Historical background

Whereas the University of Munich was one of the leading German universities in science, particularly physics and chemistry, it was also a Nazi stronghold. As early as in 1925, Richard WillstätterFootnote 10 resigned from his position as Ordinarius at the University as an expression of his protest over the refusal to appoint Victor Moritz Goldschmidt, a geochemist of Jewish heritage, to a professorship. Willstätter viewed this refusal as a sign of increasing anti-Semitism impacting faculty appointments.

While around that time the Nazi party was largely unknown outside of Munich, it was there that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis rose to power. Hitler had moved from Austria to Munich in 1913, and he officially remained a resident until his death. In 1923, at the Bürgerbräukeller, a beer hall in Munich, began what has become known as the Beer Hall Putsch—the (failed) attempt of Hitler and Erich Ludendorff,Footnote 11 supported by several hundred members of the SA,Footnote 12 to overthrow the German government. In recognition of the critical role that Munich had played in the rise of National Socialism, Hitler conferred in 1935, two years after he had become chancellor, on Munich the honorary title Hauptstadt der Bewegung (capital of the movement).

Despite its role during the rise of National Socialism and the time of the Nazi government, Munich was also the site of some powerful anti-Nazi resistance. The best-known is the non-violent activism of the White Rose resistance group that wrote and distributed leaflets in which they called for opposition to the Nazi regime and an end to the war. Its core consisted of five students—Sophie Scholl (1921–1943) (Fig. 2a), Hans Scholl (1918–1943) (Fig. 2b), Christoph Probst (1919–1943) (Fig. 2c), Alexander Schmorell (1917–1943) (Fig. 2d), and Willi Graf (1918–1943) —and one professor—Kurt Huber (1893–1943)—of the University of Munich. Their activities started in the summer of 1942 and ended beginning with their arrests, on February 18, 1943. Ultimately, all of them were executed. These six core members were supported by several dozens of other individuals, both in and outside of Munich.

Fig. 2

Members of the White Rose who took courses with Karl von Frisch at the University of Munich. a Sophie Scholl. b Hans Scholl. c Christoph Probst. d Alexander Schmorell. The photographs were taken after their arrests by the Gestapo in Munich. Courtesy: Stadtarchiv München a: reference number DE-1992-FS-PER-S-0008-01; b: reference number DE-1992-FS-PER-S-0007-01; c: reference number DE-1992-FS-PER-P-0003-01; Wikimedia Commons (d). Photographer(s) unknown

Sophie SchollFootnote 13 majored in biology and minored in philosophy. All four male students went to medical school. Their study at the University alternated with periods of compulsory service in military hospitals at the front. Kurt Huber was a professor of philosophy and musicology. Motivated by humanistic ideals and, at least in part, religious beliefs, their writings were strongly influenced by the brutality of the war and the German atrocities (including the mass murder of Jews) that Willi Graf, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, and Hans Scholl witnessed on the Eastern Front.

The first four leaflets, entitled ‘Leaflets of the White Rose,’ were written by Alexander Schmorell and Hans Scholl in June and July 1942.Footnote 14 The approximately 100 copies of each leaflet were sent primarily to the German intelligentsia, whom they called for resistance: “It is not only your right but also your moral obligation to remove the regime.”Footnote 15

Towards the end of 1942, Sophie Scholl, Willi Graf, Christoph Probst, and Kurt Huber joined the group. Together they wrote the fifth leaflet in January 1943. It is entitled ‘Leaflets of the Resistance Movement in Germany.’ The sixth leaflet, titled ‘Fellow Students’ was mostly written by Kurt Huber and produced in February 1943. In the latter two leaflets, the authors changed the language to appeal to a larger segment of the population. They clearly spelled out their conviction that the war was lost (“Hitler cannot win the war; he can only prolong it”Footnote 16) and urged the reader to “support the resistance movement.”Footnote 17 Using better duplicating technology, they produced several thousand copies of each leaflet, which they distributed in Munich and sent by trusted couriers to other German cities.

