The White Rose Movement: Spreading Resistance One Leaflet at a Time Annicka Haanstad, Claire Guthmueller, and Madeline Hace Jr. Division Group Website Process Paper: 466
Process Paper
Much contemplation went into selecting the perfect History Day topic. Our original topic choice was the¨Montgomery Bus Boycott.¨ We soon realized that in order to succeed at a more competitive level, we needed a unique topic with abundant sources. This led to more online research. After viewing multiple potential topic options, we found the name ¨Sophie Scholl.¨ We hadn't heard of Sophie Scholl before, so we were curious what her impact was on history. Through our research we found that she belonged to a group called the¨White Rose Movement," which was an organization that stood up peacefully against Hitler and the Nazis. These strong individuals were executed when they were exposed for spreading leaflets with their beliefs about Hitler. We have become absolutely fascinated with our topic and how it has impacted history.
Our hunt for research began by going to a local public library where we found valuable print resources, such as a book containing primary sources, e.g., letters and diary entries from the White Rose members. We then attended the History Day Hullabaloo to look for a professional opinion on our topic and more sources. This helped us to gather many primary resources including more print material and other visuals. After analyzing our research, we searched for helpful websites that gave us necessary information to start building our project. Our next step was to arrange an interview with Gary Cohen, a retired University of Minnesota history professor. This allowed us to gather further information about our topic. With all of our sources and research steps, we feel that we have enough information to be successful.
Selecting the website category was the obvious choice due previous complications in the exhibit category last year such as limited space and difficulty condensing our information. The website category was perfect because we could easily display quotes, live video footage, audio, images, and primary sources. We enjoyed having the freedom of a higher word count to better display our information thoroughly. We started the construction of our website by creating a script containing all of our key points and statements. As a whole, we struggled with organization and using only necessary pieces of our research for our final project. We then used only our best visuals, quotes, and text to create the final project we have today.
In 1942, in Munich, Germany a group of university students, the White Rose, took a stand against Hitler and the Nazi Party. Putting their lives in peril, they spent months distributing anti-Nazi leaflets throughout Germany while urging people to resist Hitler. In 1943, the group was arrested, tried, and executed for acting against Hitler. Their stand continued after their death, as allies smuggled and spread their sixth leaflet throughout Germany. Their courage inspired others to form anti-Nazi groups.