Willi Graf

Wilhelm "Willi" Graf (2 January 1918 – 12 October 1943) was a German member of the White Rose resistance group in Nazi Germany. The Catholic Church in Germany included Graf in their list of martyrs of the 20th century. In 2017, his cause for beatification was opened. He was given the title Servant of God, the first step toward possible sainthood.

Early life Willi Graf was born in Kuchenheim near Euskirchen. In 1922, his family moved to Saarbrücken, where his father ran a wine wholesaler and managed the Johannishof, the second largest banquet hall in the city. Graf attended school at the Ludwigs gymnasium. It was not long before he joined, at the age of eleven, the Bund Neudeutschland, a Catholic youth movement for young men in schools of higher learning, which was banned after Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1933. In 1934, Graf joined the Grauer Orden ("Grey Order"), another Catholic movement which became known for its anti-Nazi rhetoric. It, too, was banned and for this reason, it formed many splinter youth groups.

Graf showed conviction in his beliefs from a young age. Although compulsory at the time, he refused to associate with the Hitler Youth, even when he was threatened with becoming ineligible to go to University unless he joined the Hitler Youth.

While his parents never placed much emphasis on literature and written works (the only books the family owned were religious books), Graf was a voracious reader. Serious and intelligently minded, he enjoyed reading Christian works, with one of his favorite Christian authors being Romano Guardini, one of the leading figures of the liturgical revival of the Catholic Church in Germany. He conducted an in-depth study of Christian authors in his teenage years, with a special focus on works by Romano Guardini. He also enjoyed reading poetry, foreign works, and works banned by the Nazis. Throughout his life, books were a lifeline for him: When he was serving on the Eastern Front, he would write to his friends to see if they could send him more books. In the last year of his life alone he read forty books.

Arrest After his Abitur in 1937, Graf did his six-month Reichsarbeitsdienst and afterwards began his medical studies at the University of Bonn. In 1938, he was arrested along with other members of the Grauer Orden and charged by a court in Mannheim with illegal youth league activities–the Bünde having been banned–in relation with his unlawful field trips, camping excursions and other meetings with the Grauer Orden. The charges were later dismissed as part of a general amnesty declared to celebrate the Anschluss. He might have written more, but unfortunately during this time of upheaval, he was worried what would happen if others read his diary. On 22 June 1941, Germany declared war on Russia. Soon after, Graf was transferred to Russia, where he would stay until he was allowed to return to Munich to continue his studies in April 1942. During these deployments, he saw terrible things that traumatized him and began to destroy his faith in humanity. Around this time, Graf began to take part in discussions with Scholl, Schmorell, Probst, and their friends.

The activities of the White Rose first started in the June 1942. After their experiences at the Eastern Front, having learned about mass murder in Poland and the Soviet Union, Scholl and Schmorell felt compelled to take action. From end of June until mid of July 1942, they wrote the first four leaflets. Quoting extensively from the Bible, Aristotle and Novalis, as well as Goethe and Schiller, the iconic poets of German bourgeoisie, they appealed to what they considered the German intelligentsia, believing that these people would be easily convinced by the same arguments that also motivated the authors themselves. These leaflets were left in telephone books in public phone booths, mailed to professors and students, and taken by courier to other universities for distribution. Graf was not part of the group at first. He was officially brought in to the group on 10 July 1942.

Deployment to Russia, July–November 1942 A few weeks later, Scholl, Schmorell, and Graf were deployed to the Russian Front over the Summer of 1942. Graf had already been deployed to Russia, but it was Scholl and Schmorell's first time being deployed on the Eastern Front. On the train ride to Russia, the train passed through Poland. While there, Graf, Scholl, and Schmorell saw the Evacuation of the Warsaw Ghetto.

In Russia, Scholl, Schmorell, and Graf would sneak away at night and go to the homes of Russian natives. Schmorell, who had been born in Russia and spoke fluent Russian, introduced Graf and Scholl to Russian culture. Two of the friends who agreed to help, brothers Willi and Heinz Bollinger, forged travel papers for him. While they agreed with the decision to resist National Socialism, they told Graf that they believed that he and his friends had only a 2% chance of success. On 8 February 1943, Graf and Scholl graffitied again. This time, they used green oil-based paint. When he was captured, he asked to be allowed to go to his bedroom and change into his Wehrmacht uniform. The agents agreed to his request. While changing, he was able to hide his diary under his many books. She was released a few months later.

Graf's trial was set for 19 April 1943. At his trial, Graf was sentenced to death at the Volksgerichtshof for high treason, Wehrkraftzersetzung (undermining the troops' spirit), and furthering the enemy's cause. During this six-month period the Gestapo used psychological torture to try to extract information from Graf about other White Rose members and other anti-Nazi movements. Eight schools in Germany have been named after him, among them the Willi-Graf-Gymnasium in Munich and Saarbrücken-St. Johann; a student residence in Munich also honours Graf by bearing his name. Graf's diary from 1942 to 1943, as well as his letters from that time, were published in 1988 under the title: Willi Graf:Briefe und Aufzeichnungen. In 2003, Graf was posthumously awarded the status of honorary citizen of Saarbrücken. In October 2020, the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising made it known that they are in the middle of preparing the process of beatification for Willi Graf.

In film There have been two films about the White Rose that portray Graf. In the 1982 film Die Weisse Rose, Graf was portrayed by Ulrich Tulkur. In the film Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005), Graf was portrayed by Maximilian Brückner.