The book tells the story of The White Rose, a non-violent resistance group and how they were executed.
I was first introduced with the Scholl siblings and The White Rose in a movie from 2005: "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days", and read a little bit about them right after that. But my knowledge is very limited, so I was really intrigued by this book.

The artists style fits with the gloomy topic of the book but I did wish to have seen a bit more about what had occurred and why The White Rose was formed or at least why did the members of the group decided to rise up against the Nazi dictatorship. I did read a bit about why Hans Scholl turned against the authorities due to him being charged with immoral behaviours under the laws that making homosexuality illegal. This is sort of what I knew the most about The White Rose's members but unfortunately, I did not see anything about it.

It is a great starting book for younger readers to get acquainted with the general facts, even though it neglects to mention a more detailed account of the events. If you would like to read a short book about the WWII and into graphic novels, it is definitely the right book for you.

"Isn't it true that every honest German is ashamed of his government these days? Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes—crimes that infinitely outdistance every human measure—reach the light of day?"

In their first leaflet, the White Rose set out to try to awaken their fellow Germans from the actions of the Nazi party in the summer of 1942, a period following the first Soviet counter-gains in the Eastern Front. The Western Front seemed locked and unbeknownst to them the Wannsee Conference had been conducted earlier that winter. And yet the moral imperative still stood.

By the following February, the assault on Stalingrad had collapsed and Jews by the thousands were being murdered daily. The leaders themselves would be dead by March. And yet they continued to write leaflets and graffiti walls. This graphic novel tells their story and reminds readers the importance of civil disobedience in the face of a tyrannical government. And having narrowly dodged an increasingly authoritarian government last month, it serves as a reminder. As the final pages show, though they were killed, their work lived on through the actions of the RAF.

In 1943 Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, Christoph Probst, Willi Graff, and Alexander Schmorell, a group of college students in Germany. started a resistance movement against the Nazis. Calling themselves The White Rose they distributed pamphlets calling for Germans to rise up against the Nazis and take back their country. Their cry of “Freedom!” was distributed in pamphlets sent all over Germany. This graphic novel tells their story in a way that is both accessible and inspiring. Andrea Grosso Ciponte’s spare illustrations and concise text moves the story along in a way that gives a sense of the urgency these young people felt. Freihiet is a book that everyone who loves freedom and their country needs to read. It is a reminder that everyone has a voice and must use it. The book includes reprints of the pamphlets. They are just as timely today as they were almost 80 years ago. This book has literally changed my life. The story of these brave young adults and the words they gave the people will stick in my head and in my heart forever. Read this book. Have your children read this book and remember that freedom is something worth fighting for.

I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review!

This graphic novel brings to light the true story of the White Rose Nazi resistance group. Working in private to spread word calling for the resistance against Hitler and his Nazi regime, a group of college students risked going to jail and their lives to spread information in hopes to start a revolution.

This is super outside of my typical reading comfort zone but I learned SO MUCH. I typically stay away from nonfiction as I use reading to escape, but this was very well done and very interesting. I honestly knew almost nothing about this group and I am appalled by how bad things used to be. I love the idea of reading more history based graphic novels. This is very informative, even including some of the leaflets the group distributed. I did find the pacing to be weird, but overall this was worth the read.

Ciponte cleverly weaves quotes from the White Rose pamphlets and from Nazi propaganda of the period throughout the book, capturing the conflict between words and the power of words which is central to the story. In doing so, he gives readers a story that captures how hypnotic evil words can be, and how important good words are to break their power. A terrific piece of historical fiction.

I was first introduced to 'The White Rose ( a non-violent German resistance movement during the Nazi regime) through Plough and so I was excited to learn that Plough had published 'Freiheit! The White Rose Graphic Novel' and was looking forward to reading this latest; if not intrigued by the graphic novel format - a medium I'm not too familiar with.

Unfortunately, I did find the content a little lacking. Now, I am by no means an expert on The White Rose, but I did find that the content was shallow and perhaps a thin basic overview of the tail end of the short lives of the Scholl siblings and their friends. I am certainly not advocating for a whole lot of made up narrative to fill out the story - but could the narrative have explored some of their earlier lives a little more?

In order that I am also fair to the publisher, I am still glad that this book is published and available, since people need to know about the stand of The White Rose, the risks they took, and ultimately the lives they laid down during the great struggle in the last century. For many people a graphic novel is <em>the</em> very medium that will introduce them to this great story - perhaps an 'ordinary' print book would simply not appeal; never mind an 'academic' essay or article. So I do applaud Plough for taking the decision to publish this.

