[review originally posted to GoodReads; please view there for best formatting. in addition, please make non-drm-locked pdfs available; for someone without an e-reader it is extremely slow to use adobe digital editions as it lags severely to the point that flipping pages takes a minute each.]


Obligatory "I am Jewish" note. A lot of reviewers of books on the Holocaust are not Jewish. Please consider people's backgrounds and proximity to this content when reading reviews.

(Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.)

Alright, let's talk about this. I'm not only Jewish but have consistently gone to Jewish schools, so I have been through "the Holocaust unit" several times, with several types of media, and, yes, I have done my fair share of research on the White Rose. I watched the Sophie Scholl film in middle school and in high school I wrote a paper on Hans Scholl that required some digging. This is not to say I am an expert; I do have some knowledge and specifically some research knowledge.

In my opinion, if you are going to write a book on the Holocaust, you have got to be absolutely sure of what you are doing. There has been enough damage done with misinformation, and the presses are only too happy for trauma porn. Fortunately, this book avoids that very deep pitfall, but aspects of it make me feel that the author could have put more time and effort into telling this story, which really does deserve better coverage. As everyone probably knows by now, I love nonfiction graphic novels, and I find them a great way of spreading necessary information.

One of my primary issues with the book is that it seems to not balance these elements-- nonfiction, entertainment-- very well. The book is an anthology of moments from the White Rose members at this time, and so rather than telling a really cohesive story where you get a sense for everyone's lives, it all feels a little disconnected. This makes it somewhat ineffective at conveying an entertaining narrative. The excerpts from different texts, including the White Rose leaflets, are a good idea but not integrated well enough to be interesting.

At the same time, the lack of attention to details means that you won't learn much more here than you would on Wikipedia. Many important events in the lives of the members of the White Rose are glossed over, including the starting of the organization, and what is left is quite disorganized, so that you can't really put together what's going on and whether this bit is real or just an invention to get to the next plot point.

Here come some very specific critiques.

Firstly, of course we have one of those "look at the nice white gentile man helping the sickly little Jew" moments. There's a whole scene where Hans stops and gives a loaf of bread and a flower to a... well, a sickly little Jew. I mean, look at this.





This reads very poorly. I Googled for whether this was at all true and could find nothing, though I'm willing to admit this might be buried in some research text in another language (we'll see why I don't think that momentarily.) What makes this even more frustrating is that it is based in the truth that Hans was sent to the Eastern Front and was horrified by what he saw there. There are lots of ways to portray this-- you could, for example, have him sent off and then return too horrified to discuss what he saw. Or you could have him talk about it! Frankly, I am sick of shock-value shots of dying Jews.

Speaking of which, I do not like the trend of "guy runs into some Jews just sitting around" in Holocaust media. It's here, it's in Boy in the Striped Pajamas, it's probably in a lot of other things I can't think of off the top of my head. People in concentration camps, in case this needed to be said, didn't sit around doing nothing. I'll link two sources here that could easily have been read by the author: (1) (2) I just don't get it. It's possible, sure, that Hans just happened on some Jewish people lying against a fence, given that they occasionally had brief moments of 'free time', but it's so unlikely, and on top of that the scene is clearly there to paint Hans as a hero to these Poor Sickly Jews. Which turns said Poor Sickly Jews into props for Hans's hero moment. This is pretty obviously antisemitic.

In addition to this, the book omits one very important piece of information: Hans Scholl was gay. He stopped supporting the Nazi party after being arrested for being gay, and his siblings joined him. It's the sort of thing that seems fairly relevant to a history of the White Rose, and though it's not immediately apparent knowledge, again, with some small amount of research one could find this out. If you read more modern articles or books, you'd see discussion of this, particularly because once researchers found the original trial materials it was obvious. This is what I wrote a paper in high school on! It couldn't have been hard to find material on it if some random high schooler did a better job.

So I had to knock stars off the book. I almost knocked all of them off, because if you're not researching or making your book entertaining, really, what are you doing? What's the point? Why are you writing, let alone about the Holocaust?

What convinced me to add a single star back on was the art. It is genuinely very nice art. And I like the idea of a graphic novel with this art. The style is beautiful and unique, and if I was judging only based on that we'd have a full five stars here.

But graphic novels are not just art. Nonfiction graphic novels in particular are very complex, and there just isn't much to convince me that it was worth making this one when it lacks the most important elements-- research, entertainment, and story. And it doesn't even manage to avoid antisemitism! So, well, there you are. Two stars. Go watch the Sophie Scholl film or, yes, read the Wikipedia page. I don't think this book is any better.

Definitely not one of my favorites that I have read. I'm not sure if it was the story itself or if it was how it was written, but from the beginning, this graphic novel was confusing. The author seemed to dive into ideas and concepts that were just tossed in with no real context, confusing me. I definitely would not recommend to my readers.

"Freiheit!: The White Rose Graphic Novel" is a fine graphic novel about a small group of anti-nazis during the 1940s. Highly recommended.

It's 1942 when German students (and a professor) in Munich, who have been harbouring severe doubts (to say the least) about the ruling Nazi Party for a long time, decide to secretly write, publish and distribute anti-Nazi pamphlets under the group name of The White Rose.

Probably most famous of the six are brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl, who also set up the group. Sadly, after publishing several leaflets, part of the group was caught, including the Scholls, and after a show trial they were executed by guillotine.

The graphic novel basically retells this story, with a greater eye for detail. It's an important story which reminds us how Nazi Germany was basically a authoritarian police state, with plenty of its citizens not all supporting the Nazis but living in fear. It makes the actions of The White Rose so much braver.

The art is striking, nearing photo-realism, but with an added painterly feel. I'm not entirely sure if I like the art, but that maybe because of the muted colours used.