On the morning of February 18, 1943, Hans and Sophie Scholl took a suitcase full of copies of the sixth leaflet (and some copies of the fifth leaflet) to the main building of the University, where they left them in front of lecture halls so that students would find them after classes. Sophie Scholl then flung the remaining copies from the gallery of the top floor down into the atrium (Fig. 3). This was watched by a janitor, who took the Scholl siblings to the office of Ernst Haeffner, Syndicus (syndic) of the University, who called the GestapoFootnote 18 (Hockerts 2022).

Fig. 3

Lichthof (atrium) of the main building of the University of Munich. On February 18, 1943, after Hans and Sophie Scholl had distributed most of their copies of the sixth leaflet, Sophie flung the remaining copies from the top floor of the gallery down into the atrium. This was observed by a member of the maintenance staff, ultimately leading to the arrest of the Scholl siblings by the Gestapo. Photograph by Günther K.H. Zupanc

Over the next days and months, all the remaining core members of the White Rose and many individuals associated with the group were apprehended. On February 22, 1943, the Scholl siblings and Christoph Probst stood trial before the First Senate of the Volksgerichtshof (‘People’s Court’) headed by Roland FreislerFootnote 19 in Munich and were sentenced to death. They were executed the same day by guillotine in the Stadelheim Prison. In later trials, the other three core members of the group—Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, and Kurt Huber—were also sentenced to death and subsequently executed.

In total, 31 persons associated with the White Rose stood trial—the six core members plus 25 supporters.Footnote 20 Many of the latter were given long-prison sentences. One of the supporters, Hans Conrad Leipelt (1921–1945), a ‘half-Jew’Footnote 21 under the Nuremberg Laws on race of 1935 and a chemistry student at the University of Munich,Footnote 22 was sentenced to death and executed. After the execution of the Scholl siblings and Christoph Probst, he had copied the sixth leaflet to which he added the title “… and yet their spirit lives on!” Supported by friends, he distributed this leaflet in Hamburg and Munich. When he collected money for the widow of Professor Kurt Huber, he was denounced, arrested, tried, and executed in 1945.

A report about the White Rose and the text of their sixth leaflet were smuggled out of Germany. This leaflet was retitled ‘The Manifesto of the Students of Munich,’ and millions of copies were dropped by Allied planes over Germany in July 1943.

Enrollment of members of the White Rose in courses taught by Karl von Frisch

Our search in the Archive of the University of Munich revealed that not only Sophie Scholl but also other members of the White Rose group were enrolled in courses of Karl von Frisch.Footnote 23 During the summer semester in 1942—her first semester at the University of Munich—Sophie Scholl took von Frisch’s General Zoology lecture classFootnote 24 (Fig. 4). As a second biology course, she took General Botany, taught by Friedrich Carl von Faber.Footnote 25 Notably, besides two other non-science courses, she was enrolled in two courses (‘Tone and Music Psychology’ and ‘LeibnizFootnote 26 and his Times’) by Kurt Huber, the only professorial member of the White Rose.

Fig. 4

Belegblatt (course registration card) of Sophie Scholl for the summer semester 1942. She entered by hand the information on this form, such as the names of the faculty (column 2) of the respective course she took (column 3), the number of course units (Wochenstundenzahl, ‘number of hours per week spent in class;’ column 4), and the tuition fee paid (column 5). The first course listed is von Frisch’s Allgemeine Zoologie (General Zoology), bearing 3 credit hours. She paid a tuition fee of 9 Reichsmark for this course. Courtesy: UAM

In her biography, Barbara Beuys mentions that Sophie Scholl also took at least one course by Karl von Frisch during the winter semester of 1942/1943Footnote 27:

Sophie Scholl was enrolled during the winter semester in lecture courses of the biologist Karl von Frisch, the physicist Walther Gerlach, the mathematician Georg Faber, the philosopher Kurt Huber, and the archeologist Ernst Buschor. (Beuys 2021, p. 391)

