Inscriptions of Munich (Center of the City)

White Rose

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Just before arriving at the new chancellery of the Free State of Bavaria (Staatskanzlei, former Army Museum, which was transferred to Ingolstadt in 1969), you will find the big commemorative stone described here, near the garden of the royal residence (Residenzgarten). This monument is only a few years old and its inscriptions can be read with less difficulty in the reality than on my photo.

Photo Munich: commemorative stone for the White Rose

Inscription on the front side

Arrival
Bibliography
Inscription on the front side
Inscription on the backside

Photo:
Hans-Rudolf Hower, 2003

Photo Munich: commemorative stone for the White Rose

Inscription on the back side

Inscription on the front side

Original Text (in German)

ZUM ERINNERN - ZUM GEDENKEN

Wir wollen hier nicht urteilen über die verschiedenen möglichen Staatsformen, nur eines will eindeutig und klar herausgehoben werden: jeder Mensch hat einen Anspruch auf einen brauchbaren und gerechten Staat, der die Freiheit des Einzelnen als auch das Wohl der Gesamtheit sichert.

Freiheit der Rede, Freiheit des Bekenntnisses, Schutz des einzelnen Bürgers vor der Willkür verbrecherischer Gewaltstaaten.

Das sind die Grundlagen des neuen Europa.

Aus den Flugblättern der Widerstandsbewegung „Die weiße Rose“

Translation

FOR REMEMBRANCE - FOR MEMORY

We do not want to judge the possible different forms of government here, but one thing must be stressed in a very clear manner: any human being can claim a useful and equitable state that garantees the freedom of the individual person as well as the welfare of the collectivity. Freedom of speech, freedom of confession, protection of the citizen against the arbitrary violence of criminal states.

These are the essentials of the new Europe.

Extracts from the flyers of the resistance movement "The White Rose".

Comment

The White Rose was a group of students forming a resistance group at the university of Munich. Their mentor was the philosophy professor Kurt Huber, whereas the best-known members of the group were the siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl, according to whose names the square in front of the university is called nowadays.

Their flyers had so much irritated the Bavarian "Gauleiter" that during a students' meeting on February 16, 1943, he announced the creation of some sort of special compulsory fatigue for all the young people who had been judged unfit for military service (the others being at war anyway) and threatened all female students with a forced coitus with one of his warrant officers if they refused to have babies.

On this there were anti-Nazi demonstrations in the streets of Munich and Sophie and Hans Scholl began to distribute their flyers more or less openly. But they were soon denounced, arrested, humiliated, tortured and finally executed on the scaffold. Professor Huber and some other students shared the fate.

The Scholl siblings went to the Munich university (and were finally captured there) but they came from an Ulm family. That is why you can also see a related memorial in the modern cityhall of Ulm.

Inscription on the back side

Original Text (in German)

Meine Lieben. Mein letzter Brief, den ich euch schreibe. Das Gnadengesuch ist abgelehnt worden. Ich werde um 15 Uhr hingerichtet. Also lebt wohl und in der Ewigkeit sehen wir uns wieder.

Josef Hufnagel 40 Jahre alt
Bauer 1944

Es geht um die Sicherung eines gerechten Friedens, der dem deutschen Volk ein Leben in Freiheit und Ehre, den Völkern freiwillige und fruchtbare Zusammenarbeit ermöglicht.

Erwin v. Witzleben
Aufruf für den 20. Juli 1944

Translation

Dear loved ones! This is the last letter I will write to you. The petition of grace was refused. I will be executed at 3 p.m. So fare you well and see you later in eternity.

Josef Hufnagel, 40 years old,
farmer, in 1944

It is a question of safeguarding an equitable peace that permit the German people to live in freedom and honor, and enable the nations to collaborate voluntarily and fruitfully.

Erwin v. Witzleben
Proclamation for July 20, 1944

Comment

Up to now, I have not found any English literature mentioning Josef Hufnagel. If you can recommend some publication, please write us a mail! Thanks a lot in advance!

The general Erwin v. Witzleben was one of the conspirators within the German army itself, who from 1937/38 were in contact with civilian resistance groups who tried to prevent the invasion of Czechoslovakia. They planned to persuade first the generals, the the German people that that agression would automatically cause the intervention of the United Kingdom and France. Unfortunately did this plan fail because of the nonintervention declaired by these two countries and by the new realities consequently created by Hitler very soon.

According to the plans of the conspirators of July 20, 1944, Erwin v. Witzleben, who had become field marshal in the meantime, should be the future commander-in-chief of the German army. But he seems to have spent the critical hours of the putch doing nothing (according to Shirer). Nevertheless was he humiliated in a most disgusting manner at the famous special court (Volksgerichtshof) and hung on a cambrel by means of a piano wire, together with other prominent conspirators.

Bibliography

Author / Title	Notes	Info / Purchase
The SS state: The system of German concentration camps, by Eugen Kogon	Standard work on the Nazi state. Translation from German.	See my critique.
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany	Shirer's book is one of the great classics of historiography on the 3^rd Reich.	See my critique.

Internet

Please be aware of our legal reservation concerning any Internet reference.

Address / Owner	Content / Subjects
München	Official site of the Munich city administration (in various languages).
Munich In the English Wikipedia.	Encyclopaedic article on the city of Munich.
City map of Munich By Google Maps.	Zoomable city map of Munich.
Hitler Youth In the English Wikipedia.	Detailed encyclopaedic article on this paramilitary Nazi youth organisation and its various subdivisions.
Wehrmacht In the English Wikipedia.	Detailed encyclopaedic article on the German army (whose German name was Wehrmacht) and its various subdivisions during Hitler's Third Reich.
Desertion In the English Wikipedia.	Detailed encyclopaedic article on desertion, with a paragraph dealing with the deserters of World War II.
Hans Scholl In the English Wikipedia.	Encyclopaedic article on Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl's brother and member of the White Rose.
Sophie Scholl In the English Wikipedia.	Encyclopaedic article on Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl's younger sister and member of the White Rose.
Geschwister Scholl In the English Wikipedia.	Encyclopaedic article on the Scholl siblings, mentioning all five of them. Werner was the youngest. (In spite of its German title, the article is written in English.)

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Arrival by public transport

For the arrival in Munich, see Inscriptions of Munich.

The nearest subway station is Odeonsplatz. Take the southern exit (in the direction of the center of the city). Then walk through the garden of the royal residence (Residenzgarten) in the direction of the state chancellery (former Army Museum).

Indications concerning the arrival correspond to our personal knowledge or even experience, but we cannot assume any responsibility for their rightness. When you are reading this page, things may have changed in reality.

Hans-Rudolf Hower 2012

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Last updated: April 4, 2016