The White Rose

by Lillian Groag

In 1942 a group of students of the University of Munich chose to actively protest the atrocities of the Nazi regime and to advocate that Germany lose the war as the only way to overthrow Hitler's regime. Asking for resistance and sabotage of the war effort, among other things, they published their thoughts in five separate anonymous leaflets, which they titled "The White Rose" and which were distributed throughout Germany and Austria during the summer of 1942 and the winter of 1943. When captured, the police inspector of the town, Robert Mohr, is intrigued by Sophie, the youngest of the conspirators and the only girl among them. Mohr, who doesn't really take the crime of passing leaflets so seriously, knows that the Third Reich does and is pressured by a superior, Mahler, to obtain a conviction. Mohr wants to save Sophie from certain execution and tries to get her to sign a confession saying that she didn't know what she was doing and that she was misled by the others. But Sophie counters with why she is fighting for what is right, the meaning of pride and when it counts and the loyalty she feels to the others, especially her brother who is a leader in the group. The conversations between Sophie and Mohr and the interrogation scenes of the other conspirators reveal a complex group of people, all clinging to beliefs that ultimately can not be fulfilled at this point in time. In the end, all in The White Rose group are executed, and the Nazi regime continues its devastation until the end of World War II.

Genres: Plays

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent dramatization of the story of Sophie and Hans Scholl and their colleagues in a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. Could be done by a high school or college group. First performed off Broadway in 1991 with Melissa Leo (who later won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress in The Fighter) as Sophie.

Being pretty familiar with the translated letters and diaries and publicly-distributed writings of "geschwister" (brother and sister) Scholl I found this script true to life and moving. see At the Heart of the White Rose: Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Das kurze Leben der Sophie Scholl which is available in English as The Short Life of Sophie Scholl .

Giving it four stars for political and spiritual importance and unpretentiousness. It's not Arthur Miller.

There's a movie from about 2012 that I've not seen called The Last Days of Sophie Scholl on the same topic. The story of geschwister Scholl and their brave colleagues is iconic in Germany but not well-known in the U.S. It really should be.

[Boothe Family · Rating 5 out of 5]

Profoundly changed my life. ~ Steven