Russian Orthodox Church canonizes anti-Hitler activist
One of the founders of an anti-Hitler movement in wartime Germany has been declared a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church 69 years after he was beheaded by the Nazis.
The church canonised Alexander Schmorell for his involvement in the White Rose group, which vented its disgust of Hitler and the Nazi regime by writing pamphlets opposing the regime and condemning the treatment of Soviet citizens under German occupation.
The group also took to daubing walls in Munich, the birthplace of the Nazi party, with slogans such as "Down with Hitler" and "Freedom".
Schmorell, who had a Russian mother, had been baptised into the Orthodox Church and remained a committed Christian till he was sent to the guillotine in 1943 aged 25....