Since Hans Scholl, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, and Willi Graf were medical students, and courses in zoology and anatomy were compulsory for the study of human medicine at the University of Munich (Greilinger 2006), we also searched the Archive of the University of Munich for evidence of their registration in any of von Frisch’s classes. These documentsFootnote 28 indicate that during the summer semester of 1939 Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst took either von Frisch’s Zoology Lecture Course or the Zoological Lab Course for Medical Students, which he taught jointly with Werner Jacobs.Footnote 29 During the third trimesterFootnote 30 of 1939, Hans Scholl, was enrolled in the Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates Lab Course, which was probably taught by von Frisch,Footnote 31 whereas Christoph Probst and Alexander Schmorell had registered during this term for von Frisch’s Zoology II (Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates) Lecture Course.Footnote 32 We could not find evidence that Willi Graf read any of von Frisch’s courses. Since he transferred to the University of Munich after he had studied four semesters at the University of Bonn, it is possible that he received transfer credit for equivalent courses taken at the latter institution.

“Zoology is extremely interesting”

Several lines of evidence suggest that at least the Scholl siblings deeply enjoyed Karl von Frisch’s classes. Yet, in the case of Sophie Scholl the evidence is only indirect. This is rather surprising, given that she was the only biology major among the four who took his classes. Several years earlier, when she had just turned 17 and was still a student at the Oberrealschule (high school) in Ulm, she had expressed her enthusiasm for biology in a letter to her sister Inge on July 8, 1938:

The biology class is great. I have already dissected a bovine eye. I also exposed, so neatly, the internal parts, intestines, organs, etc. of a fish. The brain and the head as well. The entire outer wall was folded back, and then everything inside became accessible. It was so orderly and meaningful and tightly packed. And imagine: the heart was still moving regularly—up and down and up and down and up and down. Fish have golden eyes. And a spherical, beautiful lens. Extremely nice animals. I felt so sorry for them. (Jens 2021, pp. 154–155)

Sophie Scholl was a prolific letter writer, as documented by the high volume of her (published) correspondence between 1937 and 1943 (Hartnagel 2008; Jens 2021). Yet, in none of the letters written after her enrollment at the University of Munich does she mention any classes she took. At first, one might suspect that letters in which she perhaps wrote about her courses are missing. Indeed, most of the letters between March 1941 and February 1943 to her fiancée Fritz Hartnagel got lost in Stalingrad, except those that could not be delivered due to the events of the war and were, thus, returned to her (Hartnagel 2008, p. 11).

However, this explanation is rather unlikely. On February 23, 1943,Footnote 33 Fritz Hartnagel wrote from Lemberg,Footnote 34 where he was deployed as an officer of the German army:

By the way, you have never written anything about your lecture courses, although for sure they keep you busy for most of the day. (Hartnagel 2008, p. 457)

Thomas Hartnagel, son of Fritz Hartnagel and editor of the correspondence between Sophie Scholl and Fritz Hartnagel, commented on Sophie Scholl’s priorities by mentioning that Elisabeth Hartnagel,Footnote 35 who had visited Sophie Scholl twice in Munich for several days, was left with the impression that her studies, aside from attending Kurt Huber’s lectures, were of hardly any importance to her. Furthermore, a friend of Sophie Scholl from Ulm, who also visited her in Munich, had to promise in a letter that he would not tell anyone, particularly not her parents, what she really did in Munich (Hartnagel 2008, pp. 458–459).

The only document that indicates how much Sophie Scholl enjoyed Karl von Frisch’s classes is a letter that Inge SchollFootnote 36 wrote to Karl von Frisch on May 13, 1952. In 1946, she had founded the VolkshochschuleFootnote 37 in Ulm, of which she was managing director until 1974. In this capacity, she organized a zoology lecture series of distinguished scholars. In her letter, she invited von Frisch to give a lecture. After two introductory sentences, she wrote:

My two siblings attended your lectures with great pleasure in 1942.Footnote 38 They told me about your experiments.Footnote 39

While this letter of Inge Scholl is the only documented evidence that Sophie Scholl enjoyed Karl von Frisch’s course, there is (besides this letter) some direct evidence that Hans Scholl liked the zoology classes. A few days after he had enrolled at the University of Munich, on April 17, 1939, he wrote in a letter to his parents:

Of all the mandatory lecture courses, the nicest has been botany so far. However, also zoology is extremely interesting. Friday afternoon, I will, most likely, register for the zoology lab (3 units).Footnote 40

Was Karl von Frisch aware of the actions of White Rose and the fate of its members?

