Passing the torch


Shortly before his execution on October 12, 1943, Willi Graf "passed the torch" to his sister Anneliese and her friends. She, together with Erich Schmorell, Herta Probst, Wilhelm Geyer, Fritz and Elisabeth (nee Scholl) Hartnagel, Hubert Furtwängler, Domenic Saller, Traute Lafrenz, Susanne Hirzel, Hans Hirzel, Hermann Krings, and others carried that torch for decades.

Between 1995 and 2007, as we gained their trust, those families handed the memories of people they loved off to us.

I'm now ready to hand it off to the next generation of real scholars and people not satisfied with legend. Young people like Jennifer Rosenfeld and Alaina Tennant. I am sure there others. Raise your hand and say HERE as loudly as possible.

Many of these posts first appeared on Substack as Why This Matters. When I decided to move to our digital home, this Web site, the name change seemed appropriate. It's where I am now in life, looking to hand off to people willing to dig in and do the hard work. I hope you are willing to pick up this torch.

Willi Graf note: When editing this page, I looked for public domain or Creative Common photos of people passing or lighting the Olympic torch. I could not believe my great good luck. This photograph is of the Olympic athlete Paavo Nurmi lighting the fire at the Olympic games in Helsinki 1952.

Paavo Nurmi (1897-1973) was a first-class Finnish middle- and long-distance runner. He was the runner to beat in the 1920s. Willi Graf took his bündisch name, Nurmi, from this athlete. 

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White Rose posts

  • If you read nothing else... Just what it says. These are the most important posts regarding White Rose resistance and why we sacrifice to tell the true story. [Not yet moved from Substack.]
  • Freedom, justice, liberty. Nonpartisan look at how White Rose resistance and friendships can inspire us today. [Not yet moved from Substack.]
  • Women of the White Rose Series. In alphabetical order. Please note that we do enforce copyright. If you choose to write about one of these women, we expect appropriate cites and references. I wish this statement were not necessary. [Not yet moved from Substack.]
  • People of the White Rose. In alphabetical order. Listed in this section only if a post primarily focuses on a single individual. [Not yet moved from Substack.]
  • Holidays. Have you ever wondered if the White Rose friends celebrated holidays, with all the doom and gloom they knew? And if so, how? These posts answer your questions. [Not yet moved from Substack.]
  • Remembering dates and anniversaries. If you only remember White Rose resistance on February 18 or February 22, 1943, you're doing them a disservice. Second White Rose trial (April 19, 1943), third White Rose trial (July 13, 1943), second set of executions (July 13, 1943)... you get the picture. [Not yet moved from Substack.]
  • Russian Front Series, There is a great deal of misinformation, both on the Internet and in published books, surrounding the clinical rotation the White Rose soldier students performed in 1942. Focusing solely on that medical internship also ignores accounts left by Fritz Hartnagel, Otl Aicher, and Willi Graf of days before and after July-October 1942. This series seeks to correct those errors. 
  • General topics. Section for posts that are otherwise difficult to pigeonhole. [Not yet moved from Substack.]
  • Historiography Series. Much of this section is for paid subscribers only. [Not yet moved from Substack.]

      Worktable for White Rose History, Volume III. - Fighters to the Very End (October 13, 1943-May 8, 1945) currently on hold pending underwriting of the project and fellow researchers who wish to collaborate on the book. This volume is too much for one person. Not moving forward on this project (despite having hundreds - if not thousands - of pages translated and in "the database") until funding and personnel are both in place.
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      Image at top of this page: Image: Helsinki City Museum, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.