Chaney Moore

Educators Packet

Play Info
The White Rose was written by Lillian Garrett-Groag and premiered in 1991 at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Calif. The play chronicles the arrest, interrogation and eventual execution of a group of University of Munich students who protested the Nazi regime at the height of World War II. The students assigned to themselves the name White Rose.
Publication Info- DRAMATISTS PLAY SERVICE, INC,.440 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 10016
Licensing and Rights- Must have written permission from DRAMATISTS PLAY SERVICE and pay the requisite fee. All other questions on right need to be addressed to The Gersh Agency, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10036.

Plot
The White Rose is set in Germany in between 1942 and 1943. It is based on true events and real people. Students from the University of Munich are spotted throwing illegal pamphlets on the campus. They are brought into interrogation. The play consists of two time periods, past a present; before the arrest and after. Through a thorough investigation the students are found guilty and sentenced to death.

Character List
Sophie Sholl- Female. She is a young girl of 21. She attends college alongside her brother, Hans. Her features are ordinary allowing her to blend in with society. She worked as a youth leader for the Nazi party until she realized the horror it imposed on human life.

Hans Scholl- Male. Like Sophie he attends college. Once a soldier in the Nazi army he turned his life around and dedicated it to bringing down the régime itself.

Christopher Probst- Male. His mother was Jewish. Medical student.

Wilhelm Graf- Male. He studied medicine and worked as a medical orderly for various war deployments.

Alexander Schmorell- Male. His father was a German Doctor. Born in Russia then moved to Germany at a young age. Spoke both German and Russian. Was part of the military. Meet the Scholls and Graf at the University.

Robert Mohr- Male. Head of the Munich Gestapo an interrogation specialist. He upheld the law no matter who passed them. He has a son around Sophie’s age that was sent to the Eastern Front just prior to the arrest and interrogation to the Scholls.

Anton Mahler. Male. Gestapo investigator

Bauer- Mohr’s adjutant

Author-
Lillian Garrett- Groag is an actor/playwrite. Her other works include The Magic Fire and The Lady of the Camellias

History and Reviews
The Play opened in 1991 at The Old Globe Theater then moved the WPA the same year. It featured at the Birmingham Theater Festival in 2008. The play is not commonly produced and most reviews are not keen on the play itself despite the acting.

Lillian Garrett-Groag's "The White Rose" has its heart in the right place. But virtually everything else about this Nazi-era drama, now being presented at Evanston's Northlight Theatre, feels distinctly off-center
Chicago Sun-Times-March 18, 1993Author: Hedy Weiss

In dramatizing the facts of the incident, however, the playwright falls back on cliche situations and characters of melodrama/docudrama…. And a final plot twist, meant to be hopeful and joyous, comes off simply as facile and false.
Chicago Tribune-March 14, 1993Author: Richard Christiansen, Chief critic.

There's nothing jokey or superficial about Lillian Garret-Groag's script, an off-Broadway entry a few years ago. It's just that it's a throwback - the kind of clunky, conventional, people-talking-in-rooms drama that used to come and go like hat styles in the middle part of the 20th century.
The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution-March 4, 1994Author: Hulbert, Dan :Staff

Q&A
1. How can is this play relevant in todays society?
2. Is the transition from past to present choppy or fluid? Is it due to the writing or direction?
3. Does the content of the show over power the play itself?
4. Does the play writes focus on the historical facts deny the characters of truly being able to connect with the audience? Do they have time for character development?
5. Being college students, how does the play effect you? For example, The students were executed from the ages 20 to 25, does that resinate with you?

Online Research

Lillian Garrett-Groag - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Garrett-Groag- Lillian Garrett-Groag's Biography including her written plays and her life story.

Sophie Scholl : Nazi Germany www.spartacus.school.net.co.uk/GERschollS.htm -Sophie Scholls bio is on this page it also gives access to other relevant cites involving Hitler, Nazi's and more.

Hitler's SS: Private Army of the Third Reich www.larouchepub.com/other/.../3313nazu_private_army.html – This gives an indication of Hitlers Army and what a nazi is.

World War II- 1942 www.wwiiguns.com/world_warii_1942/world_warii_1942.html -The cite provides a time line of all the happenings in 1942 regarding World War II.

White Rose www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007188 -Brief history of the white rose and the resistance movement. Also trial of the students and arrest of their professor

Program Notes

The White Rose written by Lillian Garrett- Groag is based off of true events occurring in Germany 1942 to 1943. The White Rose were pamphlets written by college students as a resistance movement against Hitler and his army. The play begins with the students in the Gestapo headquarters of interrogation. They were seen throwing leaflets around the college campus by a janitor who then turned them in. The scenes jump from past to present. The past shows the students before the arrests. It provides the progression of the groups unity and ideals. They discuss music, literature and politics. Sophie Scholl is the sister of Hans Scholl who was one of the creators and writers of the white rose. Sophie was not originally associated with the resistance. Hans and the other boys in the show viewed her female fragility as something that could compromise the operation. In other words, she simply was not strong enough or brave enough to handle the pressure. That is not to mention the safety concern they expressed. When Sophie discovers the truth about the leaflets she immediately joins in with out any hesitation or reserve. The Scholls and a few of the other student were one affiliated with Hitlers movement. Sophie was a Hitler youth councilor while Hans and the others were in his army. It wasn't until they took a philosophy class in college that their eyes were opened to the faults of the war. Chaos
surround Germany, bombs lit up the sky in the night hours. The city of Munich crumbled as Hitlers reign continued. The gestapo, Hitlers police, filled the street searching for those involved in any sort of resistance movement. With that the present scenes begin. Mohr the Head Investigator focuses his interrogation on Sophie. He sees her as a sweet and innocent bystander, who if anything is tainted by association but not guilty of the crime itself. Meanwhile the others are also asked questions to which they deny any dealings with the pamphlets. Lillian Garrett- Groag touches lightly on the lives of each character, her main focus is on the situation itself. She takes the audience on a journey through the days leading up to the arrest and the few days of incarceration. These days provide a glimpse into the relationships between the characters and the characters themselves. Through the interrogation process and as tempers are getting short, stories begin to fall apart creating gaps within the students lies. Suspicions rise until there is no longer any doubt of their treason and guilt. The students are judged and
sentences to death by guillotine. The guillotine, a machine with a single blade used to decapitate a felon
was the execution method of choice in that time. At the end of the show after the death of the students
a new group of resistance members are brought in for questioning. Over one thousand people were executed of involvement with a resistance throughout the war.