Remembering dates and anniversaries

We should move past celebrating only February 18 and February 22, with perhaps July 13 and October 12 thrown in for good measure. Those were not the only dates critical to White Rose resistance. 

If you are a teacher or professor, you may wish to choose one of these dates for a special class discussion.

January 27, 1945. Holocaust remembrance. (liberation of Auschwitz). Make it real. Make it lasting. Be more than a “guardian of memory.” 

January 29, 1945. Execution of Hans Leipelt. Post to be uploaded.

January 31, 1933. The elections of 1930-1933. They could not have imagined that such hard choices would be required of them. They certainly could not have known what was yet to come. 

February 14, 1943. Eighty years ago this week. White Rose storytellers tend to skip over the painful events of this week. They should not. 

February 17, 1943. Calm Before the Storm. "Gradually one notices that the mosaic is beginning to take shape. Lines and patterns appear, and then one does not lose his orientation any more." 

February 18, 1943.

  • Timeline: February 18, 1943. If you think you know their story... 
  • The events of Thursday, February 18, 1943. February 18, 1943 was not supposed to end with seven deaths and many more arrested and imprisoned. That was not the plan. - But it did. And that is why this day MATTERS.
  • Why They Just Stood There. Why did Hans and Sophie Scholl stand there, waiting for Jakob Schmid to apprehend them? Over the years, many have tried to answer this question, one that goes to the heart of White Rose resistance. 

February 22, 1943.

No Greater Love: After the executions. February 22 - February 24, 1943. "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." Lilo Berndl nee Ramdohr, Gerhard Feuerle, Wilhelm Geyer, Anneliese Graf, Gerhard Graf, Willi Graf, Eugen Grimminger, Lisa Grote, Fritz Hartnagel, Hans Hirzel, Susanne Hirzel, the Hirzel parents, Wolf Jaeger, Traute Lafrenz and Werner Scholl, Carl Muth, Angelika Probst, Herta Probst, The Propaganda Ministry, Gisela Schertling, Alexander Schmorell, and the Scholl family,.

April 19, 1943. April 19, 1943 - The Second White Rose Trial. If you think the February 22, 1943 trial was riveting, you ain't seen nothin' yet. The second White Rose trial contained more drama, more pathos, more humor, more courage than anything you know about the White Rose, if you stop at February 22, 1943, that is. 

May 8, 1945. V-E Day in Europe: May 8, 1995. One of these days, justice will prevail and archives will open, spilling their secrets, exposing the good, bad, and ugly. 

July 12, 1942. Note their names. Fourth leaflet of the White Rose: "Do not forget even the little scoundrels of this regime. Note their names, so that no one escapes!"--Hans Scholl.

July 13, 1943.

October 12, 1943. Execution of Willi Graf. Post to be uploaded.

October 13, 1944. Trial and death sentence in Donauwörth for Hans Leipelt, with prison sentence for Marie-Luise Jahn and others. Post to be uploaded.

November 8/9, 1938. Kristallnacht.

  • Gaping gaps. When researching White Rose or other resistance: Have the courage to ask hard questions! If (when) you see gaps, logical disconnects, keep digging. Use your brain. 
  • November 9, 2000 in front of the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin. Few are heroes. Few have the courage to step in when they witness skinheads attacking a defenseless man, a defenseless woman – and in the meantime, yes, defenseless children – on the street, beating them up. But ... Every single one of us is capable of taking small steps right where he lives. 
  • The fate of Senta Meyer nee Stern, and her children. To understand why I often write about the silences surrounding Kristallnacht, here is one example - personal to Eugen and Jenny Grimminger - of the deaths that followed.
  • Breaking glass, silenced. (November 9, 1938—December 31, 1938). I would like to think that in December 1938, children still lit one candle more each night, until on Christmas and the last day of Chanukah, there was one last moment of shared light.
  • More coming.

December 31, 1942. New Year's Eve 1942. We are entering the weeks and months wherein we commemorate the work, arrests, and deaths of White Rose students. But February 1943 had its roots in New Year's Eve 1942 and decisions they made then. 

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The above information is fully footnoted in our White Rose histories. Please purchase them for access to that material! To order digital version of White Rose History, Volume I: Coming Together (January 1933-April 30, 1942), click here. To order digital version of White Rose History, Volume II, click here. WRH1 is © 2002, 2003, 2007 by Denise Elaine Heap. WRH2 is © 2002, 2007 by Denise Elaine Heap.

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