Was Karl von Frisch aware of the activities, as well as the arrests, trials, and executions of members of the White Rose, including Hans Scholl, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, and Sophie Scholl (all of whom had taken classes with him), and his professorial colleague Kurt Huber? And, after World War II, did he ever comment on the anti-Nazi resistance at his own university?

Despite an intensive search in the Archive of the University of Munich and in the collection of documents in von Frisch’s estate at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, we have not found any evidence indicating that he ever mentioned the activities of the White Rose or any of its members.

One might argue that his presumed abstention from commenting on the White Rose during World War II was due to him being unaware of their actions as well as their arrests, indictments, and executions during World War II; and, after World War II, when members of the White Rose became iconic figures symbolizing anti-Nazi resistance (although they, like other individuals and groups, had failed to mobilize mass political opposition), he did not realize that at least four of them had taken classes with him.

However, besides von Frisch’s correspondence with Inge Scholl, several historical facts strongly argue against such a notion. During the war, it is extremely unlikely that any student or faculty member of the University of Munich did not become aware of at least some of the actions of the White Rose and the events that followed the arrest of Hans and Sophie Scholl on February 18, 1943.

First, between June 1942 and February 1943, members of the White Rose scattered by hand thousands of copies of the six leaflets on campus and at public places in Munich. Leaflets were also mailed to select individuals, including professors and academic staff of the University, whom they hoped to win over to their cause. Most significantly, documented evidence proves that at least two zoologists—Werner Jacobs and Hans KriegFootnote 41—received leaflets mailed to their residential addresses by the White Rose. Jacobs, von Frisch’s right hand, got the second and third leaflet, postmarked July 1, 1942 and July 6, 1942, respectively. Hans Krieg was recipient of only the second leaflet, postmarked July 21,1942. Each of them handed over their copies to the Gestapo.Footnote 42 It is unknown whether Jacobs and Krieg discussed the leaflets with other members of the Zoological Institute, including von Frisch. It remains also elusive whether other zoologists, including von Frisch, received leaflets from the White Rose but did not report them to the Gestapo.

Second, in early 1943, Alexander Schmorell, Hans Scholl, and Willi Graft began a graffiti campaign, painting slogans like Freiheit (Freedom) and Nieder mit Hitler (Down with Hitler) on buildings throughout Munich, including the University.

Third, when Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst were found guilty of treason, condemned to death, and executed on February 22, 1943, a press release by the Bavarian State Government announced the news the same evening, which were published on the next day in several newspapers, including the local edition of the Völkischer Beobachter as well as the Münchner Neueste Nachrichten and the Münchener Zeitung.

Fourth, on the evening of the execution, following an invitation from the University’s leadership, 3000–4000 students rallied to express their support for the Führer and the Nazi movement, and to condemn the actions of the convicted members of the White Rose.

After the war, the first public commemorative event honoring the members of the White Rose took place as early as on November 4, 1945,Footnote 43 just six months after the unconditional surrender of the German Third Reich. The next year, on September 9, 1946, the forecourt of the University’s main building and the court opposite were named Geschwister-Scholl-Platz (Scholl Sibling Square) (Fig. 5) and Prof.-Huber-Platz (Professor Huber Square), respectively. On November 2, 1946, a plaque made of Jura marbleFootnote 44 was unveiled. Its Latin inscription commemorates the seven members of the White Rose, “who had to die an inhumane death for upholding the values of humanity.” A bronze relief commemorating the seven members of the White Rose, mounted on the western side in the atrium of the main building, was unveiled in 1958 (Fig. 6).Footnote 45 Over these years, the White Rose has become the symbol of non-violent resistance during the Nazi era, and several members of the group, in particular the Scholl siblings,Footnote 46 evolved as national heroes in both East and West Germany.

