“An end in terror is preferable to terror without end.”
Now, before reading this, I want you to take a minute and just picture yourself at age 22, awaiting your death, for speaking your mind. How does that feel? Probably terrifying and unsettling. Born in 1921 on May 9th, this vibrant young lady pictured above, is Sophie Scholl.
Sophia Magdalena Scholl was a young Anti-Nazi activist during World War 2, assisting in leading a student non-violent resistance called the “White Rose.” Throughout her life, her father (Robert Scholl) had conflicting views with his opinionated daughter. Robert Scholl was the mayor of Forchtenberg, Germany, where Sophie lived all her life. Being the mayor, he had to agree with everything that the Nazi party said, but this was not a problem for Robert - he supported the Nazi theories and rules. Sophie, on the other hand, knew logically and emotionally that the horrific terror that the Nazis were causing was morally wrong and must be stopped. As a nonviolent person, she knew that the only way change would be made was by protesting, but peacefully and non-violently.
Her views did not fully change until 1940, when she applied to be a kindergarten teacher to serve as an alternate service to 'Reichsarbeitsdienst' (National Labor Service); this was necessary to apply to a University. She had to serve six months of auxiliary war service as a nursery teacher in Bloomberg. This military-like regime of the Labor Service is what caused her to change her views of National Socialism and eventually practice passive resistance. In late May of 1942, Sophie Scholl finally applied and got accepted into University with her brother Hans Scholl. Though this friend group would later be well known for their political affairs, they were initially brought together by their love of music and art.
During the summer of 1942, the group began to question the principles of the Nazi regime, and they decided to begin a passive resistance. After traveling to the East Frontier, they were horrified at the sight of a group of naked Jews being shot at point blank range.
The group started their resistance through the writing of leaflets that stated why people should support the resistance movement to end the Nazi regime. They spread the leaflets around various places in Germany. One night, Sophie and Hans Scholl were hurriedly dropping stacks of leaflets in a university hallway. Sophie noticed there were still some leaflets in the suitcase they were carried in and thought it would be a pity not to distribute them, so she took extra time to gather them and throw them into the air. This frantic action was witnessed by the custodian, Jakob Schmid. The police were called and the two siblings were hauled away by Gestapo.
Their court day was February 21, 1943. During court, she was recorded saying “Somebody, after all, had to make a start.” Later on, she discussed how the people they wrote to felt the same, but they did not dare to make their feelings public. The White Rose’s passive resistance was and forever will be a group of kids who cared about everyone else and wanted to change the world for the better. The whole group was later caught and sentenced to death. The faces of defiance as the judge called the conclusion of execution (by beheading) from Sophie and Hans earned them a place in my “Impressive People Hall of Fame.” Sophie Scholl's last words were “How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a fine day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred into action?” The last few words heard before her execution were "Die Sonne scheint noch"—"The sun still shines."
While her group was put to an end quite quickly after its uprising, they sprung thousands of people into action. The White Rose Lady, a peculiar nick-name, yet so fitting. A white rose, so beautiful, so seemingly delicate, but one of the strongest flowers out there. Sophia Magdalena Scholl may have died too early in life, but made a change for the better with the White Rose resistance group. The graves of Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, and Cristoph Probst lie next to the Stadelheim prison in Munich, Germany.
Image Link: https://internationalbcc.co.uk/about-ibcc/news/sophie-scholl/