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by Irmtraud Eve Burianek (Author)
Essay from the year 2017 in the subject History Europe - Germany - National Socialism, World War II, language: English, abstract: This essay tells the story of Willy Graf. It is a story of unwavering and uncompromising Christian faith and of a young man following his own conscience facing down evil at the risk of his own life. In his early twenties he was confronted with the question of how to keep up Christian values of compassion and kindness in the midst of murder and inhumanity. Willi Graf was one of the members of the White Rose, a student resistance group at the University of Munich against the Nazi dictatorship in 1942 and beginning of 1943. The history of the White Rose has been subject to a multitude of scholarly and popular books. The legacy of these courageous young people is the mission of the White Rose Foundation in Munich with world-wide exhibitions. However, the narrative of the charismatic siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl has partly overshadowed the story of other resistance fighters in this group. Willi Graf's contributions are for example not as well-known, especially not outside of Germany. Graf was a quiet, reflective and unassuming young man. But in contrary to the siblings Scholl, Willi Graf opposed the Nazi ideology from beginning on. Graf was also the only one who was strongly motivated and guided by Catholicism.