Fig. 5

Geschwister-Scholl-Platz (Scholl Sibling Square), named after Hans and Sophie Scholl and located in front of the main building of the University of Munich. Photograph by Günther K.H. Zupanc

Fig. 6

Bronze relief commemorating the seven executed members of the White Rose—Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, Willi Graf, Hans Leipelt, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, and Kurt Huber. It is mounted on the western side in the atrium of the main building in which Hans and Sophie Scholl were arrested. Created by the German sculptor Lothar Dietz, this piece of artwork was unveiled in 1958. Photograph by Günther K.H. Zupanc

Fig. 7

Pavement memorial to the White Rose. Embedded in the cobblestone pavement in front of the main entrance of the university building, the ceramic tablets by artist Robert Schmidt-Matt depict photographs and biosketches of Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Christoph Probst, as well as leaflets of the White Rose. Photograph by Günther K.H. Zupanc

Thus, we consider it to be virtually impossible that, both during and after the war, Karl von Frisch had not learned about the actions of the White Rose group and the events that followed the arrest of Hans and Sophie Scholl. However, did he know that four of its members, including Hans and Sophie, were students in his classes?

To weigh in on this question, it is helpful to look at the number of students at that time, both in the biological-discipline programs (botany and zoology) and in the courses taught by Karl von Frisch. During the summer semester of 1942—Sophie Scholl’s first semester—a total of 3788 students were enrolled at the University of Munich.Footnote 47 Out of them, 1877 were medical students and 389 were students in the College of Science. Of the latter, 115 students were in their first semester. Based on the fact that botany and zoology students comprised 15–30% of the science students at the time of graduation,Footnote 48 we estimate that Sophie Scholl was one of 17–35 students who commenced their studies in these two disciplines in the summer semester of 1942. This number is notably low, making it likely that professors, including von Frisch, knew these students in person.

Our analysis of students who were enrolled in Karl von Frisch’s lecture courses indicated large numbers. For example, the General Zoology course in the summer semester of 1942 was taken by 451 students, including Sophie Scholl. However, this situation was different for lab courses. For example, analysis of the course registration cards for the 3rd trimester of 1939 revealed a total of 69 students in the Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates lab class, including Hans Scholl. Considering the reputation of von Frisch and Jacobs as highly engaged instructors, we consider it to be likely that some personal interaction took place between Scholl on the one side and von Frisch on the other.

Whereas the student numbers make it likely that Karl von Frisch knew members of the White Rose personally, there is documented evidence that he was reminded of them after the war. Inge Scholl, in a letter dated May 13, 1952, to Karl von Frisch mentioned that Hans and Sophie Scholl had attended his lectures “with great pleasure” (see section ‘“Zoology is extremely interesting”,’ above). In a reply dated May 15, 1952, von Fisch declined the invitation to give a presentation at the Ulmer Volkshochschule, while he did not address Scholl’s remarks on her siblings. Over the following five years, Inge Scholl sent another eight letters to von Frisch in which she repeated her invitation. His replies are documented in three letters preserved in the BSB archives. According to the correspondence, he finally gave a lecture at the Ulmer Volkshochschule on December 5, 1957.

Notably, however, in a letter of July 19, 1956, Inge Scholl wrote that she would be in Munich between July 23rd and July 27th, and that then she would call him to arrange, if possible, an in-person meeting. In what probably was her next letter, dated October 10, 1956, she referred to a persönliche Unterredung (conversation) that took place in July of that year. However, it remains unclear whether they had talked over the phone or during an in-person meeting in Munich. Thus, based on the documented exchange of 13 letters between 1952 and 1957, we assume that they met at least once (when Karl von Frisch gave his lecture in Ulm in 1957). We also have evidence that they talked to each other on at least one other occasion, in 1956. It is unknown whether, during the two conversations that presumably took place, the White Rose was mentioned. Nevertheless, this was likely the case, given that Inge Scholl published her book Die Weiße Rose around the same time, in 1955 (Scholl 2021), and that, since the execution of her siblings until her death in 1998, she devoted her life to telling the story of her siblings.