---

(Image Source: Anton Gil's An Honorable Defeat)

                                Hans & Sophie Scholl with Christoph Probst, members
                                of the White Rose executed for distributing anti Nazi leaflets.

    The simplest forms of dissent within Nazi Germany could cost one their life, this is most clearly demonstrated by the executions of Hans and Sophie Scholl, Christoph Probst, and other members of the White Rose organization.  The "White Rose" was an organization of university students (mostly medical) in Munich, who disseminated anti Nazi pamphlets. The group's members protested the Nazi war effort and drew attention to  the atrocities being committed by Nazis and soldiers on the Eastern front .  The organization was led by Hans Scholl, a 25 year old soldier and student.  Hans was later joined in his efforts by his sister Sophie.

    Hans, as a young member of the Hitler Youth, became disenchanted by the organization's  hate mongering views. While performing military service in the East, Hans witnessed the brutal military policy of Nazi Germany.  Together with his sister, and several fellow students, he began distributing a series  of  anti Nazi pamphlets. Members of the White Rose spread countless copies of  the leaflets throughout Hamburg and Munich.  Hans and Sophie were apprehended on February 18, 1943 while dumping a suitcase of leaflets onto a university courtyard. They and several other members of the White Rose were subsequently executed.

The motivations of the White Rose were simple, they wanted an end to the Nazi regime. Their literature spoke out against the regime's  treatment of Jews and others.