How a reading group helped young German students defy the Nazis and find their faith

By Peter Nguyen, SJ, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

For three weeks in April 2025, my “Theology of Christian Martyrdom” class studied how a group of German students and professors from Munich and Hamburg formed a resistance movement from 1942 to 1943 known as the “White Rose.” These individuals defied Nazi tyranny, they were imprisoned, and many were executed.

At the movement’s center were Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, Alexander Schmorell, Christoph Probst and Willi Graf, who were all in their 20s, and Professor Kurt Huber. The Scholl siblings, their…

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