Long Live Freedom!

About the Book

The world had been at war for three years in 1942 when a group of students in Munich began to distribute leaflets challenging the German people to resist the Nazis. Himmler personally ordered the arrest and execution of those responsible. Traute Lafrenz was part of that circle, which came to be known as the White Rose. She was arrested but, unlike her friends Hans and Sophie Scholl, escaped execution. Decades later, in conversation with Peter Normann Waage, she recounts the story as she experienced it, from education to friendships to activism. Blending memoir, group biography, and philosophical insight, Waage introduces the key players in the order Lafrenz met them, building and circling to capture the atmosphere, the influences, the intellectual and spiritual seeking, and the friendships that inspired this group’s message of resistance and hope. Most of all, Lafrenz and Waage explore how these young people developed the intellectual strength and moral courage to respond to the terror that was the Nazi regime. Previously published in Norway and Germany, this book is a unique addition to the White Rose story, offering a new voice and a deeper understanding of how a few people could have such an impact during very dark times.