Christoph Probst

Christoph Ananda Probst (6 November 1919 – 22 February 1943) was a German student of medicine and member of the White Rose (Weiße Rose) resistance group.

Probst was born in Murnau am Staffelsee.

His father, Hermann Probst, was a private scholar and Sanskrit researcher, fostered contacts with artists who were deemed by the Nazis to be "decadent".

After Hermann's first marriage with Karin Katharina Kleeblatt, Christoph's mother, broke up in 1919, he married Elise Jaffée, who was Jewish.

Christoph's sister, Angelika, remembers that her brother was strongly critical of Nazi ideas that violated human dignity.

Soon after his second marriage, Hermann Probst, who suffered from depression, committed suicide.

How this affected Christoph is unknown, but it evidently contributed to his contempt for Nazi ideology.

Probst attended boarding school at Marquartstein and Landheim Schondorf.

It was here that he met Alexander Schmorell, who soon became his best friend.

The boarding school was aimed at fostering Nazi ideas.

After completing his schooling at the age of 17, Probst enrolled in the Luftwaffe.

After military service, he began medical studies with great earnestness.

At the age of 21, he married Herta Dohrn, with whom he had three children: Michael, Vincent and Katja.

The White Rose was the name of a resistance group in Munich in the time of the Third Reich.

The activities of the White Rose began in June 1942.

From the end of that month until mid-July that same year, Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell wrote the group's first four leaflets.

Quoting extensively from the Bible, Aristotle and Novalis, as well as Goethe and Schiller, the iconic poets of the German middle classes at the time, they appealed to what they considered the German intelligentsia, believing that the latter would be easily convinced by the same arguments that had appealed to themselves.

The leaflets were left in telephone books in public phone booths, mailed to professors and students, and taken by courier to other universities for distribution.

Christoph Probst came rather late into the White Rose since he did not belong to the same student corps as Hans Scholl, Alexander Schmorell and Willi Graf, and he stayed for the most part in the background as, being married, he had to think of his family.

Probst belonged — along with the Scholl siblings, Graf, and Schmorell — to the innermost circle, which came to include also university professor Kurt Huber.

The members of White Rose put together, printed and distributed, a total of six leaflets, at the risk of their lives.

This was after New Year 1942/43 when Probst visited me in Munich.

We talked about this possibility at that time, namely in my apartment.

Schmorel [sic], I, and Probst have comprised a circle of friends for years now.

Schmorel [sic] was not present at this last meeting.

He knows nothing of this entire matter.

With regards to political matters, I exercised influence on Probst.

In January 1943, Probst wrote a seventh leaflet, which he gave to Hans Scholl.

However, it was never distributed.

On 18 February 1943, Sophie and Hans Scholl went to the Ludwig Maximilian University to leave out flyers for the students to read.

They were seen by Jakob Schmid, a janitor at the University who was also a Gestapo informer.

Schmid alerted the Gestapo, who closed down the University until the Scholls could be apprehended.

The draft of a seventh pamphlet that had been written by Christoph Probst was found in the possession of Hans Scholl at the time of his arrest by the Gestapo.

While Sophie Scholl managed to get rid of incriminating evidence before being taken into custody, Hans attempted to destroy the draft leaflet by tearing it apart and swallowing it.

However, the Gestapo recovered enough of it to read the contents of the leaflet.

When pressed, Hans Scholl gave up the name of Christoph.

As he said in his second interrogation: ''The piece of paper that I tore up following my arrest this morning originated with Christoph Probst.

He resides in Innsbruck, [and is with] an air force Student Company.

I have been friends with Probst for several years.''

''One day, I suggested to him that he should put his thoughts about current events in writing for me.