greatest generation

Wilm Hosenfeld, a German officer stationed in Poland during the war known for saving several Jews and Poles.

Hosenfeld is featured in Roman Polanski’s movie, The Pianist, and his diary has been published over the years. If you can find it, I would suggest picking it up.

Hosenfeld stands out as a particularly interesting figure because he was a Nazi party member, but also a religious intellectual. He was a nationalist and career soldier, but never got over the brutality he saw in his comrades.

From what I have read, he was known for being devoutly Catholic and his helpful manner to the Poles was frowned upon by his superiors. Perhaps he was good at his job or he benefited from being stationed in a chaotic theater of the war. Whatever it was, Hosenfeld was overlooked and he seems to have spent much of his time doing kind things for others…small things, but enough for Vad Yashem to label him as Righteous after the war.

He is someone I desperately want to know more about! A wounded WWI vet, Hosenfeld’s Second World War actually lasted 13 years until his tortured death in a Russian gulag in 1952. Rough way to go for such a gentleman!

Sophie Scholl talks with her brother and his Army buddies before they ship out

We recently featured the Scholls and their resistance to the Nazi government while college students at the University of Munich.

Hans, left and closest to the iron fence, is not a conspirator in this photo. Instead, he is just an apprehensive soldier thinking about what awaits him at the front.

Learn More About…

GERMAN YOUTH RESISTANCE

Recently, we posted photos about the Edelweiss Pirates and White Rose members Hans and Sophie Scholl. For one reason or another, these seemed to strike a chord with our followers and we wanted to get you some follow-up material in case you were interested in learning more about their stories.

ONLINE

• Faces of Courage: A teaching resource with stories of individual members of the Edelweiss Pirates
• Lib.com: A general description of the Pirates and their significance
• Tribute To The Pirates on YouTube: decent photos
• Interview with Franz Mueller: White Rose survivor and Scholl colleague
• I Am The Son Of…: A letter written by a child of one of the White Rose members

BOOKS

• Swing Under Nazi Germany: Jazz As A Metaphor For Freedom
• The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943 written by Sophie’s sister
• Sophie Scholl: The Real Story Of The Woman Who Defied Hitler
• Inside Nazi Germany: Conformity, Opposition, and Racism in Everyday Life
• The White Rose: A Play
• Hans and Sophie Scholl: German Resisters of the White Rose
• The Letters & Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl
• Hitler Youth

MOVIES

• Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, 2005 (Netflix)
• Swing Kids starring Christian Bale, 1993 (Netflix)
• Edelweiss Pirates, 2004

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The Edelweiss Pirates

An underground youth group in Germany that started as an alternative to the state camping movement before the Nazis came to power. When the campers were incorporated into the Hitler Youth, these kids resisted.

Part beatnik, part hipster, part jazz-loving zoot suit, these kids were also known to beat up and ambush Hitler Youth rallies and patrols.

They were characterized as street gangs, but this was only true when the govt forced them underground, mainly in the outlaw town of Cologne. Many were imprisoned or hung during the war.

The Pirates embodied what was once a freedom loving society, and their counter-culture identity was an alternative, but credible resistance in itself: they stayed cool.

NOTE: The Edelweiss Pirates’ story is considered “emerging history,” which is a fancy way of saying historians are just now starting to really understand their origins, contributions to society, and their general timeline during WWII. What is known for certain is that they were influential in Germany’s youth movement before Nazism, they were an alternative to the Hitler Youth, and they were leaders in Germany’s underground counterculture revolution. While they were branded as “low class street urchins” they were known for their affinity for BBC jazz broadcasts, wearing colorful outfits, and often coming from liberal or Communist families. 

Oh yeah, they were supposed to be prolific graffiti artists as well. Cool.

As the youth movement is a trending topic in WWII history circles, I hope we hear more about the Pirates and their merry men in the future.

"Many, maybe even most, of you reading this leaflet are not sure how to resist. You don’t see any opportunities. We’d like to show you that anyone is in a position to help bring this system down. What is needed is the coordinated vigorous activity of many dedicated people…"

— College students Hans & Sophie Scholl. The quote does not come from a term paper. Instead, it was printed in a leaflet that led to their execution. This is NOT what I was doing at 21…

Hans Scholl shortly before his arrest in 1943.

White Rose printed six leaflets that urged students and citizens to opposed the Nazis. If you read their pamphlets, the wording was obviously written by a group of freedom loving students. The language is poetic, academic, and almost philosophical. They bypassed politics and called on people to remember their true conscience.

For their words, many of their friends and associates, including one of their professors, were executed, sent to concentration camps, or jailed.

At the close of the war, one of the smuggled leaflets was reprinted and distributed by the Allies as a testament to the courage of Munich’s college kids.

Sophie Scholl

Sister. Daughter. Fiancee. Student. Nurse. German Patriot.

Note: I am struck by how wonderfully composed this photo was. Photos we have from the 1940s are usually in two categories: photojournalism and candid amateur snapshots. This is art!

Hans Scholl, a founding member of White Rose, in his Army uniform.

Scholl, with his sister and friends would go on to lead a doomed student movement at the University of Munich.