Hans Conrad Leipelt

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Hans Conrad Leipelt (born 18 July 1921 in Vienna; died 29 January 1945 in Munich) was a member of the White Rose (Weiße Rose) resistance group in Nazi Germany.

Leipelt's father was a graduate in civil engineering, and his mother a chemist from a Christian family with Jewish roots. In 1925, the family moved to Hamburg, where Hans did his Abitur in 1938, and then reported to the Reichsarbeitsdienst and the Wehrmacht. He was decorated with the Iron Cross second class and the Tank Destruction Badge in June 1940 during the French campaign. He was dishonourably released from duty because he was a Mischling first grade. In the autumn of 1940, he began his chemistry studies at the University of Hamburg, but transferred in the 1941-1942 winter semester to the University of Munich, as student of Heinrich Otto Wieland. This was only possible because Heinrich Otto Wieland had some freedom because he had received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1927. In February 1943, Hans Leipelt received the White Rose's sixth leaflet and, together with Marie-Luise Jahn, began using a typewriter to make copies of it to distribute about Hamburg. When they were both collecting money for the executed Professor Kurt Huber's widow, they were denounced and arrested. Hans Leipelt was sentenced to death on 13 October 1944 in Donauwörth by the Volksgerichtshof. Marie-Luise Jahn was given a 12-year labour prison (Zuchthaus) sentence. Hans Leipelt's execution followed on 29 January 1945 in Stadelheim Prison in Munich. He was beheaded.

[edit] References

• "Hans Leipelt und Marie-Luise Jahn. Studentischer Widerstand in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus am Chemischen Staatslabor der Universität München" LM Universum von Hans-Michael Körner and Wolfgang Smolka, 2003 Munich, ISBN 3-926163-31-3