The book also includes every White Rose pamphlet, translated into English, which is a very interesting addition.

3.5 stars

Freiheit!: The White Rose by Andrea Grosso Ciponte, 96 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL. Plough Publishing House, 2021. $24.
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Even Germans need to be careful as Hitler reigns. Sophie feels little freedom in being coerced to live the way Hitler demands, though she knows she has to be careful because her family is being watched. But, when Sophie discovers her brother in a group opposing Hitler, she knows the right thing to do is help them.
These brave activists are more than characters in a book: they are real people, people who opposed Hitler and found ways to stand up for what is right. I liked this book because, while our struggles today can seem different, the world still struggles with oppression and Sophie and the rest of the White Rose group show readers that good can win in the end, even when the enemy seems unconquerable. However, the telling of their story felt confusing and choppy. For me, this book is best read in conjunction with supplemental information.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Freiheit!: The White Rose Graphic Novel discusses a well-known subject and one that many young adults find fascinating when it comes to WWII, a hot topic for readable nonfiction and historical fiction. The artwork is beautiful; the palette is muted with matte colors heavily overlayed with with a khaki green that is eerily reminiscent of army uniforms and war. Clean, sharp lines and easily read text makes this an accessible text, reflecting the starkness of an era and country that is feeling the necessary bite of poverty and the great war machine that was Germany.

Several White Rose texts opt to focus on Sophie Scholl more than the other members of the group. Perhaps this is because she is the youngest or the only woman, but this graphic novel is refreshing in that it takes a broad overview on the entire cast. It is more plot-driven, revealing little about Alexander Schmorell or Willi Graf in comparison to other members, but readers will feel inspired by the overall tableaux and stirring words from the original leaflets included in the appendix. Highly recommended.

This book is a beautifully drawn narrative that does not crowd the reader with words, but rather allows the graphic art to speak for itself in many panels. The story is simple yet poignant, and though we do not get much chance to get to know the characters very well, their goal becomes apparent as they work as undercover advocates during the Nazi regime in Germany. Perfect for anyone studying the era, or anyone who enjoys reading about the WW2 era, this graphic novel was gripping till the end.

I've never heard about the White Rose prior to this book so thank you for shedding light on their efforts. Although the content itself is scant and feels lacking in emotional depth, it gets the main gist across. I would have loved to learn more about each character and their personal lives outside of the resistance. The muted and dark colour theme also suits the tone of the book and its sombre mood. I actually felt very saddened and will be reading up more about the White Rose.

I will admit that this was the first graphic novel I have read, so my brain required a little adjustment...grin! I do think it would be a good book for including in a reading list for WWII.

This is an amazing historical graphic novel which tells one of the most interesting but less well known stories from the second world war. It recounts the journey the White Rose Movement went on to oppose the Nazi propaganda they came across. The illustrations are wonderful and the colour scheme fits the mood of the novel perfectly. Would 100% recommend this!

To those who know the story of Sophie Scholl and her brother and friends, who sought a major revolution against the Nazi regime in wartime Germany, this is a very eye-catching treatment of it. Her gamine looks are perfectly captured in the artworks, which have a uniquely grainy, muted, pastel approach (or if not unique, then one I've never seen taken to this extreme before), and the story pacily builds from initial thoughts, to the Nazis investigating the White Rose Movement she was a part of, to – well, that would be telling. The other side of the audience, then, those who have studied the War less and haven't met with the story, well, unfortunately they might not have such a great time. In seeking some authenticity the text of this book either quotes from the pamphlets the Movement tried to bomb everyone with, at length, or has the Nazis read them out to each other in disgust, or presents the characters as rather stilted, over-privileged quoters of Victorian-years Swiss poets. One permanently has a pipe to his mouth in an attempt at teenaged decadence. More importantly that paciness comes as a result of us just jumping through everything, speeding from naivety to conviction to, well, alright, to conviction (and the world's most galling surcharge, as we find on this evidence).

So I think it's easy to say I liked some of the qualities here, especially the muted graphic elements. I didn't fully appreciate the chance, even if it was my first ever, to read a translation of some of the White Rose leaflets, for the text was full of enough of their output and to be frank it was quite haranguing. (One thing it did do with its stilted language, and cultural references, was to show how low we've gone in the world of political campaigning, from this urgent samizdat publication to a "please like and retweet". Said 19th century poet has a great quote about suppression that handily mentions a plague, but any copy of that would get a "tldr" or "you wot now?" in response.) Still, this might well connect a few dots for people, and prove there were genuinely quite a few who were anti-Hitler at that time, and either way it does act as a slightly brief but heartfelt tribute to Sophie et al and all they stood for. Three and a half stars.

Thank you to Ploughing Publishing and @netgalley for the ARC of Freiheit! by Andrea Grosso Ciponte. This is a great choice if you are looking to add a quick read for #nonfictionnovember This graphic novel is the dramatic true story of a group of students who resisted the Nazis and formed a group/newsletter knows as The White Rose. This graphic novel shows not only their story but also provides copies of the actual newsletters that they printed and distributed. This book was very well done and I learned a lot from reading it!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately, unable to review this one. The file shows as damaged or corrupted on my device. Such a shame, but it does sound like an interesting read and right up my alley.

When a group of students began to resist the Nazi party, they were doing their best to draw awareness to the injustices that were taking place.
In secret, they began to compile and distribute information through leaflets to other students, with the aim of expanding out to other freedom and resistance fighters.
Unfortunately, they were discovered and executed for their "crimes" against the government. By swearing the oath to Hitler (which was required) and then working in secret, they were committing treason against the government.

Their work was not in vain, and eventually, their leaflets were distributed throughout German towns.

This book is great for younger readers! An easy way to share and disseminate history to younger students.