Kurt Huber

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Professor Kurt Huber (24 October 1893 - 13 July 1943) was a member of the White Rose group which carried out resistance against Nazi Germany.

Huber was born in Chur, Switzerland to German parents. He grew up in Stuttgart, and later, after his father's death, in Munich. He showed an aptitude for such subjects as music, philosophy and psychology. He became a professor in 1920.

Huber was appalled by reports of his own country's atrocities in the Second World War, and decided that his own government, the Nazis, had to be removed from power. He came into contact with the White Rose (Weiße Rose) movement through some students who attended his lectures: Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell. Huber actually wrote the White Rose's sixth and last leaflet calling for an end to National Socialism.

Huber was arrested on 27 February 1943, and was brought before the Volksgerichtshof on 19 April 1943, where Roland Freisler, the Chief Justice, humiliated him with a blistering verbal attack, as he so often did (see the exchange quoted in the Josef Wirmer article, for instance). On 13 July 1943, Kurt Huber was executed by guillotine at the prison in Munich-Stadelheim, along with Alexander Schmorell. The university had stripped Huber of his position and his doctorate at the time of his arrest.

Attempts to take up a collection for Huber's widow Clara only brought about more trouble, leading as it did to Hans Leipelt's arrest and execution.

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