When "politics" gets in the way of justice

Yes. There are three posts about the weeks in advance of the arrests. I keep hoping more people will understand what was really happening in February 1943...

The last two weeks before the official commemorations begin for White Rose resistance? Hard. When we reach “the last two weeks,” I am at once grateful to these young people and the adults who worked alongside them in February 1943. And I am saddened.

Grateful, because they did something that too few of their era did: They saw injustice and they did something. They didn’t keep their heads down and mouths shut. They could have. But they chose otherwise. They stood strong, spoke out, and sacrificed their lives bearing witness.

Saddened, because the minute their conversations turned to politics, to what they would do “after the war” and which political movement was more right than the other, they fell apart. From May 1942 until that second week of February 1943, the differences in political ideology were there. It had been fine when they talked about federalism, democracy, monarchy, authoritarianism, Communism, socialism, the social gospel, and theocracy in generalities.

It became quite another when Kurt Huber, Falk Harnack, Willi Graf, Alexander Schmorell, and Hans Scholl (with Gisela Schertling inexplicably present as well) debated specifics. What these political movements would mean “after the war.”

As long as they addressed right versus wrong, known injustices, morality not based on a specific religious creed, they were fine. They wrote noble words. They generated thousands of leaflets on a manual typewriter. They turned the crank on a manual duplicating machine over and over, and over again. They addressed and stuffed envelopes. They traveled to distant cities to make their work appear more substantial than it was.

They went without sleep. They endured isolation from the general student body. They assumed risks that I doubt I’d have been capable of. All knowing that they were fighting on the side of justice. Not for a political or religious creed, but for justice.

For justice. Not politics.

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 a storyteller 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. Even when a storyteller hints 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, they are afterthoughts. Or worse, as in the Breinersdorfer movie, with Christoph Probst depicted as weak.

The real story is far more complex.

Those final days began with Falk Harnack’s long-anticipated visit to Munich to spend time with Lilo Berndl nee Ramdohr. 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 could 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, typewriter, leaflets, lists of names and addresses, envelopes, stamps, stacks of unmailed leaflets, Sophie’s general ledger tracking income and receipts. 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, reproaching them for their lack of caution. Which only confirmed feelings Willi and Alex had suppressed, namely that they were taking unnecessary risks.

When Gisela Schertling appeared, and Falk learned that not only was she not involved in their 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 recognized Falk as Arvid Harnack’s brother. To Huber, the Harnacks represented the worst of both worlds. They were at once connected to liberal Lutheranism with its 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.

Falk’s presence also seemed to bring Huber’s hatred of Alex to the forefront. Huber could not forgive Alex for being half-Russian. In his mind, that automatically meant Alex was Bolshevist.

Meanwhile, Falk recognized the turns of National Socialist speech in Huber’s words 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 mediate, 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 meeting, Willi and Alex made plans to leave 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 leaflets at the university on February 18, he intended to leave for Russia immediately thereafter. He wanted to join Russian partisans and fight against Nazis on Russian soil.

Willi Graf, meanwhile, headed south to Lenggries (top photo), Gaissach, and the mountains, where he would 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 every time he raised 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, 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 those who had joined Hans on 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, at least under the White Rose banner. 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 became crystal clear when I entered the narratives into my database, a database that did not care about legend. For more about how I 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.

COMMENT WORTH KEEPING

A few years ago I had an opportunity to assist at the Special Olympics being held at Fort Lewis in Washington State. My parents got married in a Chapel there. My Dad was stationed there right up to my birth and had previously processed through there on his way to the Korean War. An experienced he never talked about and which he emotionally wrestled with the rest of his life. Upon entering one of many old WW-II era clapboard barracks the steps going up stairs grabbed my attention. On each riser there was a principle in bold text: HONOR, VALOR, COURAGE etc. I just stood there wondering how many times my Dad read those words as he went up those worn steps. And then thinking of the thousands of troops processing through there on their way to war over the years, and surely those principles helped reassure them they were fighting for a just cause and that our leaders possessed those same values. Our current President has hinted at military conflicts. And committed several illegal acts! Can you imagine if those barracks were built today and the words on the steps represented his characteristics? Greed, Bigotry, Deceit etc. Our country is under attack from within! My heart goes out to the men & women who joined the service out of love and honor who soon may be ordered to do things that go against the core of their being.

--Glenn, February 6, 2025.

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Excerpted from White Rose History, Volume II. See below for copyright information. Please contact us for permission to quote.

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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