Susanne Hirzel
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Susanne Zeller (née Hirzel; 7 November 1921 – 4 December 2012) was a German resistance member who was part of the White Rose.
Susanne Hirzel, daughter of Ulm pastor Ernst Hirzel and granddaughter of the geographer Robert Gradmann, was initially an enthusiastic member of the League of German Girls (where Sophie Scholl was her group leader), but distanced herself increasingly from those in power.[1]
Hirzel became a student at the State Academy for Music in Stuttgart, where by spring 1942 her exceptional musical ability was being recognised.[2]
Hirzel and White Rose
In late 1942, while a music student, she again met Sophie Scholl, who called for resistance. At the end of January, at the request of her teenage brother Hans she distributed envelopes containing the fifth "White Rose" leaflet in mailboxes in Stuttgart. This secret operation was prepared together with Hans' classmate Franz Josef Müller in Ulm Martin Luther Church behind the organ. Her father Ernst Hirzel was then pastor at this parish.
After the arrest and execution of the Scholls, Susanne, her brother Hans, and Franz Josef Müller, were also arrested and convicted in the second "White Rose" trial (in which Kurt Huber, Willi Graf and Alexander Schmorell were sentenced by the People's Court under Roland Freisler to death). Hirzel was sentenced to six months' imprisonment because her knowledge of the leaflets could not be established.
