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47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It gives me hope, August 4, 2004
This review is from: The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943 (Paperback)
For those unfamiliar with the story of The White Rose, it is a testament to the power and courage of those who are willing to stand up for freedom and independence in a world gone mad. Once again I find this book paticularly compelling today, for obvious reasons. The pamphlets the White Rose students distributed (that they subsequently paid the ultimate price for) are reprinted in their entirety in the book. They are well written, beautiful in spirit, and as compelling today as they were then. The story is told with honor and reverence by the sister of Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, siblings and two of the students in Germany who brainstormed the pamphlets and were executed swiftly and denounced publicly for their trouble. In spite of that, or because of it, their efforts caused a ripple of resistance in the German republic that caused its fair share of trouble for the Nazi regime. Calling for a policy of passive resistance -- the ability for each one, individually, to sabotage any efforts of the fascist regime in power -- was a brilliant move on their part. No fundraising, no unending meetings, no need for mailing lists or computer databases. Sabotage rallies, sabotage in all areas of science and scolarship which further the continuation of the war, sabotage in all branches of the arts, and a refusal to give a penny to any government organized charity...such was the call of these noble individuals who had no great army, but who understood the power of the individual. I only learned of the White Rose within the past couple of years myself. Everyone should learn and understand what they did and why. It gives me hope.
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66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A chronicle of heroism, December 19, 2000
This review is from: The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943 (Paperback)
In this slim book, Inge Scholl chronicles the heroism of her brother and sister, Hans and Sophie Scholl, and their friends in Germany during World War II. The Scholls were students at the University of Munich who had slowly become aware of the horrors their government was perpetrating. They decided that they had to do something, anything to stop the Nazis, and so they printed leaflets denouncing the government and providing information about atrocities. They distributed these leaflets throughout the University and the city, and created a network to distribute them even farther. They identified themselves only as The White Rose. The Nazis eventually tracked down the Scholls and their collaborators and executed them. Inge Scholl tells the story beautifully, in spare and simple prose. She wrote the book originally for German youth after the war, so it is not a scholarly book, but it is even more affecting because of that. After Scholl's narrative are the texts of the six leaflets themselves, as well as a series of fascinating documents -- the Nazi indictments and sentences of the White Rose group, contemporary newspaper accounts ("Just Punishment of Traitors to the Nation at War"), and some deeply affecting testimonials, including a powerful letter written by a fellow prisoner of Sophie Scholl. There are also a number of photographs of the primary members of the White Rose group.
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An amazing story, not the best account, March 11, 2006
This review is from: The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943 (Paperback)
I bought this book wanting some background on the White Rose before going to see the German film on Sophie Scholl, and it was informative, if rather short - the actual story is less than 100 pages, as half the book represents documents. On the plus side, it is by the sister of Hans and Sophie Scholl, so though it isn't a great read, presumably it is an accurate account. However, I have since read some negative comments that the author used this book to place herself more centre stage, which put me off a bit as I like to think the books I read - at least those on historical events - are well-researched and unbiased. For a more gripping account with a fast-paced narrative, I would recommend Dumbach and Newborn's Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, which I've just finished. It has some rave reviews, is a much more vivid account, and as well as all the photographs of the students also includes all the leaflets including the seventh, previously unpublished, leaflet of the White Rose group that was discovered in the Gestapo archives after the fall of the Berlin Wall. So if you want both a good read and some very interesting historical documents, this is by far the better book.
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