White roses for purity . . .
The White Rose (die Weiße Rose) was a movement founded by University of Munich students and their philosophy professor to resist Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. The group conducted an anonymous leaflet campaign from June 1942 until February 1943 calling for active, non-violent opposition.
The six founder members were arrested by the Gestapo and beheaded in 1943 but the text of their last leaflet was smuggled out of Germany through Scandinavia and into UK where it was edited. Allied planes dropped millions of copies over Germany in that year.
The White Rose of York (Rosa alba) is an heraldic symbol of the House of York and is now regarded as a symbol for Yorkshire. It represented the Virgin Mary, often called 'The Mystical Rose of Heaven'. White symbolises light, innocence, purity, joy and glory.