As I said earlier, the graphic novel is new to me. I enjoyed the artwork by Andrea Grosso Ciponte and the stylistic decisions taken help set the tone and time period, helping to transport the reader somewhat. Personally, I did find parts of the narrative disjointed and 'jumpy' - but this may in part be part of my unfamiliarity with the medium - although because the plot line is fairly straightforward it shouldn't be an issue for folks less familiar with the story of The White Rose.

Possibly the most sombre and moving piece of the whole work is the inclusion of the little execution reports which very much make the reading real. The book also includes every White Rose pamphlet, translated into English, which is a great addition.

Read it. Share it. Introduce it to young folks. Then go deeper if you want to and find out more. Personally, I enjoy revisiting the story of The White Rose often. This book may be ideal for teens and young adults (I'm not sure if that was the intended audience) and would be great for starting a conversation about the topics raised.

I received a digital copy of this book from the Publisher in return of an honest review.</em> <em>I was not obliged to post a positive review.

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When a certain group of German students starts questioning the Nazi's they took it upon themselves to publish and distribute anti-Nazi pamphlets under the group name of The White Rose. Out of the six member groups of The White Rose, the brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl were the famous members, who are the founders of the group. Tragically, they were caught when they were distributing leaflets, part of the group was caught, including the Scholls, and after a show trial they were executed by guillotine

Freiheit is a graphic novel retelling of these events with much more detail. The story is an important story that reminds readers that the Nazi are authoritarian police state, with plenty of its citizens not all supporting the Nazis but living in fear. Making what the The White Roses all the much more braver and daring.

The art and visuals of the graphic novel is done really well and beautiful. It is stunning nearing to photo-realism, but with an added painterly feel. The use of pastel colors bring a brightness to the story that is an effective antithesis to the story. As the story progresses the colors become darker a strong indication of what is to. The book also includes every White Rose pamphlet, translated into English, which is a very interesting addition.

I'm the kind of person who avoids reading books about WW2 (or about wars that happened in reality in general) whether nonfiction or fiction because I try to avoid reading about the horrible things that humans can do for greed and power but I decided to give this a try since it was a graphic novel and about freedom fighters.

Honestly, I was disappointed with the execution because I thought it would have been more story detailed but we only get snippets of key events rather than a retelling. It could've been better, because it only gave small snippets.

Wow the illustrations are so beautifully portrayed.Superb historical novel with great plot.The pictures beautifully portray the story.Perfect for quick relaxing read

Freiheit! details the early beginnings of the White Rose and their work to disrupt the nazi regime's atrocities as much as they can by spreading information. The graphic novel follows the founding members on their journeys attempting to help people by spreading the word of anti-nazi beliefs in Germany through leaflets.

The story was very interesting and moving. Reading about a youthful group attempting to stand up for their beliefs under the tyranny of Hitler's regime was important, and there are many groups operating during this period to get to know.

As someone who was not familiar with the White Rose, I found the story a bit fragmented at times as it did not have strong connections between certain events at times. That being said, it was still a strong story to read through.

I really enjoyed it as an introduction to the people and their stories, and I'll definitely be researching myself to learn more about what the group accomplished to give myself a greater understanding of the overall story.

This was an interesting read. I have a passing knowledge of the White Rose, but this graphic novel didn't add much to that. The art is beautiful and adds to the somber feel of the book. It became confusing when texts were introduced into the copy. I tended to assume every quote as from a leaflet, only to be told it was from Goethe or Schiller. It got difficult to follow.

There was one scene in particular that didn't sit right with me. It showed Hans Scholl just kind of walking through a concentration camp. He sees a few Jews leaning against a fence and sneaks them some bread with a flower. The next panel has the child wearing the flower in their hair. It was very "white savior." I understand that this is based on an actual event that Hans experienced, but it felt very strange in the context of the graphic novel. In reality, Hans came upon women doing hard labor, and he searched his person to give them something. They rejected it at first, but when Hans looked back at them, one of the women was wearing his white flower in her hair. That's a beautiful story, but in the graphic novel, the prisoners were just lounging around. We know that's not how it worked. And then the other officer just randomly tells Hans to cut his hair. There was a lot of potential with that scene but it fell flat.

Overall, this was a fine book. The art is really what saved it in my opinion.

Although I liked the art and the story seemed interesting, I couldn't engage in the reading and quickly lose interest. I kept reading but with no different result. I think it is a good reading, but I'm may not the right kind of reader for it due to the style and development.

While the art was nice and it did introduce me to something new, as I have almost no knowledge of the White Rose resistance group, the students who were fighting the Nazis and eventually paid the price by their lives, but the story missed narrative, and I think that a lot of people who don't know anything about it would be really lost. Most of the characters were indistinguishable, except maybe for the Scholl siblings. It also had at the end translations of their leaflets and that's a nice addition to the book.

