0:00:06.778,0:00:10.977
In 1943 Allied aircraft swooped [br]over Nazi Germany,

0:00:10.977,0:00:14.304
raining tens of thousands of [br]leaflets on people below.

0:00:14.304,0:00:18.774
Written by anonymous Germans, the [br]leaflets urged readers to renounce Hitler,

0:00:18.774,0:00:22.532
to fight furiously for the future— [br]and to never give up hope.

0:00:22.532,0:00:25.598
Their call to action rippled through [br]homes and businesses—

0:00:25.598,0:00:29.718
and news of their message even reached [br]concentration camps and prisons.

0:00:29.718,0:00:33.994
It was only after the war had ended [br]that the authors’ identities, stories,

0:00:33.994,0:00:38.082
and tragic fate would come to light.

0:00:38.082,0:00:40.762
When Hitler seized power [br]10 years earlier,

0:00:40.762,0:00:44.940
Hans and Sophie Scholl were teenagers [br]in the town of Forchtenberg.

0:00:44.940,0:00:47.566
At that time, fear, propaganda, [br]and surveillance

0:00:47.566,0:00:51.571
kept all aspects of life for the Scholl [br]family and millions of other Germans

0:00:51.571,0:00:53.489
under Nazi control.

0:00:53.489,0:00:56.072
The government specifically [br]targeted young people,

0:00:56.072,0:01:00.722
setting up institutions to regulate their [br]behavior and police their thoughts.

0:01:00.722,0:01:03.668
As teenagers, Hans was a member [br]of the Hitler Youth

0:01:03.668,0:01:07.009
and Sophie joined The League [br]of German Girls.

0:01:07.009,0:01:08.567
Hans rose through the ranks

0:01:08.567,0:01:12.389
and oversaw the training and [br]indoctrination of other young people.

0:01:12.389,0:01:17.109
In 1936, he was chosen to carry [br]the flag at a national rally.

0:01:17.109,0:01:19.644
But when he witnessed the zeal [br]of Nazi rhetoric,

0:01:19.644,0:01:22.685
he began to question it for [br]the first time.

0:01:22.685,0:01:27.225
Meanwhile, Sophie was also starting to [br]doubt the information she was being fed.

0:01:27.225,0:01:29.352
Their parents Robert and Magdalena,

0:01:29.352,0:01:32.442
who had feared they were losing [br]their children to Nazi ideology,

0:01:32.442,0:01:34.535
encouraged these misgivings.

0:01:34.535,0:01:38.247
At home, Robert and Magdalena listened [br]to foreign radio stations

0:01:38.247,0:01:42.140
that the government first discouraged [br]and later banned.

0:01:42.140,0:01:46.860
While the government churned out national[br]broadcasts which denied Nazi atrocities,

0:01:46.860,0:01:49.576
the Scholls learned shocking truths.

0:01:49.576,0:01:53.706
And yet, they were still subject to [br]the rules of life in Hitler’s Germany.

0:01:53.706,0:01:55.235
After the outbreak of war,

0:01:55.235,0:01:58.024
Sophie reluctantly worked for [br]the national effort,

0:01:58.024,0:02:02.794
and Hans had to take on army duties [br]while attending medical school in Munich.

0:02:02.794,0:02:08.946
That was where Hans met Christoph Probst, [br]Willi Graf and Alexander Schmorell.

0:02:08.946,0:02:12.480
Day by day, each grew more [br]sickened by Nazi ideology.

0:02:12.480,0:02:14.415
They longed to share their views.

0:02:14.415,0:02:18.690
But how could they spread them, when it [br]was impossible to know who to trust?

0:02:18.690,0:02:22.344
And so, the friends decided [br]to rebel anonymously.

0:02:22.344,0:02:25.004
They pooled their money and [br]bought printing materials.

0:02:25.004,0:02:28.002
An acquaintance let them use [br]a cellar under his studio.

0:02:28.002,0:02:31.295
In secret, they began drafting [br]their message.

