Resistance Figure. Born the son of Magdalena and Mayor Robert Scholl at Forchtenberg am Kocher, Germany. Although he was required to join the Hitler Youth, at home, he learned dissension from his father who disapproved of the Nazi regime. In 1942, his father was imprisoned for referring to Hitler as a 'scourge of God.' Soon thereafter, he, his sister, and their friends began discussions of how one should act under a dictator, and agreed on a course of passive resistance. That summer they formed White Rose, a non-violent resistance group which also included Sophie Scholl, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, and Kurt Huber, their philosophy professor. They began writing and distributing dissenting leaflets; the first included the statement that the Nazi system had become evil and that Germans should rise up and resist the tyranny of their government. It was one of the first times that internal dissent had surfaced in Germany. They mailed leaflets to people by picking names from telephone directories, and left them in public places to be found. They successfully distributed five separate leaflets, upon the distribution of the sixth, in February 18, 1943, Sophie and Hans scattered their pamphlet from a balcony at the university, where they were observed by the custodian, a member of the Nazi party, and were reported. The pair were arrested and searched. A handwritten draft of another leaflet was in Hans' pocket. The handwriting matched that on a letter found in Sophie's apartment written by Christoph Probst; who was then arrested as well. They brought before the notorious People's Court on February 21, 1943, showing the effects of violent interrogations, during which both siblings tried to deflect suspicion from Probst, the only family man in the group. Within hours all three were found guilty of treason and condemned to death. On February 22, 1943, at 5:00 in the evening, they were executed by guillotine in Munich's Stadelheim Prison. After their deaths, a copy of their sixth leaflet was smuggled out of Germany to England. The Allied Forces dropped several million copies of the leaflets over Germany in the summer and fall of1943. The Geschwister-Scholl-Institut at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich has been named in honor of Sophie and Hans Scholl. In 2005, a German television survey voted Hans and Sophie the fourth greatest Germans of all time.