German Resistance Memorial Center Biographie
Kurt Huber
Born in Chur/Switzerland in 1893, Kurt Huber began studying music, philosophy, and psychology in 1912, gaining his doctorate in musicology in 1917 and qualifying as a university teacher of psychology in 1920. He taught philosophy at the University of Munich from 1926 and was a respected researcher of folk songs and a leading scholar on the German philosopher and mathematician Leibniz. In 1937 Huber became head of the Department of Folk Music at the Berlin Institute of Music Research. In 1938 he was refused a teaching contract at Berlin University because of his "adherence to Catholicism." Huber returned to Munich, where he became an extraordinary professor after joining the National Socialist Party (NSDAP) in 1940. Huber fascinated his students, particularly because of his wide range of interests and clear lectures. In June 1942 he met Hans Scholl and his friends. Along with Hans Scholl, Huber wrote the political section of the fifth White Rose leaflet, also drafting the group’s sixth and final leaflet in early February 1943. Kurt Huber was arrested on February 27, 1943, a few days after Hans and Sophie Scholl distributed the leaflet at Munich University. He was sentenced to death by the People’s Court in Munich on April 19, 1943, and murdered in Munich-Stadelheim Prison on July 13, 1943.