0:02:31.295,0:02:37.313
In June 1942, mysterious anti-Nazi [br]leaflets began appearing all over Munich.

0:02:37.313,0:02:40.213
They were signed: the White Rose.

0:02:40.213,0:02:42.217
The first leaflet denounced Hitler

0:02:42.217,0:02:45.307
and called for Germans to [br]sabotage the war effort:

0:02:45.307,0:02:47.072
“Adopt passive resistance…

0:02:47.072,0:02:51.582
block the functioning of this atheistic [br]war machine before it is too late,

0:02:51.582,0:02:54.113
before the last city is a heap of rubble…

0:02:54.113,0:02:57.566
before the last youth of our [br]nation bleeds to death...

0:02:57.566,0:03:02.046
Don’t forget that each people gets [br]the government it deserves!”

0:03:02.046,0:03:05.315
At a time when a sarcastic remark [br]could constitute treason,

0:03:05.315,0:03:07.554
this language was unprecedented.

0:03:07.554,0:03:10.584
It was written mostly by Hans Scholl.

0:03:10.584,0:03:15.614
In 1942, Sophie came to Munich knowing [br]nothing of her brother’s activities.

0:03:15.614,0:03:17.940
She soon encountered the [br]leaflets at school.

0:03:17.940,0:03:21.184
But it was not until she discovered [br]evidence in Han’s room

0:03:21.184,0:03:23.354
that she realized who’d written them.

0:03:23.354,0:03:28.094
Her shock soon gave way to resolve: [br]she wanted in.

0:03:28.094,0:03:33.565
For both siblings, it was time to escalate[br]the fury that had been brewing for years.

0:03:33.569,0:03:40.331
From June 1942 to February 1943, [br]the group worked feverishly.

0:03:40.331,0:03:42.374
While the Gestapo searched for leads,

0:03:42.374,0:03:45.019
the White Rose were constantly on guard.

0:03:45.019,0:03:50.449
The war raged on. Regulations tightened, [br]and Munich suffered air raids.

0:03:50.449,0:03:53.751
But the White Rose ventured [br]deeper into conspiracy.

0:03:53.751,0:03:58.201
They graffitied buildings and braved [br]trains swarming with Gestapo.

0:03:58.201,0:04:00.467
In the winter of 1942,

0:04:00.467,0:04:04.045
Hans made a treacherous journey to [br]the Czechoslovakian border

0:04:04.045,0:04:06.345
to meet anti-Nazi rebels.

0:04:06.345,0:04:09.151
On February 18, 1943,

0:04:09.151,0:04:13.131
Sophie and Hans brought a suitcase [br]of leaflets to their university.

0:04:13.131,0:04:17.550
A custodian noticed what they were doing [br]and reported them to the Gestapo.

0:04:17.550,0:04:19.948
Both calmly denied any involvement—

0:04:19.948,0:04:24.406
until the police gathered all the leaflets[br]and placed them back in the empty case,

0:04:24.406,0:04:27.119
where they fit perfectly.

0:04:27.119,0:04:29.146
When Hans and Sophie confessed,

0:04:29.146,0:04:33.826
they were immediately led to court [br]and sentenced to death by guillotine.

0:04:33.826,0:04:39.695
Despite a grueling interrogation, the two [br]refused to betray their co-conspirators.

0:04:39.695,0:04:44.565
Before her execution, Sophie declared [br]her fury at the state of her country.

0:04:44.565,0:04:48.030
But she also spoke to a [br]more hopeful future:

0:04:48.030,0:04:52.311
“How can we expect righteousness to [br]prevail when there is hardly anyone

0:04:52.311,0:04:56.228
willing to give himself up individually [br]to a righteous cause?

0:04:56.228,0:05:00.110
Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go,

0:05:00.110,0:05:03.150
but what does my death matter, [br]if through us,

0:05:03.150,0:05:07.830
thousands of people are awakened [br]and stirred to action?”