I thank Netgalley for the digital ARC

It's a good book, I learned a few things from it. The script is flatliner until the end, so don't expect much action.

I believe that this is an interesting story and an important one in history to be told but this format does not do it justice. The narrative structure is so choppy that no actual story arc can be formed. For a 100+ page graphic novel, I would expect more than about 10 pages of actual narrative. The drawings as well were not done well and it was hard to discern any of the male characters apart from one another. I feel like this has a lot of potential but needed a lot more actual substance.

I got an ARC of this book.

This will not be my normal length review, because everything that needs to be said has been said in this review and this reivew.

I hadn't heard of the White Rose before. This graphic novel did not help. It was disjointed and confusing. There was little to no explanation of things, little to no plot. I needed something to make this make sense.

The best part of this graphic novel, outside of the pretty wonderful art, is at the end the leaflets were printed in English so I could read them. This book didn't teach me anything that makes it so I will remember that the White Rose existed. I will have to do research to get even the bare essential details about the organization.

Being from a certain part in Germany, I learned about the siblings Scholl and Weiße Rose in school more than once. I even did an art project for a local exhibition on Sophie Scholl in particular. Seeing their story turned into a graphic novel caught my interest despite me usually not being into historical non-fiction (or anything historical, really), and I got curious enough to take a closer look.

Content warnings include: national socialism, antisemitism, holocaust, arrest, interrogation, execution, misogyny.

Overall I found the graphic novel rather disconnected. Despite having background knowledge myself I found it hard to follow the events of the book, and I struggled parsing what was happening in several of the scenes. I also found transitions hard to follow, even with dates describing every change of scenery and time.
Dialogue was rather sparse, and a lot of it was poetry, which I both liked and disliked.
Some scenes were quite detailed, but other parts of the main character's life's were omitted entirely, which was what lead to that feeling of disconnect and made it hard to follow the story.

The art was fitting for the subject matter. It looked a bit grainy, but in a good way, deliberate and stylistic and fitting for a historical story. I was particularly impressed by the rendering of faces - but I also couldn't really tell characters apart.

I liked that a lot of the poetry, as well as the leaflets, were shown on-page in original German. This was not only in the panels themselves, but at the back the text of the leaflets themselves are printed, the first one both in English and German, the others only in English.

Overall this was an interesting read, but I do not think it really teaches much about the story of the Weiße Rose, and I can imagine that readers who are not familiar with what happened would be quite lost. I think simply googling them would be a lot more effective.

I had heard of White Rose, a group of college students who resisted the Nazi regime by distributing pamphlets and fliers. Now that I've read the Freiheit! graphic novel, that's still about all I know. There wasn't really a coherent story presented here, just snippets or vignettes of different moments without a lot connecting them together. There was no information on how or why the group formed even! The artwork was interesting, but that's about all the good I can say here.

I really liked this concept of portraying a German resistance movement through a graphic novel. It was a bit hard for me to keep up with the art style, I guess. I just didn't find it much gripping. And I think this one particularly, struggled in telling its story, like some fragments here and some there, scattered a bit, which is a problem I find with most of the graphic novels. But this should reach more people for its core story. I'm going to recommend this to a lot of people.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Plough Publishing House, for sending me this graphic novel for review
We are informed in a Preface, that the Nazis have been in power for the last ten years and the knowledge of the concentration camps is well-known to all. No dissent is tolerated and the young girls and boys have been brainwashed with Nazi Ideology. But what Ciponte fails to provide us with any background information about “The White Rose” movement. Not many people will be aware that it was an anti-Nazi group formed in Munich in 1942, by youngsters, many of whom were students, and who were trying to advocate non-violent resistance against the regime. They did this by distributing pamphlets; they published six, which are included at the end of the book as an appendix.
Andrea Grosso Cipont is the author as well as the artist. The narrative shifts from one period of time to another and from the point of view of the students to that of the Nazis which makes it very confusing to a first-time reader even if he has adequate knowledge about the regime and the persecution of the Jews. Somehow Ciponte does not really develop the character of these protagonists and fails to really interest us emotionally in the fates of these individuals. Some of the information is given in a direct and rather didactic manner and often the philosophical snippets once again seem out of place. The illustrations are sombre keeping mind the subject matter of the text.
I don’t think that the book does adequate justice to the subject; in fact, I did not feel motivated to learn m0ore about the White Rose Movement after reading the novel.
At the end of the novel, I felt disappointed and a bit short-changed; so much more could have been done to bring to life and create an interest in this lesser-known aspect of the Nazi Regime.

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