Local Expert
Noka Reyes
After graduating from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in May 2007, I packed my bags and moved to Munich two weeks later. With my Bachelors degree completed, I'm taking some time off…
After graduating from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in May 2007, I packed my bags and moved to Munich two weeks later. With my Bachelors degree completed, I'm taking some time off working and living in Munich before moving on to Graduate school. I live in the Maxvorstadt area of Munich, near Universität and feel very much at home in this gorgeous city. I'm Mexican, Greek and Irish so I guess that means I have a spectacular sense of humor.
Have a question/topic suggestion/feedback? Send it all to asknoka@googlemail.com and you'll either recieve a personal response from me or have the question and answer posted on the Munich Local Expert page!
pic: Me (left) and my best friend on her birthday!
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Die Geschwister-Scholl
There's a place that most tourists walk past, without any idea that they are walking past one of the greatest points of the anti-Nazi movement: Der Geschwister-Scholl Platz.
In June of 1942, a group of university students at the Ludwig-Maximillians University, including siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, formed a small group called the White Rose, which was an anti-Nazi resistance group. In all accuracy, Sophie joined the group after she learned of her brother's involvement. The group wrote 6 pamphlets that were anonymously distributed throughout the university. On February 18, 1943, Hans and Sophie Scholl brought a suitcase full of their 6th pamphlet to the main building of the university. While students were in exams, they stacked the pamplets through the hallways for the students to find. They realized that they had quite a few left so, as students were exiting their exams, Hans and Sophie stood on the balcony and threw the remaining pamplets into the atrium. A custodian saw what they were doing, and as the Gestapo had been trying to find them for months, called the police. They were immediately arrested and after trial, executed by guillotine within a few hours of their verdict. It is said that they were executed so soon so that no one would be able to appeal the verdict. Hans was 25 years old and Sophie was 22 years old. Even at these young ages, both of them said that they were willing to give their own lives if it meant that thousands of others would take notice and be inspired to join their cause.
Hans and Sophie Scholl are considered to be two of the greatest German figures in the 20th century and you can actually step foot into the atrium where all of these events happened. Right at the Universität u-bahn stop, you will see that one of the circle drives infront of a university building is named Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, meaning the Siblings-Scholl-Place. Step into the building, through to the atrium and stand where they risked their lives to speak out against the Nazis.