Sophie Scholl was a student in Munich when the war began. She and her older
brother Hans were horrified at what was happening in their country under the
Nazi regime, and along with a few friends and one of their professors, started a
resistance movement called Die Weiße Rose (The White Rose).
They published six such leaflets over the course of 1942 and into 1943. It
was while distributing the sixth leaflet at the University of Munich on February
18, 1943 that Sophie was arrested by the Gestapo, along with her brother Hans
and their friend Christoph Probst. They were condemned to death on February 22nd
and were executed by guillotine only a few hours later. Sophie Scholl was 21
years old.
"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."
~ Statement to the Volksgerichtshof [People's Court] of
Judge Roland Freisler (21 February 1943)
11:48 pm
