1934 A group of girls take an oath of allegiance at a gala event in Ulm, Germany. Among them is 13-year-old Sophie Scholl. Together with everyone, she was accepted into the Union of Girls organized by the Nazis for children, solemnly tying a symbolic black scarf. Three years later, Sophie joined the Union of German Girls, a youth organization within the Hitler Youth.
These facts are often cited as evidence that Sophie Scholl, who later became an active member of the underground group Weiße Rose and a symbol of resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, may have originally harbored sympathies for the Nazi regime. The theologian and historian Robert Zoske, in his book Sophie Scholl – No Regrets, tells of the long and sometimes painful process of developing a girl’s personality. “Sophie, presented in various sources, had many facets. And the fearless prisoner, as she appears at the end before the Nazi tribunal, is only one of many,” he writes and explains that she went down in history thanks to her inflexibility and perseverance, with which she defended her beliefs and actions.
Hitler Youth and the Union of German Girls as a tool to control youth
Sophie Scholl was born on May 9, 1921 in Forchtenberg. The family later moved to Ulm, where her father worked as a tax consultant. She grew up with four siblings in a liberal parental home where religion played an important role. She loved spending time in nature, reading and drawing a lot. Parents were critical of the National Socialist ideology and were unhappy that their children spoke with such enthusiasm about National Socialism and were active in the youth organizations of the Third Reich. At the same time, for young people of that time, membership in such groups meant a certain freedom and independence from the parental home, the opportunity to take responsibility and special attention from older comrades.
“For young Sophie Scholl, the Union of German Girls was very attractive, because there she could do what she liked: being in nature, climbing trees. She loved to sit by the fire. But what did she do? She read Rilke – the author , which was completely inconsistent with Nazi ideology … Therefore, I don’t know how fanatical it really was at that time,” says Werner Milstein, author of Someone Has to Start about Sophie Scholl.
Hitler’s plans for youth
At that time, many children and adolescents did not understand the true significance of the Hitler Youth for the regime. They were carried away by the spirit of collectivism, campaigns, songs, dreams of how they could serve the country. In fact, in the youth organizations of that time there was no question of any freedom, iron discipline reigned there, absolute submission, special importance was attached to the idea of German exceptionalism, propaganda of anti-Semitism and the cult of Hitler.
The National Socialists skillfully used youthful enthusiasm and maximalism for their own purposes. This was confirmed by Adolf Hitler during his speech to the relatives of members of the Hitler Youth on December 2, 1938 in Reichenberg: “These young people learn nothing more than to think in German, act in German, and, getting into our organization at the age of 10, these boys often only here for the first time in their lives get a breath of fresh air, and after another four years they move from the Jungvolk to the Hitler Youth, and there we educate them again for four years.After that, we definitely will not give them back into the hands of our old class and estate leaders, but we will immediately accept them into the party, into the German Labor Front, into the assault detachments or the SS … and they will no longer be free all their lives.
But not all teenagers and young people were as fanatical as the National Socialists wanted. “They thought that they had subjugated the young, that they had penetrated deep enough into their consciousness, and therefore they were shocked when something went wrong,” Werner Milstein said.
“White Rose” against Hitler
Youth resistance to the Nazi dictatorship mainly came from ecclesiastical and political groups. The National Socialists tried to “tame” children and adolescents by dissolving existing and creating new youth associations. Soon after Hitler came to power, everyone was forced to join the Hitler Youth. The regime took harsh measures against dissenters, up to and including imprisonment.
In German universities, students showed little resistance to the regime. The Munich resistance group White Rose, which included Sophie Scholl, was one of the few exceptions. “We will not be silent! We are your conscience,” was written in the group’s pamphlet.
