'Sophie Scholl: The Final Days,' The White Rose, Anti- Nazi Resistance Group Member

[appalachiablue]

- (2005). The true story based on the courage of Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and their friend Cristoph who had the faith and fortitude to stand against the Nazi regime at the height of its power during World War II.
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- FILM, German historical drama (w English subtitles) about the last days of Sophie Scholl, the 21- year old member of the anti- Nazi , non- violent student resistance group, the White Rose, part of the German resistance movement. She was found guilty of high treason and executed the same day, Feb. 22, 1943. The film was presented at the 55th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2005 and won Silver Bear awards for Best Director and Best Actress (Julia Jentsch). It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

In wartime Munich, Sophie Scholl joins members of the White Rose student organization, including Sophie's brother Hans, who are preparing copies of their 6th leaflet. They have mimeographed more than they can distribute through the mail. Hans proposes distributing the extras at university the next day; despite Willi arguing that the risks are unacceptable, Hans says that he will take full responsibility, and Sophie volunteers to assist. The next day, at the main building of Munich University where classes are in session, Hans & Sophie set about putting down stacks of leaflets near the doors of lecture rooms.

With only minutes left until the period ends, Sophie runs to the top floor, where she impulsively pushes a stack of leaflets over the edge of the balustrade. A janitor who saw Sophie scatter the leaflets detains the pair until the Gestapo arrive to arrest them. The siblings are taken to the Munich Stadelheim Prison, where Sophie is interrogated by Gestapo investigator Robert Mohr. Claiming initially to be apolitical, she presents an alibi: she and her brother had nothing to do with the fliers. She noticed them in the hall and pushed a stack off the railing as a prank, and she had an empty suitcase because she was going to visit her parents in Ulm and planned to bring back some clothes.

She is dismissed, but as her release form is about to be approved, the order comes not to let her go, as the Gestapo has found incontrovertible evidence that Sophie and Hans were indeed responsible for the distribution of anti-Nazi leaflets. She is placed in a prison cell with fellow dissident Else Gebel, a Communist sympathiser...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl_%E2%80%93_The_Final_Days
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- The White Rose, A Lesson in Dissent. Jewish Virtual Library.

The date was February 22, 1943. Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie, along with their best friend, Christoph Probst, were scheduled to be executed by Nazi officials that afternoon. The prison guards were so impressed with the calm and bravery of the prisoners in the face of impending death that they violated regulations by permitting them to meet together one last time. Hans, a medical student at the University of Munich, was 24. Sophie, a student, was 21. Christoph, a medical student, was 22.

This is the story of The White Rose. It is a lesson in dissent. It is a tale of courage, of principle, of honor. It is detailed in three books, The White Rose (1970) by Inge Scholl, A Noble Treason (1979) by Richard Hanser, and An Honourable Defeat (1994) by Anton Gill. Hans and Sophie Scholl were German teenagers in the 1930s. Like other young Germans, they enthusiastically joined the Hitler Youth. They believed that Adolf Hitler was leading Germany and the German people back to greatness. Their parents were not so enthusiastic. Their father, Robert Scholl, told his children that Hitler and the Nazis were leading Germany down a road of destruction. Later, in 1942, he would serve time in a Nazi prison for telling his secretary: “The war! It is already lost. This Hitler is God’s scourge on mankind, and if the war doesn’t end soon the Russians will be sitting in Berlin.”

Gradually, Hans and Sophie began realizing that their father was right. They concluded that, in the name of freedom and the greater good of the German nation, Hitler and the Nazis were enslaving and destroying the German people.

They also knew that open dissent was impossible in Nazi Germany, especially after the start of World War II. Most Germans took the traditional position, that once war breaks out, it is the duty of the citizen to support the troops by supporting the government. But Hans and Sophie Scholl believed differently. They believed that it was the duty of a citizen, even in times of war, to stand up against an evil regime, especially when it is sending hundreds of thousands of its citizens to their deaths. The Scholl siblings began sharing their feelings with a few of their friends, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, as well as with Kurt Huber, their psychology and philosophy professor...https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-white-rose-a-lesson-in-dissent
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🌸 Traute Lafrenz, Last Member of Anti- Nazi Resistance Group, the White Rose Dies at 103, Smithsonian, 3.10.23,
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/traute-lafrenz-last-surviving-member-of-anti-nazi-resistance-group-the-white-rose-dies-at-103-180981780/

[young_at_heart]

1. Courage and bravery

and death!

[SunSeeker]

2. K & R

[Joinfortmill]

3. Wow, I never knew this, and I've read a lot about this period. Thank you.

[appalachiablue]

4. YW, they were so courageous and young. Note the obit/bio of last member linked above, Traute

Lafrenz, another remarkable person and physician. RIP.