SOPHIE
SCHOLL – THE ‘WHITE ROSE’ ACTIVIST.
About fifteen kilometers east of
Regensberg is an architectural marvel called Walhalla. It sits on a high hill
overlooking the Danube and is modelled on the Pantheon. In the mid-19th
century, King Ludwig I had this built as a Hall of Fame for distinguished
Germans and people of German origin. It is home to 130 marble busts and 65
plaques commemorating famous Germans. On 22nd February 2003, the bust of Sophie Scholl was the last
to be installed in Walhalla. It was the 60th anniversary of her
execution by Hitler’s squads.
Sophie Scholl was born on 9th
May 1921 in a little village called Forchtenberg. She was brought up as a
Lutheran, by parents who were God-fearing and believed in the essential dignity
of every human being irrespective of race, colour or social status. Her father
was opposed to Hitler’s dictatorship and was imprisoned for telling one of his
colleagues that Hitler was ‘God’s Scourge.’
The home where Sophie was born and grew
up in is now the Town Hall at Forchtenberg. A small bust of Sophie stands in
one corner.
Though at the age of 12, Sophie joined
The League of German Girls, she soon became disillusioned with its practices.
In 1940, when she finished High Scool, she became a kindergarden teacher with
the hope of avoiding National Labour Service. But she was forced to do a
compulsory stint as Nursery teacher in the Auxiliary War Service. This brought
about an aversion towards Nazi ideology and practices.
In May 1942, Sophie entered the
University of Munich as a student of Biology and Philosophy. Her brother Hans
also was studying Medicine at the University. Her boy friend Fritz Hartnagel
was serving in the Army on the Eastern Front. From him she received news about
the atrocities conducted on prisoners of war and Jews.
Sophie was greatly influenced by the
essays and sermons of Cardinal John Neumann. In1942, her brother Hans along
with like-minded students Willi Graf and Christopher Probst secretly began to
write anit-Nazi pamphlets, urging people to resist Hitler’s ideology. To start
with, Sophie was not included in this group as they feared for her life. Later,
they felt that as a woman, she would not raise suspicion when she went on her
secret forays to distribute pamphlets.
This was the beginning of the ‘White
Rose’ movement, which advocated passive resistance to Hitler’s dictatorship. The
members were against anti-Semitism. They read books by Thomas Mann, Paul
Claudel and others which was prohibited reading. They smuggled food to those in
concentration camps and cared for relatives of prisoners. But their most
important activity was authoring six anti-Nazi leaflets and secretly
distributing them among University students. Some leaflets were sent to
undetectable locations for distribution. They used their own pocket money for
paper, envelopes, stamps, and printed them out on their typewriters.
Unfortunately, during the distribution
of the sixth leaflet, they were caught by one of Hitler’s spies and sentenced
to death for treason at the People’s Court, by a cruel judge called Roland
Freisler. That Sophie limped into the courttoom with a broken leg was proof of
the torture she underwent in jail. At her trial and sentencing, Sophie based
her defence on ‘The Theology of Conscience’ referred to by Cardinal Neumann.
“Somebody
afterall has to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many
others. They just don’t dare to express themselves as we did.”
Sophie and the members of the White Rose
Resistance showed exceptional spiritual courage in the face of death. They were
not afraid to verbalize their collective dissent against Hitler’s absolute
dictatorship. Sophie recalled the words of her father when she was growing up.
“What I want for you is to live in uprightness and freedom of spirit, no matter
how difficult that proves to be.”
Ironically,
the sixth leaflet was smuggled out to UK and used by the Allies. They dropped
millions of copies over Germany under a new title, “The Manifesto of The
Students of Munich.”
Sophie was just 21 when she and other members,
were beheaded at Stadelheim Prison in Munich on 22nd February 1943.
They are buried in the Perlacher Friedhof next to the prison. Her last words
were ,”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!”
Many
children born during that time were named after Sophie and her brother. The German
Major Brigitte called her the greatest German woman of the 20th
century. Later, films and books were made, based on her life. The most
comprehensive book released in 2009 was titled “Sophie Scholl –The Real Story of
A Woman Who Defied Hitler.”