Dream – shoot the Fuhrer
Why did Sophie Scholl turn into an uncompromising resistance fighter? This was facilitated by a number of events in her life. The letters of her friend Fritz Hartnagel, who spent several months on the Eastern Front as a nurse, had a great influence. In them, he described in detail the terrible reality. The persecution of the Jews was replaced in the “Third Reich” by a course towards their destruction. Human rights and already limited personal freedoms were increasingly infringed upon. The decisive change in the girl’s thoughts occurred, probably, after her father was imprisoned – for negative reviews about Hitler in a conversation with a colleague. The picture of the world imposed by propaganda has cracked. “Better unbearable pain than an insensible existence. Better a burning thirst, I’d rather pray for pain, pain, pain, than to feel emptiness … I rebel against this,” Sophie Scholl wrote in her diary on June 29, 1942.
A month earlier, she entered the University of Munich at the Faculty of Biology and Philosophy. Her elder brother Hans also studied medicine here. He, along with his friends Alexander Schmorell, Christoph Probst and Willi Graf, formed the core of the underground resistance group White Rose. The students, as well as a university professor who joined them, wrote and distributed leaflets calling for the fight against the Nazi regime and opposition to state propaganda.
The main weapon of struggle – leaflets
The first four “White Rose” leaflets were issued between June 27 and July 12, 1942. Sophie did not participate in this, she joined the “White Rose” a little later. In one of her letters to her parents, she admitted: “I’m ready for anything.” The girl got involved in underground work. “If Hitler walked in now and I had a gun, I would shoot him,” Sophie Scholl is quoted as saying in Someone’s Gotta Start.
It should be noted that the central figures throughout the existence of the “White Rose” were Hans Scholl and his friend Alexander Schmorell. However, with the advent of Sophie, the group began to become more active. So, after the Battle of Stalingrad, the members of the organization began to distribute leaflets calling for an uprising and the overthrow of the regime. And in early February 1943, they began to write the slogans “Down with Hitler” and “Freedom” on the walls of the university. Later, all nine members of the underground group “White Rose” were arrested, seven of them were executed.
Life and death for another Germany
The fate of Sophie and Hans Scholl was decided on February 18, 1943. At 10 o’clock in the morning they brought a heavy suitcase into the building of the University of Munich – it was stuffed with copies of the sixth leaflet of the White Rose. They have already managed to place about 1,700 copies in classrooms and corridors with the call: “Do not believe the National Socialist propaganda that makes you tremble before Bolshevism! <...> With the help of rational socialism, the working class must be liberated from the state of deepest slavery in which it finds itself.”
Sophie’s quick movement – whether intentional or accidental – caused the remaining stack to fall off the railing of the stairs to the top floor. Like white doves, leaflets scattered in all directions. The manager of the university, a member of the assault squads, who saw this, handed over the young people to the university administration, after which they were arrested by the Gestapo.
Four days later, on February 22, Hans and Sophie Scholl, as well as Christoph Probst, were sentenced to death for, as the text of the accusation says, “treacherous aiding the enemy, preparing treason and undermining the defense power.” On the evening of the same day, they were executed by guillotine. “Such a wonderful, sunny day, and I have to leave. But how many today have to die on the battlefields – so many young, promising people … What is the use of my death when thousands are already agitated by our actions,” – such, according to the testimony of her cellmate Elsa Goebel (Else Gebel), were one of the last words of 21-year-old Sophie Scholl.
What German schoolchildren know about Sophie Scholl
Stories about resistance groups against the Nazi dictatorship in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s are part of the compulsory school curriculum. In honor of the fighters against the then regime, streets, educational institutions, and a prestigious literary award were named. Books have been written and films made about the fate of Sophie and her brother, who have become a symbol of anti-fascist resistance. One of them, the biographical drama Sophie Scholl – The Last Days, is based on original court records and follows the arrest, interrogation and death sentence of the main members of the White Rose. The film has won numerous awards and was also nominated for an Oscar. There is also an information and art project about Sophie Scholl, prepared by the public law German media companies BR and SWR. It is called @ichbinsophiescholl and is posted on Instagram. Thanks to him, users can, as it were, see in real time the last 42 weeks from the life of a Munich student.
