The White Rose: Munich, 1942–1943

2. Sentence of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst

DOCUMENT 2. Transcript of the Sentence of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst, February 22, 1943. Transcript I H 47/43 I n t h e N a m e of t h e G e r m a n P e o p l e In the action against 1. Hans Fritz Scholl, Munich, born at Ingersheim, September 22, 1918, 2. Sophia Magdalena Scholl, Munich, born at Forchtenberg , May 9, 1921, and 3. Christoph Hermann Probst, of Aldrans bei Innsbruck, born at Murnau, November 6, 1919, now in investigativecustody regarding treasonousassistance to the enemy, preparing to commit high treason, and weakening of the nation's armed security, the People's Court, first Senate, pursuant to the trial held on February 22, 1943, in which the officers were: President of the People's Court Dr. Freisler, Presiding, Director of the Regional (Bavarian) Judiciary Stier, SS Group Leader Breithaupt, SA Group Leader Bunge, State Secretary and SA Group Leader Koglmaier, and, representing the Attorney General to the Supreme Court of the Reich, Reich Attorney Weyersberg, find: That the accused have in time of war by means of leaflets called for the sabotage of the war effort and armaments and for the overthrow of the National Socialist way of life of our people, have propagated defeatist ideas, and have most vulgarly defamed the Fiihrer, thereby giving aid to the enemy of the Reich and weakening the armed security of the nation. On this account they are to be punished by Death. Their honor and rights as citizens are forfeited for all time. 114 Grounds The accused Hans Scholl has been a student of medicine since the spring of 1939 and, thanks to the solicitude of the National Socialist government, has begun his eighth semester in those studies. He has served meanwhile on temporary duty in a field hospital in the campaign in France and again from July to November 1942 on the eastern front as a medical aide. As a student he is bound by duty to give exemplary service to the common cause. In his capacity as soldier—on assignment to medical study—he has a special duty of loyalty to the Fiihrer. This and the assistance which he was expressly granted by the Reich did not deter him in the first half of the summer of 1942 from writing, duplicating, and distributing leaflets of the "White Rose." These defeatist leaflets predict the defeat of Germany and call for passive resistance in the form of sabotage in war industries and for sabotage in general, to the end that the German people would be deprived of the National Socialist way of life and thus also of their government. All this because he imagined that only in this way could the German people survive the end of the war! Returning from Russia in November 1942, Scholl requested his friend, the accused Probst, to provide him with a manuscript which would open the eyes of the German people! In actuality Probst furnished Scholl with a draft of a leaflet as requested, at the end ofJanuary 1943. In conversations with his sister, Sophia, the two decided to carry on leaflet propaganda in the form of a campaign against the war and in favor of collaboration with the plutocratic enemies of National Socialism. Brother and sister, who had quarters in the same rooming house, collaborated in the writing of a leaflet, "To All Germans." In it they predicted Germany's defeat in the war, they urged a war of liberation against "National Socialist gangsterism," and demanded the establishment of a liberal democracy. In addition, they drafted a leaflet, "German Students!" (in later versions, "Fellow Fighters!"), wherein they called for a struggle against the Party. They wrote that the day of reckoning was at hand, and they were bold enough to 115 compare their call to battle against the Fiihrer and the National Socialist way of life with the War of Liberation against Napoleon (1813). In reference to their project, they used the military song, "Up, up, my people, let smoke and flame be our sign!" The accused Scholls, in part with the help of the accused Schmorell, duplicated the leaflets and by common agreement distributed them as follows: 1. Schmorell traveled to Salzburg, Linz, and Vienna and put 200, 200, and 1,200 leaflets addressed to places in those cities in the mails; and in Vienna an additional 400 were directed to Frankfurt...