Sophie Scholl and the White Rose

A group of students who became a symbol of the German resistance against Nazism

In 1942, the Second World War was at a tipping point, with Germany losing ground to Russia. In Munich, a small group of German students formed a clandestine network. Its name: "The White Rose". Among them was Sophie Scholl, a young woman barely 21 years old. Raised in a prosperous, intellectual Protestant family, she had first joined the Hitler Youth before turning away from it and joining her brother Hans in the resistance. To awaken consciences and push young Germans to fight against Nazism, they wrote leaflets distributed covertly and daubed the city's walls with anti-Nazi slogans.

In the winter of 1943, as their actions began to be taken as an example, gathering more and more sympathisers around them, the principal members of the White Rose were denounced, arrested by the Gestapo and executed after a sham trial. Sophie Scholl wrote that day: "What does my death matter if, through our actions, thousands of people have been awakened."

In this compelling narrative, Annette Dumbach and Jud Newborn give voice once more to the German resistance, paying tribute to all those who stood up, and continue to stand up today, against tyranny.

"A wonderful book." Elie Wiesel

"A narrative that reads like a thriller." The New York Times

A graduate of New York University and the Sorbonne, Annette Dumbach (1934–2017) was a journalist and professor. Jud Newborn is a lecturer, cultural anthropologist and curator in New York. A pioneer in the creation of Holocaust museums, he participated in the construction of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, of which he was the founding historian and curator.