The White Rose: German Students Who Defied Hitler

Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, siblings from a deeply moral German family (influenced by their father's repeated arrests for criticizing Hitler), distributed six anti-Nazi leaflets at the University of Munich. In the final leaflet, they wrote: 'We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace.' They distributed 1,500 copies in a single afternoon, and Sophie threw the last copies from a balcony right as a janitor spotted her. They were arrested within hours. The Gestapo found their draft for a seventh leaflet in Hans's pocket. They were executed by guillotine. Copies of their leaflets were smuggled out and reprinted in Britain and Allied-dropped over Germany.