Monday, August 23, 2010

A courageous girl called Sophie


Hans Scholl (left), Sophie Scholl (centre) and Christoph Probst (right)
Original picture from raincitypastor.blogspot.com

Just finished watching the German film “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days”. Guess it was never too late to learn about some extraordinary people.

Sophie Scholl was born on 9th May 1921. The fourth of six children, she was a student at the University of Munich. Through her brother Hans, their friends and some lecturers, she joined the White Rose, a non violent resistance group in Nazi Germany.

The belief in human’s dignity and conscience formed the basis for resisting the Nazi ideology of war and extermination of Jews. Sophie and Hans were caught distributing leaflets calling for an end to the war at the Atrium of the University of Munich and were caught by the Gestapo on 18th February 1943.

After several days of intense interrogation, Sophie, Hans and another friend, Christoph Probst were brought to the People’s Court sat by Judge Roland Freisler on 22nd February 1943. All three of them were convicted of high treason and sentenced to death.

Sophie bravely told the judge this, “Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just do not dare express themselves as we did.”
And when told of her sentence, her reaction was this, “I am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the best that I could do for my nation. I therefore do not regret my conduct and will bear the consequences that result from my conduct.”

After meeting their parents for the last time, the three of them hugged and shared a cigarette. They were executed by guillotine at the Munich Stadelheim Prison a few hours after the verdict. Sophie’s last words were, “The sun still shines.” Next to die was Hans and his last words were, “Long live freedom.” Christoph was the last to be executed.

After their death, their last leaflet was smuggled to the Allies who made millions of copies and air dropped them over Germany. Today, they were considered heroes of modern Germany for standing up against an evil regime.


2 comments:

  1. Hi riversidegrass, I saw this movie back in 2005 when it was first released. It was a good movie and left a deep impression on me too.

    Yes, Sophie was indeed a brave girl. So young and dare to stand up against the evil regime of the Nazis. It was sad that she had to pay for this with her life. Infact, there were another eleven members of the passive resistant group who were given the death sentence for calling an end to war.

    Sophie and her brother Hans were voted among the greatest Germans of all time and she was also hailed as one of the most influential women of the 20th century.

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  2. What a horrified way to die for a bunch of youngster just because they dared to speak their minds!

    At the end of the movie, I thought if they have to die, they would face the firing squad.

    Little did I expect them to die under the blades because I thought the guillotines were only used by the French on their aristrocrates during the French Revolution!

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