Sophie Scholl is one of the most famous women in German history. As a member of the White Rose, she opposed the Nazi regime alongside her brother Hans.
Sophie Scholl, the fourth child of Lina and Robert Scholl, was born on 9 May 1921 in Forchtenberg, a small town in what is now Baden-Württemberg. Her father Robert was mayor of the town and her mother Lina was a housewife. Her parents attached great importance to education and independence; Lina Scholl also instilled Christian values in her children.
In 1930, the Scholl family moved to Ludwigsburg and, two years later, to Ulm, where Robert Scholl opened a tax office. Against their parents' wishes, the five Scholl siblings, Inge, Hans, Elisabeth, Sophie and Werner, joined the Hitler Youth in 1933. At just 13 years old, Sophie also swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler. At 16, Sophie Scholl fell in love with a cadet four years her senior, Fritz Hartnagel, who became her first boyfriend. It was during these years that she turned away from the Nazi system: she found the temporary arrest of her brothers and sisters for ‘Bündische Umtriebe’ unjust and the restriction of intellectual freedom in Germany oppressive. Sophie Scholl loved modern art and literature and did not understand the National Socialist's restrictive view of art.
After obtaining her baccalaureate, she trained as a teacher in Ulm. When she was then forced, far from her family and friends, to do a year of compulsory labour service for the Reich, the young woman experienced a profound crisis. In 1941, Sophie Scholl questioned everything: her faith, her love for Fritz and her own actions, which she felt were not consistent enough. Nevertheless, in 1942 she began studying philosophy and biology in Munich. She was warmly welcomed by the circle of friends of her brother Hans, who also lived in the city. But the dictatorship and the war weighed too heavily on her. Her sense of duty to do something against the unjust regime grew stronger every day. When Hans Scholl and Alexander Schmorell wrote the first leaflets of the “White Rose” in June and July 1942, calling for resistance against the Nazi dictatorship, it was clear to Sophie Scholl that she too would join the resistance.
In January 1943, Sophie Scholl joined the inner circle of the White Rose, alongside Hans Scholl, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, Christoph Probst and Professor Kurt Huber. On the morning of 18 February 1943, Sophie and Hans Scholl were discovered by the caretaker and arrested while distributing leaflets at the University of Munich. When questioned by the Gestapo, Sophie defended her actions: ‘I still believe that I did the only thing I could do for my people. I therefore have no regrets.’
On 22 February 1943, Sophie and Hans Scholl, along with Christoph Probst, were sentenced to death by the People's Court and executed by guillotine on the same day. Today, Sophie Scholl, who was murdered at the age of 21, and her comrades in the struggle have become role models for people all over the world.
Sources:
● Maren Gottschalk, author of a biography on Sophie Scholl: ‘Wie schwer ein Menschenleben wiegt’ (How Heavy a Human Life Weighs), published in 2022.
● https://www.deutschland.de/fr/topic/politique/sophie-scholl-resistante-engagee-contre-le-regime-nazi-allemand