The White Rose: Munich, 1942–1943

1. Indictment of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst

Documents DOCUMENT 1. Indictment of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst as drawn up by the Reich Attorney General to the People's Court, February 21, 1943. February 21, 1943 Berlin Reich Attorney General to the People's Court H = Regular Volume S = Supplementary Volume Indictment S v. 2 1. Hans Fritz Scholl of Munich, born September 22, 1918, in Ingersheim, single, no previous convictions , taken into investigative custody on February 18, 1943; S v. 1 2. Sophia Magdalena Scholl of Munich, born on May 9, 1921, in Forchtenberg, single, no previous convictions, taken into investigative custody on February 18, 1943; and 3. Christoph Hermann Probst of Aldrans bei Innsbruck , born on November 6, 1919, in Murnau, married, no previous convictions, taken into investigative custody February 20, 1943; all at present in the jail of the headquarters, State Police (Gestapo), Munich, all at present not represented by counsel; are accused: in 1942 and 1943 in Munich, Augsburg, Salzburg , Vienna, Stuttgart, and Linz, committing together the same acts: I. with attempted high treason, namely by force to change the constitution of the Reich, and acting with intent: 1. to organize a conspiracy for the preparation of high treason, 105 2. to render the armed forces unfit for the performance of their duty of protecting the German Reich against internal and external attack, 3. to influence the masses through the preparation and distribution of writings ; and II. with having attempted, in the internal area of the Reich, during time of war, to give aid to the enemy against the Reich, injuring the war potential of the Reich; and III. with having attempted to cripple and weaken the will of the German people to take measures toward their defense and selfdetermination , Grimes according to Par. 80, Sec. 2; Par 83, Sees. 2 and 3, No. 1, 2, 3; Pars. 91b, 47, 73 of the Reich Criminal Code (St GB), and Par. 5 of the Special War Criminal Decree. In the summer of 1942 and in January and February of 1943 the accused Hans Scholl prepared and distributed leaflets containing the demand for a settlement of accounts with National Socialism, for disaffection from the National Socialist "gangsterism," and for passive resistance and sabotage. In addition, in Munich he adorned walls with the defamatory slogan "Down With Hitler" and with canceled swastikas. The accused Sophie Scholl participated in the preparation and distribution of the seditious materials. The accused Probst composed the first draft of a leaflet. I Summary of Results of Investigations S I 4-R 1. To the year 1930 the father of the accused Hans and Sophie Scholl was mayor of Forchtenberg. Later he was Economic Adviser in Ulm on the Danube. The accused Scholls have two sisters and a brother, who is now serving in the armed forces. Against the accused Hans Scholl, as well as against his brother Werner and his sister Inge, charges had previously been brought on the part of the Reich Police Headquarters, Stuttgart, concerning conspiratorial acts, 106 which led to the temporary arrest of the above-named. Hans Scholl attended the local secondary school and in 1937 he enlisted in the army. In 1939 he began his studies in medicine , which he continued during his period of active service in the army in April, 1941. He was last assigned to the Student Company in Munich with the rank of sergeant. He covered the cost of tuition out of his army pay and out of an allowance from his father. In 1933 Scholl joined the Hitler Jungvolk and was later transferred to the Hitler Jugend. 2. The accused Sophia Scholl worked first as kindergarten teacher and since the summer of 1942 has been studying science and philosophy at the University of Munich. Until 1941 she belonged to the Bund deutscher Mddel, serving finally as Group Leader. 3. The accused Probst attended the Gymnasium in Nuremberg and, after finishing his Labor Service, volunteered for the army. Later he became a medical student and most recently belonged to the Student Company in Innsbruck with the rank of sergeant in the medical service. II In the summer of 1942 the so-called Leaflets of the White Rose were distributed through the mails. These seditious pamphlets contain attacks on National Socialism and on its cultural-political policies in particular; further, they contain statements concerning the alleged atrocities of National Socialism, namely the alleged murder of the Jews and the...