MORE TESTIMONIALS FROM NOTABLE WHITE ROSE CONTEMPORARIES:  

“Good, splendid young people!  You shall not have died in vain; you shall not be forgotten.  The Nazis have raised monuments to indecent rowdies and common killers in Germany—but the German revolution, the real revolution, will tear them down and in their place will memorialize these people, who, at the time when Germany and Europe were still enveloped in the dark of night, knew and publicly declared: ‘A new faith in freedom and honor is dawning.’ ” —THOMAS MANN, NOBEL LAUREATE, Broadcasting to Germans from U.S. Exile, June 27, 1943

“ ‘Young German Martyrs.’  If [the White Rose manifesto] is genuine, and there is reason to doubt that it is, we can see in it the beginning of the end of the nightmare period in Germany itself. . . .  These young Munich students—few or many—representative or otherwise—rose gloriously. . . protesting in the name of principles which Hitler thought he had killed forever.  In years to come we, too, may honor Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, Christophe Probst, Alexander Schmorell, Kurt Huber and William Graf, slain in Munich for a cause that is also ours” —THE NEW YORK TIMES, Editorial Eulogizing White Rose, August 2, 1943

“I will never forget the excitement when a leaflet was pressed into my hand by somebody in the editorial room of the Allgemeine Zeitung.  The leaflets were being circulated by White Rose followers in Hamburg.  Something electrifying, heartening—yes, magical!—emanated from these typewritten and mimeographed  lines.  We copied them off and passed them on.  A wave of enthusiasm swept over us—we who risked so damned little in comparison.” –URSULA VON KARDOFF, Legendary German journalist (1911-1988)

“ ‘Rip off the cloak of indifference. . . choose before it is too late.’  A half-century has passed since the White Rose called out these words before their arrest and death. . . . Each new generation, including our own, realizes that those words are really addressed to us.  Again and again, we feel their deep echo. . . . Each person is responsible for what he does and for what he allows to happen.  In the darkest moment of 20th century history, the White Rose demonstrated this truth.” –President Richard von Weizsäcker, in Special Introduction to German Edition of book (Herder Verlag, 2002)

“When we heard about what was happening in Munich, we embraced each other and applauded.  There were, after all, still human beings in Germany.” —FORMER CONCENTRATION CAMP INMATE

“DESPITE EVERYTHING, THEIR SPIRIT LIVES ON!” 

“SCHOLL LIVES!”

—ANONYMOUS GRAFITTI appearing on University of Munich Walls (Munich, February and March, 1943)

HITLER’S PERSONAL SECRETARY:
REFLECTS ON WHITE ROSE HEROINE SOPHIE SCHOLL
IN THE RECENT DOCUMENTARY FILM, “BLIND SPOT”

"I realized that she [Sophie Scholl] was the same age as me, and I realized that she was executed the same year I started working for Hitler. At that moment, I really sensed it was no excuse to be young and that it might have been possible to find out what was going on."  —Traudl Junge, Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary (Documentary)