On the trail of the White Rose in Munich

February 22 marked the 78th anniversary of the deaths of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst, co-founders of the Munich resistance group White Rose. This anniversary led us to the question of where you can actually meet the White Rose in Munich.

White Rose Memorial at the LMU

A central point of contact for commemorating the Munich resistance group White Rose is the White Rose Memorial at the atrium of LMU. The permanent exhibition "The White Rose. Resistance to the Nazi Dictatorship" offers a comprehensive look at the group surrounding the Scholl siblings. The memorial is run by the White Rose Foundation.

Among other things, the exhibition focuses on the motives of the resistance group, shows the group's individual actions and highlights the content of the leaflets. You can also find out more about the biographies of the individual protagonists of the White Rose. A visit to the exhibition is free of charge, the opening hours in non-corona times can be found here.

The White Rose is also commemorated in the atrium of the LMU itself. On the one hand with a bronze relief and a bust of Sophie Scholl on the first floor. And secondly with a memorial plaque on the second floor. It is located at the place where the leaflets were probably posted in the atrium on February 18, 1943.

If you would like to experience all the memorial sites around LMU interactively, you can download the White Rose app. It is currently only available in the Google Play Store, but an iOS version will follow soon.

Further information on the White Rose Memorial

Leaflets in front of the LMU

At the main entrance to LMU, it is worth lowering your gaze, as leaflets from the White Rose were embedded here as a ground memorial. In these leaflets, the resistance group repeatedly called for resistance against the Nazi state and for the overthrow of the Nazi dictatorship. On February 18, 1943, the Scholl siblings were arrested by the Gestapo after distributing leaflets in the main building of the LMU and interrogated at the Munich Gestapo headquarters in the Wittelsbacher Palais in Brienner Straße.

The Scholl siblings' apartment

In Schwabing, at Franz-Joseph-Straße 13, you will find a memorial plaque for Sophie and Hans Scholl, who lived here in a two-room apartment in the rear building from 1942 until their execution.

A memorial plaque at Mandlstraße 28 also commemorates Willi Graf, who lived here until his arrest.

Monument to resistance against National Socialism in the Hofgarten

In the courtyard garden, near the arcade in the north-eastern section, there is a large, dark stone cube commemorating the resistance against National Socialism. Among other things, the White Rose is commemorated here with a quote from its fifth leaflet:

We do not want to pass judgment here on the various possible forms of state, but one thing needs to be clearly emphasized: every person has a right to a viable and just state that safeguards both the freedom of the individual and the well-being of the whole. Freedom of speech, freedom of confession, protection of the individual citizen against the arbitrariness of violent criminal states - these are the foundations of the new Europe.

Fence on Orleansstrasse

One of the most famous pictures of the White Rose was taken near the Ostbahnhof in Orleansstraße. Sophie Scholl leans against the fence, laughing. Standing around her are Hubert Furtwängler, Hans Scholl, Raimund Samiller and Alexander Schmorell, dressed in military uniforms, waiting for their train to take them to their place of deployment as medical orderlies. The photo was taken on July 23, 1942 by medical student Jürgen Wittenstein. In the background you can see the house at Orleansstrasse 61, which now has a memorial plaque.

The fence still stands today, but will soon have to make way for construction work. What will happen after that is still open. However, there is talk of creating a memorial on the site.

Graves at the Perlacher Forst cemetery

The graves of Hans and Sophie Scholl and Christoph Probst can be found in the cemetery at Perlacher Forst. All three were executed in Stadelheim on February 22, 1943. The prison is right next to the cemetery. There are three black crosses at the gravesite. Two of them are connected to each other and stand for the Scholl siblings, the third for Christoph Probst.

Alexander Schmorell was also buried in the Perlach cemetery after his execution in Stadelheim on July 13, 1943.

White Rose Room in the Palace of Justice

You can also meet the White Rose in the Palace of Justice at Stachus. Because in courtroom 216 (now 253), where the second trial against 14 defendants of the White Rose resistance group took place on April 19, 1943, there is now a permanent exhibition designed in cooperation with the Weiße Rose Stiftung e.V. (White Rose Foundation). In this exhibition "Arbitrariness - In the Name of the German People", pictures of the 17 defendants from both trials and copies of some original documents are shown. However, the courtroom is also intended to stand as a place that bears witness to the arbitrary justice of the Third Reich.

Visiting this permanent exhibition is free of charge, but is currently not possible due to Corona.

You can get more information and a first impression here

If you want to delve even deeper into the topic of the White Rose, you can watch the films "Sophie Scholl - The Last Days" (available on Amazon Prime, for example) or "The White Rose" (on Apple TV). If you prefer listening to podcasts, you can listen to the episode "The Scholl Siblings - The Resistance of the White Rose" on Radiowissen, for example. And of course there are also lots of books on the subject. If you can recommend something, please write to regina@munichmag.de and we'll add to the list here.