Sophie Scholl

Scholl was the daughter of Magdalena (née Müller) and Robert Scholl, a liberal politician and ardent Nazi critic, who was the mayor of her home town of Forchtenberg am Kocher in the Free People's State of Württemberg at the time of her birth. She was the fourth of six children:

Inge Aicher-Scholl (1917–1998)

Hans Scholl (1918–1943)

Elisabeth Hartnagel (née Scholl) (27 February 1920 – 28 February 2020), married Sophie's long-term boyfriend, Fritz Hartnagel

Sophie Scholl (1921–1943)

Werner Scholl (1922–1944) missing in action and presumed dead in June 1944

Thilde Scholl (1925–1926)

She started school at the age of seven, learned easily, and had a carefree childhood. In 1930, the family moved to Ludwigsburg and then two years later to Ulm where her father had a business consulting office.

Scholl was brought up in the Lutheran church and remained a devout Christian the rest of her life. In 1942 she famously wrote, "I shall cling to the rope God has thrown me in Jesus Christ, even if my numb hands can no longer feel it."

In 1932, Scholl began attending a secondary school for girls. At the age of 12, she joined the female branch of the Hitler Youth, Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls), as did most of her classmates. Her initial enthusiasm gradually gave way to criticism. She was aware of the dissenting political views of her father, friends, and some teachers. Her brother Hans, who had at first participated enthusiastically in the Hitler Youth program, became entirely disillusioned with the Nazi Party. Political positions had become an essential criterion in her choice of friends. The arrest of her brothers and friends in 1937 for participating in the German Youth Movement left a strong impression on her.

An avid reader, she developed a growing interest in philosophy and theology. She had a talent for drawing and painting, and came into contact with a few so-called "degenerate" artists. All of the Scholl children had a deep interest in art, and befriended many artists of the time, particularly controversial ones who stood against National Socialism and explored such themes in their work. One such artist, Otl Aicher, helped Sophie learn to sketch and helped her revise her drawings. He later married her sister Inge.

Sophie was first arrested by the Gestapo at the age of 16, after her brother Hans was discovered to be active in an anti-Hitler Youth group called Deutsche Jungenschaft vom 1.11.1929. The Gestapo arrested Hans at his military post and other security agents arrested his siblings Inge, Werner and Sophie at their home shortly thereafter. Sophie was released later the same day, while Inge and Werner were jailed for a week. Hans spent a full three weeks in prison where he underwent interrogation. He was released only after the intervention of his cavalry officer. This experience further solidified Sophie's anti-Nazi convictions.

In spring of 1940 she graduated from secondary school, where the subject of her essay was "The Hand that Moved the Cradle, Moved the World, a poem by William Ross Wallace". Scholl almost did not graduate, having lost all interest in participating in classes that had largely become Nazi indoctrination. Being fond of children, she became a kindergarten teacher at the Fröbel Institute in Ulm. She also chose that job in the hope that it would be recognized as an alternative service in the Reichsarbeitsdienst (National Labor Service), a prerequisite for admission to university. This was not the case, and in spring of 1941 she began a six-month stint in the auxiliary war service as a nursery school teacher in Blumberg. The quasi military regimen of the Labor Service caused her to rethink her understanding of the political situation and to begin practising passive resistance.

After her six months in the National Labor Service, she enrolled in May 1942 in the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München as a student of biology and philosophy. Her brother Hans, who was studying medicine at the same institution, introduced her to his friends. Although this group of friends eventually became known for their political views, they were initially drawn together by a shared love of art, music, literature, philosophy, and theology. Hiking in the mountains, skiing, and swimming were also important to them. They often attended concerts, plays and lectures together.

In Munich, Scholl met a number of artists, writers and philosophers, particularly Carl Muth and Theodor Haecker. The question they pondered most was how the individual must act under a dictatorship. During the summer of 1942, Scholl had to do war service in a metalworking plant in Ulm. At the same time, her father was serving time in prison for having made a critical remark to an employee about Adolf Hitler.

On 18 February 1943, Sophie and Hans Scholl went to the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München to leave flyers out for the students to read. The Scholls brought a suitcase full of leaflets to the university main building, and hurriedly dropped stacks of copies in the empty corridors for students to find when they left the lecture rooms. Leaving before the lectures had ended, the Scholls had some copies left in the suitcase and decided to distribute them. Sophie flung the last remaining leaflets from the top floor down into the atrium. This spontaneous action was observed by the university maintenance man, Jakob Schmid, a self-avowed Nazi, who had joined the Nazi Party in 1937.

Hans and Sophie Scholl were taken into custody by the Gestapo. A draft of a seventh pamphlet, written by Christoph Probst, was found in the possession of Hans Scholl at the time of his arrest. While Sophie Scholl was able to hide incriminating evidence in an empty classroom just before being captured, Hans tried to destroy the draft of the last leaflet by tearing it apart and swallowing it. The Gestapo recovered enough of it to read what it said and, when pressed, Hans gave the name of the author, Christoph Probst. In the record of his second interrogation, he stated, "The piece of paper that I tore up following my arrest this morning originated with Christoph Probst.... All other persons with the exception of Probst are in my opinion not guilty." Christoph Probst was captured on 20 February 1943.

The main Gestapo interrogator was Robert Mohr, who initially thought Sophie was innocent. However, after Hans had confessed, Sophie assumed full responsibility in an attempt to protect other members of the White Rose.

In court before Judge Roland Freisler on 22 February 1943, Scholl was recorded as saying these words:

Somebody, after all, had 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.

This was their only defense; they were not allowed to call witnesses.

On 22 February 1943, Scholl, her brother Hans, and their friend Christoph Probst were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. They were all beheaded by guillotine by the executioner Johann Reichhart in Munich's Stadelheim Prison. Sophie was executed at 5:00 p.m., Hans at 5:02 p.m. and Christoph at 5:05 p.m. The execution was supervised by Walter Roemer, the head of enforcement of the Munich district court. Prison officials were impressed by the condemned prisoners' bravery, and let them smoke cigarettes together before they were executed.

Sophie's last known words are disputed, although her cellmate during her pre-trial custody in Wittelsbacher Palais, Else Gebel, remembers the last words Sophie said to her as:

How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause.... It is such a splendid sunny day, and I have to go. But how many have to die on the battlefield in these days, how many young, promising lives. What does my death matter if by our acts thousands are warned and alerted. Among the student body there will certainly be a revolt.

As for her last words, they were most likely either "God, my refuge unto eternity" or "The sun still shines."

Fritz Hartnagel was evacuated from Stalingrad in January 1943, but failed to reach Munich before Sophie was executed. In October 1945, he married Sophie's sister Elisabeth.