SOPHIE SCHOLL & WHITE ROSE - A Thread 🧵
On this day #otd 100 yrs ago Sophie Scholl, #sophiesscholl was born in Forchtenberg, Germany
She would be executed by Gestapo aged 21 along with her brother & friends for her brave anti-Nazi activities with White Rose resistance group
Hans (b 1918) & Sophie Scholl were 2nd & 4th of 6 children of Robert Scholl, who was a liberal Christian pacifist & opposed to Nazis
Family were middle class & moved to Ulm in 1932
Robert Scholl was disappointed when his children joined Hitler Youth & German League of Girls
But disillusionment with the Nazi regime - encouraged by their father - soon set in
Hans was stripped of his rank in Hitler Youth after attacking an officer bullying a young boy
Sophie in 1937 joined underground anti-Nazi youth group Deutsche Jungenschaft vom 1.11.1929, dj.1.11
In 1937 Gestapo cracked down on illegal youth groups & raided Scholl family home. Sophie was arrested along with her sister Inge & brother Werner
Quick thinking of their mother Magdalena Scholl saved them. She hid their anti-Nazi literature in a basket & left ‘to visit bakery’
Seeing the antisemitic horrors of Kristallnacht in November 1938 & increased persecution of German Jews only increased determination of Scholls to resist the Nazi regime.
Then war broke out, Hans had already been enlisted & Sophie was forced to work in National Labour Camp
Core of White Rose group was Hans & his friend Alex Schmorell who met at University of Munich in 1940.
They were later joined by Christel Probst & Willie Graf & Professor Kurt Huber.
Sophie who started studying at University of Munich in 1942 also finally became involved
In June & July 1942 Hans & friends distributed 4 anti-Nazi leaflets entitled ‘Flyers of the White Rose’.
Written by Hans & Schmorell, they were mailed to people across Germany
This involved dangerous trips on trains to take leaflets in luggage & mail them from outside Munich
White Rose now wanted to broaden its appeal.
Members learnt from illegal radio sources like BBC that there were other resisters in Germany like Arvid & Mildred Harnack, members of Red Orchestra network who had been arrested by Gestapo in September 1942 & were later executed
Hans & Alex made contact with Arvid’s brother Falk Harnack & learnt of wider resistance movements
White Rose had ambitious plans to build cells of resistance in major universities across Germany & to recruit new members in multiple cities
Groups were set up in Hamburg & Berlin
Fifth & sixth leaflets were labelled as ‘Leaflets of the Resistance Movement in Germany: A Call to All Germans’.
They were more political, contained less religious & literary language & appealed for civil & human rights.
8-10,000 leaflets were disseminated in Germany & Austria
White Rose group bravely avoided Nazi police patrols & as part of a campaign of anti-Nazi graffitiing in February 1943 they painted ‘Freedom’ & ‘Down with Hitler’ on a Nazi memorial in downtown Munich infuriating the Gestapo & SS
But their 6th leaflet would be their last...
On February 18 1943, Hans & Sophie distributed 700-1800 copies of 6th anti-Nazi leaflet in University of Munich leaving copies on stairs & in corridors. While leaving, they noticed copies were left in their suitcase & tipped them from the balustrade.
They were seen & arrested
Sophie & Hans were interrogated for days by the Gestapo & stuck to their agreed story that they alone were responsible for the leaflets
But a handwritten draft of 7th leaflet written by Christel Probst was found & he too was arrested
They were charged with treason
Hardline Nazi Roland Freisler - known as ‘Hitler’s Hanging Judge’ - was brought into preside over court hearing
He proceeded to harangue & insult 3 young defendants before eventually passing the inevitable sentence of death by guillotine
They were executed a few hours later
Hans, Sophie & Christel resisted to the end
In court she retorted to Freisler “Someone had to make a start. What we said & wrote are what many are thinking”
Hans said to Freisler “You will soon stand where I stand now”
Hans’ shouted his last defiant words “long live freedom!”
Most of the remaining core membership of the White Rose group was later hunted down by the Gestapo
Alex Schmorell, Prof Kurt Huber & Willi Graf were arrested in late February 1943, tried for high treason on April 19 1943
Schmorell & Huber were executed in June, Graf in October
Courage of White Rose group was noted elsewhere in the world
Their deaths were reported in New York Times
Anti-fascist novelist Thomas Mann (much loved by Sophie) referred to them in a radio broadcast
Allies dropped reproductions of White Rose leaflets over Germany
Any form of resistance in Nazi Germany took a phenomenal amount of courage & White Rose Group are now rightly lauded & celebrated for the great bravery of their stance & the ultimate sacrifice they paid
They will continue to inspire anti-fascists all over the world
Quick note on sources. Must pay tribute to Annette Dumbach & Jud Newborn’s book ‘Sophie Scholl & The White Rose’ which we drew on heavily for this thread both in terms of its contents & its excellent photographs & primary sources including translations of the White Rose leaflets
But also recommend
‘The White Rose Munich, 1942-1943’ by Inge Scholl
‘At the Heart of the White Rose : Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl’
‘Sophie Scholl: The Real Story Behind German's Resistance Heroine’ by Frank McDonough
& film ‘Sophie Scholl – The Final Days’
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