This is a great introduction to a resistance group that existed in Nazi Germany, and while it doesn't go very in-depth, we get a nice overview of the members and their activities. The illustrations are well done and enhance the story being told. Ciponte clearly did some research in order to write this, and did a good job balancing entertaining and informative. While I would like to learn more, I know it can be hard to pack a lot of facts into a graphic novel, and I'll be doing some research on my own now. ( )

Dark, starkly drawn, befitting the story. It was definitely a different style of telling the story of The White Rose. My expectation was it would be similar to the novel in verse, which it wasn’t. I did like the explanation of each leaflet at the back of the book. ( )

I did not know before of the White Rose, an undercover resistence organization of university students during Hitler's Nazi regime in Germany during World War II. Six brave students printed leaflets and distributed them anonymously in an effort to create resistance among the German population to the increasing fascist rule of Hitler. All six were caught by the Gestapo and guillotined.

In this moving graphic novel, we are introduced to those students who gave their lives to attempt to bring freedom back to Germany. At the end of the graphic novel are translations of the leaflets which they distributed. Although Nazi Germany no longer exists, the message this graphic novel is trying to promote is very clear. Do not betray your personal principles to ever, ever give up on freedom. Freedom, Freiheit in German, is the name of this graphic novel which is a lesson in bravery. ( )

Freiheit! The White Rose Graphic Novel by Andrea Grosso Ciponte is a beautifully rendered, but ultimately disappointing, look at one of the greatest stories of resistance from the Second World War. I think the idea of telling this story in comic form is a great one, but in the end the story didn't provide any new insights into the lives of the group's members, nor did it present what it does offer in what I would consider an organized fashion, choosing instead to jump from incident to incident almost at random. There were some places where I nearly lost the thread of the plot entirely due to large chunks of time being skipped with no reference or update for the reader at all as to what had happened during the missing months. This includes the founding of The White Rose, which I felt Ciponte should have at least touched on briefly, along with more of the history behind what drove each member to become disillusioned with the Nazi regime. Freiheit gives the reader the distinct impression that the impetus and driving force behind The White Rose was almost coldly intellectual in nature, when a deeper dive into Hans and Sophie's past could have revealed it to be so much more.

I did love the way the text of the leaflets was interspersed throughout, however; it added an emotional core to the story that carried me along even when I lost my way. In concert with the illustrations, they saved the book for me. Ciponte also handled the interrogations brilliantly, illustrating each member's bravery with subtlety and grace. Overall I think Freiheit is a noble effort, but it could have been so much more. ( )