(New York Times) Richard Hurowitz - 75 years ago Thursday, a group of young German idealists who had dared to speak out against the Nazis were executed by the regime they had defied. Its members called themselves the White Rose. The group's founder, Hans Scholl, a student at the University of Munich, was joined by his sister Sophie, Alexander Schmorell, Christoph Probst, and Willi Graf. Their intellectual mentor was Kurt Huber, a professor of philosophy and ardent believer in liberal democracy. In the summer of 1942, Hans and his friends began to distribute typewritten leaflets denouncing the regime and imploring all citizens to engage in "passive resistance" to the Nazi state. They also addressed the atrocities against Jews. The group's second leaflet said: "Here we see the most frightful crime against human dignity, a crime that is unparalleled in the whole of history. For Jews, too, are human beings." They added: "Every word that comes from Hitler's mouth is a lie." The leaflets appeared in mailboxes and phone booths and spread to sympathetic students in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and Vienna. On Feb. 18, 1943, Hans and Sophie were distributing leaflets at the university when they were caught by the Gestapo. They were interrogated for several days, together with Probst, but refused to implicate others. All three were found of guilty of high treason and sentenced to death. Within hours, they were executed by guillotine. Within weeks, the other core members of the White Rose were apprehended and executed.
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