The White Rose also addressed the atrocities against Jews. Then they stopped as Hans, Schmorell, Graf and Probst were shipped east on a day’s notice to the Russian front, where the Germans were bogged down. Before Hans placed his head upon the block, his final words echoed through the prison: “Long live freedom.” Within weeks, the other core members of the White Rose were apprehended and executed. The story of the White Rose did make it to the front, where it inspired soldiers who were opposed to the regime. “They did not seek martyrdom in the name of any extraordinary idea,” Inge Scholl recalled in her memoir of her siblings and White Rose comrades.

Source: New York Times February 22, 2018 01:52 UTC