Hans had Christoph Probst’s leaflet draft in his pocket. But even as storytellers hint at underlying issues, the official version generally wins out. The Scholls are portrayed as unflinching heroes, whose courage is unassailable. If the others are mentioned, it’s as afterthoughts. Or worse, as in the Breinersdorfer movie, with Christoph Probst depicted as weak.
The real story is far more complex.
These final days began with Falk Harnack’s long-anticipated visit to Munich. Hans and Alex had visited him in Chemnitz. Because of his brother and sister-in-law’s leadership in the Rote Kapelle [Red Orchestra, alt. Red Chapel] resistance, and because Falk seemed more determined than ever to continue what his family had begun, the students in Munich valued the insights he would give them as they sought to expand their work to greater Germany.
Yet almost as soon as Falk met the students in the Scholls’ apartment, the worst fears of some were realized. Falk expressed extreme discomfort at the mess in Hans Scholl’s bedroom and in their general living quarters. It wasn’t the mess, as much as it was the items that comprised the mess: The duplicating machine, leaflets, envelopes, stamps. Instead of working in the studio basement, the apartment had been turned into Grand Central Station, with co-conspirators coming and going 24/7. Falk let them have it. Which only confirmed the feelings Willi and Alex had tried to suppress, namely that they were taking unnecessary risks.
And when Gisela Schertling appeared, and Falk learned that not only was she not involved in the work, but she was an ardent Nazi? And that she had free access to the Scholls’ living quarters, while they were working? Falk lost it.
A couple of days later when Falk met with Hans, Willi, Alex, plus Professor Kurt Huber, the rift that had been bubbling beneath the surface exploded. Huber immediately recognized Falk as Arvid’s brother. To Huber, the Harnacks represented the worst of both worlds. They were at once connected to liberal Lutheranism and the social gospel described by Adolf von Harnack (Adolf von Harnack was Falk’s uncle), as well as to left-leaning politics, which the Gestapo and Kurt Huber characterized as Communist. Huber joined the discussion determined to debate Falk.
Oddly, Falk’s presence also seemed to bring Huber’s hatred of Alex to the forefront. He could not forgive Alex for being half-Russian. In his mind, that automatically meant Alex was Bolshevist.
Meanwhile, Falk recognized the National Socialist language in Huber’s speech that his students had overlooked. The students had been pleased to have someone of Huber’s stature approve of their work. They enjoyed his lectures, where he seemed to skewer NSDAP students. They did not realize that Huber hated Hitler sycophants, while holding fast to NSDAP principles. He despised Hitler for being on the verge of losing the war and wanted to see the government handed over to someone who would rule according to the National Socialist platform. Falk recognized this, while the others did not.
Their meeting - ostensibly to discuss how they could expand their work and join forces with other groups - disintegrated into an angry shouting match. It was not pretty. Hans tried to be the diplomat, which only made things worse, as it became clear he had no political viewpoint of his own. (Sophie Scholl was in Ulm and not present.)
After that, Willi and Alex made plans to leave the White Rose work and do something that they deemed would stand a better chance of success. Alex took his uniform to Lilo Berndl nee Ramdohr’s home and burned it in the furnace, together with his pay book. Although he agreed to stand watch for Sophie and Hans as they distributed the leaflets on February 18, he intended to leave for Russia immediately thereafter. He wanted to join the partisans and fight against the Nazis on Russian soil.
Willi Graf, meanwhile, headed south to Lenggries, Gaissach, and the mountains, where he liked to go to clear his head. He looked up friends he knew were linked to Pater Delp and the group around 20 July 1944 resistance. He even talked about making a brash statement by blowing up Gestapo headquarters in Berlin. He knew that printing leaflets would not change Germany.
Both Willi and Alex discussed the morality of assassinating Hitler. Alex had thought about doing so for a while, worrying Lilo when he would raise the topic. Willi’s questions revolved around whether “thou shalt not murder” included killing a profoundly evil man. By February 18, he had not found peace either way. He just knew that he had to do something else.
Although this post focuses on Professor Huber, Willi Graf, and Alexander Schmorell, the others in the circle of White Rose friends had reached similar conclusions. Raimund Samüller had left the circle in early 1942, after Hans Scholl’s recklessness owing to drug addiction endangered the lives of everyone who had undertaken a New Year’s Eve ski trip. Wilhelm Geyer - Sophie’s mentor and confidant - worried about her mental health as she talked about going out in a blaze of glory that could not be swept under the carpet. Traute and Käthe kept their distance.
No more readings. No more discussions late into the night - at least, not with the Scholls. Alex bared his soul to Lilo, Willi deepened his connection to his old friend Gustel Sahm. This circle of friends who had written such powerful words, painted graffiti that would not be overlooked, gone without sleep to type one more stencil, stuff one more envelope, make one more mailbox run - this group had all but disbanded.
They knew that February 18 would be their last hurrah. And everyone but Hans and Sophie assumed that after that day, they would go their separate ways to work in a more concrete manner for the overthrow of Hitler’s regime.
The above details become crystal clear when the narratives are entered into a database that does not care about legend. For more about how we went about creating the database, and weighting the credibility of primary source documents, please check out our Web site section entitled Purpose, Preparation, and Methodology.