Celebrating Women II: Sophie Scholl

For this Women’s Day and my Women's History Month Campaign, I wanted to highlight a remarkable story of bravery – of Sophie Scholl’s. 

This piece is taken from the final term paper I wrote for my Totalitarianism class in my fellowship. Hope you find it as inspiring as I did! 

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In the era of the Third Reich, where the maxim, ‘Kinder, Küche, Kirche’ was propagated and women were actively encouraged to stay at homes and nurture their children to be good, well-bred Germans adhering to the Nazi norms, Sophie Scholl was an anomaly. 

Born in the year 1921 into a family with liberal values, Sophie had a happy-go-lucky childhood like other Nazi Germany girls and like them, she was a part of the Bund Deutscher Mädel (like most of them. After completing her Reichsarbeitsdienst (National Labour Service), she enrolled into Ludwig Maximillian University, where she first came across the White Rose group.

THE FIGHT FOR FREIHEIT

When Sophie discovered in 1942 that her elder brother Hans was a part of a non-violent resistance group called the White Rose (Weisse Rose), which distributed anti-war leaflets and drew anti-war graffiti to make the public aware of the atrocities of war, she decided to be a part of it. 

Since its inception in 1942, the White Rose released six leaflets, each more polemic than the last. The initial leaflets were theological and grounded in intellectual thoughts by thinkers like Goethe, Schiller and Lao Tzu. Later on, the tone of the leaflets became openly critical of the Nazi regime, by calling the state a “dictatorship of evil” and claiming that there was a “mathematical certainty that Hitler is leading the German people into the abyss”. (White Rose Leaflets, 1942-43)

Yet, the White Rose came to an abrupt end when the Scholl siblings set out to distribute the sixth and the last leaflet on 18th February, 1943 in the University, they were caught by a janitor, who reported them to the Gestapo. After gruelling rounds of interrogation, Sophie, Hans and their comrade Christoph Probst, were on trial at the Volksgerichtshof (The People’s Court), which was a gruelling and intimidating process. 

However, amid it all, Sophie stood her ground and continued to stick with what she’d done by saying:

“Somebody has to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves as we did.”

 But the despotic Nazi regime was unrelenting. On 22nd February, 1943, Sophie, Hans and Christoph were decreed guilty by the People’s Court and were sentenced to death by a guillotine the very same day. Soon after, a lot of other White Rose members got rounded up. Some, like the Scholls and Christoph, were sentenced to death and some were imprisoned.

Throughout Sophie’s shocking yet inspiring tale, there was one question that always lingered on my mind. And that was:

WHY DID SOPHIE SCHOLL FIGHT?

Sophie Scholl, on the surface, was a advantaged German in the Nazi regime. She was born in relative affluence. Even as she grew older, she had the privilege to study at one of the most prestigious universities in Europe – a privilege, which not a lot of women had as they were restrained to be a part of the household and war duties. However, deep within the privilege on the outset, there were a lot of key reasons which influenced her actions. 

As she grew out of the propaganda-esque idealism of the BDM and her education, she came to know of many atrocities that were going on underneath the idealistic mask of the Vaterland (fatherland). From the letters her boyfriend sent her about the crimes he witnessed as a soldier to the warfront stories narrated to her by other members of the White Rose, especially by the half-Russian Schmorell, who told her about the crimes on the Russians and the concentration camps during war, Sophie was deeply disturbed by the sheer cruelty of the Nazis. 

This cruelty in turn, did not sit well with her liberal ideals and her Christian faith. She couldn’t fathom how people could participate in such a system and was dismayed at how the ordinary Germans didn’t take a stand against it. 

Moreover, the arrest of her father in 1942 for calling Hitler a “scourge” of God and the arrest and harsh interrogation of her brother, Hans, in 1937 for being a part of the controversial German Youth Movement triggered a lot of anger within her. As a result of this, the consequences didn’t weigh down her decision to fight against the oppressive regime. 

THE SUN THAT SHINES EVEN NOW

Even though she died around 75 years ago, Sophie Scholl’s courage to fight against the totalitarian Nazi rule is lauded till date. Not just Sophie, individuals like George Elser, the German carpenter who attempted to assassinate Hitler and the Polish Irena Sendler, who rescued more countless Jewish children from getting murdered, took a stand when everyone else decided to stay silent. They didn’t care about the consequences they’d suffer – all they cared for was to make a difference. 

More often than not, a totalitarian regime is perceived as the reign where only the despotic leaders’ voices are heard. The voices of the commoners are subdued into silence and they are reduced to being manipulated objects of a dark regime, fed by shocking propaganda. But people like Sophie, the White Rose activists, Elser and Sendler are the ones who broke through such notions. 

They saw beyond the propaganda of what was showcased by the doctrines of their tyrannical regimes. Through their experiences and openness to hearing different viewpoints, they were able to discern between what was right and what was wrong. 

Using this, they also used their privilege in a positive manner, in a way most privileged people in totalitarian regimes don’t do. This can be demonstrated by how White Rose activists raised awareness by utilising their privileged education and how Irena Sendler, on the other hand, used her ‘privilege’ as a Christian to save the Jews. 

Finally, all these people, especially Sophie at a young age of 21, listened to their conscience and were brave enough to fight, in spite of knowing the horrors that awaited them in the totalitarian rule if they toed the line. They ended up inspiring thousands with their message and they continue to shine on. Like Sophie had once said: 

“What does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”

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References

Primary Data:

1. The Six Leaflets Published By White Rose

1. The Transcripts of the Trial of Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst https://whiterosehistory.com/1943/02/22/handwritten-trial-transcript/

Books:

1. Jens, Inge (ed.). At The Heart Of The White Rose – Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl, Plough Publishing House

2. Jolm J. Michalczyk (ed.) Confront! Resistance in Nazi Germany. Peter Lang. 2004

Movie:

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days. Directed by Marc Rothemund. Performance by Julia Jentsch, 2005

Websites:

2. “Sophie Scholl”. Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopaedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl

3. Hornberger, Jacob. “The White Rose – A Lesson in Dissent”. Jewish Virtual Library https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-white-rose-a-lesson-in-dissent

4. “Geschichte der Stadt Blumberg”. Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopaedia. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschichte_der_Stadt_Blumberg#Sophie_Scholl_in_Blumberg

5. “Sophie Scholl and the White Rose”. International Raul Wallenberg Foundation. http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/holocaust/articles-20/sophie-scholl-white-rose/

An incredible blog (Which you HAVE to check out):

1. https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/02/ordinary-people-courage-to-say-no.html

2. https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/04/in-memory-of-true-antagonist-man-who.html

3. https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/01/remember-this-lady-in-memory-of-irena.html