George W.

wittenstein

During the war, George W. was a member of the White Rose, a student resistance movement begun by Hans and Sophie Scholl, among others. The White Rose wrote and distributed anti-Nazi leaflets, a capital crime at that time. Many members of the group were arrested, tried, and executed.

Excerpt From Video Testimony

George describes his experience carrying contraband materials via train to Berlin. These leaflets were to be copied and distributed to the public and represented a great risk to the carrier; if caught, he or she would be arrested and punished.

Video Testimony

A: Well, I had no ambition to get arrested.

Q: How many leaflets did you have, and how were they-

A: Oh just one, for him to duplicate, and use for his school. It was worse for others who had maybe fifty with them. So what they did was they put their piece of luggage, their suitcase, whatever they had with them, in one compartment of the train and then went to the next car, sat in a different compartment. So if that ever was found, there was no connection with them. Well, I found out that if you traveled by a sleeping car, you were not searched. You had to give your ID papers to the-

Q: Conductor?

A: No, conductor’s the guy who—

Q: Conductor?

A: Is the conductor in charge of each car? No, whoever it is. Anyway, the man in charge of each sleeping car. And, so, then they would show it to the police and the military police who came aboard. So I always went to Berlin by sleeper.

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