La secreta resistencia estudiantil a Hitler - Iseult Gillespie

0:06 In 1943 Allied aircraft swooped over Nazi Germany,

0:10 raining tens of thousands of leaflets on people below.

0:14 Written by anonymous Germans, the leaflets urged readers to renounce Hitler,

0:18 to fight furiously for the future— and to never give up hope.

0:22 Their call to action rippled through homes and businesses—

0:25 and news of their message even reached concentration camps and prisons.

0:29 It was only after the war had ended that the authors’ identities,

0:33 stories, and tragic fate would come to light.

0:38 When Hitler seized power 10 years earlier,

0:40 Hans and Sophie Scholl were teenagers in the town of Forchtenberg.

0:44 At that time, fear, propaganda,

0:46 and surveillance kept all aspects of life for the Scholl

0:49 family and millions of other Germans under Nazi control.

0:53 The government specifically targeted young people,

0:56 setting up institutions to regulate their behavior and police their thoughts.

1:00 As teenagers, Hans was a member of the Hitler

1:03 Youth and Sophie joined The League of German Girls.

1:06 Hans rose through the ranks and oversaw

1:09 the training and indoctrination of other young people.

1:12 In 1936, he was chosen to carry the flag at a national rally.

1:17 But when he witnessed the zeal of Nazi rhetoric,

1:19 he began to question it for the first time.

1:22 Meanwhile, Sophie was also starting to doubt the information she was being fed.

1:27 Their parents Robert and Magdalena,

1:29 who had feared they were losing their children to Nazi ideology,

1:32 encouraged these misgivings.

1:34 At home, Robert and Magdalena listened to foreign radio

1:37 stations that the government first discouraged and later banned.

1:42 While the government churned out

1:44 national broadcasts which denied Nazi atrocities,

1:46 the Scholls learned shocking truths.

1:49 And yet, they were still subject to the rules of life in Hitler’s Germany.

1:53 After the outbreak of war, Sophie reluctantly worked for the national effort,

1:58 and Hans had to take on army duties while attending medical school in Munich.

2:02 That was where Hans met Christoph Probst, Willi Graf and Alexander Schmorell.

2:08 Day by day, each grew more sickened by Nazi ideology.

2:12 They longed to share their views.

2:14 But how could they spread them, when it was impossible to know who to trust?

2:18 And so, the friends decided to rebel anonymously.

2:22 They pooled their money and bought printing materials.

2:24 An acquaintance let them use a cellar under his studio.

2:27 In secret, they began drafting their message.

2:31 In June 1942, mysterious anti-Nazi leaflets began appearing all over Munich.

2:37 They were signed: the White Rose.

2:40 The first leaflet denounced Hitler and called

2:42 for Germans to sabotage the war effort:

2:45 “Adopt passive resistance… block the functioning of this atheistic

2:49 war machine before it is too late, before the last city is a heap of rubble…

2:54 before the last youth of our nation bleeds to death...

2:57 Don’t forget that each people gets the government it deserves!”

3:02 At a time when a sarcastic remark could constitute treason,

3:05 this language was unprecedented.

3:07 It was written mostly by Hans Scholl.

3:10 In 1942, Sophie came to Munich knowing nothing of her brother’s activities.

3:15 She soon encountered the leaflets at school.

3:17 But it was not until she discovered evidence

3:20 in Han’s room that she realized who’d written them.

3:23 Her shock soon gave way to resolve: she wanted in.

3:28 For both siblings, it was time to escalate

3:30 the fury that had been brewing for years.

3:33 From June 1942 to February 1943, the group worked feverishly.

3:40 While the Gestapo searched for leads, the White Rose were constantly on guard.

3:44 The war raged on.

3:46 Regulations tightened, and Munich suffered air raids.

3:50 But the White Rose ventured deeper into conspiracy.

3:53 They graffitied buildings and braved trains swarming with Gestapo.

3:58 In the winter of 1942, Hans made a treacherous journey

4:02 to the Czechoslovakian border to meet anti-Nazi rebels.

4:06 On February 18, 1943,

4:09 Sophie and Hans brought a suitcase of leaflets to their university.

4:13 A custodian noticed what they were doing and reported them to the Gestapo.

4:17 Both calmly denied any involvement— until the police gathered all

4:21 the leaflets and placed them back in the empty case, where they fit perfectly.

4:27 When Hans and Sophie confessed,

4:29 they were immediately led to court and sentenced to death by guillotine.

4:33 Despite a grueling interrogation,

4:35 the two refused to betray their co-conspirators.

4:39 Before her execution, Sophie declared her fury at the state of her country.

4:44 But she also spoke to a more hopeful future:

4:48 “How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly

4:51 anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause?

4:56 Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter,

5:02 if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”