Geschwister Scholl
Encyclopedia
Hans Scholl
Hans Fritz Scholl was a founding member of the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany.-Biography:...
and Sophie Scholl
Sophie Scholl
Sophia Magdalena Scholl was a German student, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. She was convicted of high treason after having been found distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich with her brother Hans...
, who were members of the White Rose
White Rose
The White Rose was a non-violent/intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor...
, a student group in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
that was active in the non-violent
Nonviolence
Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...
resistance
German Resistance
The German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...
movement in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, especially in distributing flyers against the war and the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. In post-war Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Hans and Sophie Scholl are recognized as symbols of the humanist German resistance movevement against the totalitarian Nazi regime.
Biography
In a broader, genealogical sense, there were actually five Scholl siblings: Inge (1917-1998), Hans (1918−1943), Elisabeth (* 1920), Sophie (1921-1943) and Werner Scholl (1922-1944), whose family lived in Württemberg, in the towns of Forchtenberg (until 1930), Ludwigsburg (1930-1932) and Ulm (1932-).On February 18, 1943, two of the siblings, Hans and Sophie Scholl, were distrubuting flyers at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich when they were caught by the custodian, Jakob Schmid, who informed the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
. By February 22, 1943, they had been sentenced to death by the People's Court, led by Judge-President Roland Freisler
Roland Freisler
Roland Freisler was a prominent and notorious Nazi lawyer and judge. He was State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice and President of the People's Court , which was set up outside constitutional authority...
and were executed by Guillotine
Guillotine
The guillotine is a device used for carrying out :executions by decapitation. It consists of a tall upright frame from which an angled blade is suspended. This blade is raised with a rope and then allowed to drop, severing the head from the body...
on the same day in the Stadelheim Prison
Stadelheim Prison
Stadelheim Prison, in Munich's Giesing district, is one of the largest prisons in Germany.Founded in 1894 it was the site of many executions, particularly by guillotine during the Nazi period.-Notable inmates:...
. Their grave is in the adjacent Perlacher Forst cemetery (Grave number 73-1-18/19).
Posthumous Recognition
Geschwister-Scholl-Preis
The Geschwister-Scholl-Preis is a literary prize which was initiated in 1980 by the State Association of Bavaria in the Stock Market Society of the German Book Trade and the city of Munich...
is a literary prize initiated by the State Association of Bavaria (Landesverband Bayern e. V.) in the Stock Market Society of the German Book Trade (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels) and the city of Munich. Since 1980, they have annually awarded this prize to the book which "shows intellectual independence and supports civil freedom, moral, intellectual and aesthetic courage and that gives an important impulse to the present awareness of responsibility" ("...das von geistiger Unabhängigkeit zeugt und geeignet ist, bürgerliche Freiheit, moralischen, intellektuellen und ästhetischen Mut zu fördern und dem gegenwärtigen Verantwortungsbewusstsein wichtige Impulse zu geben").
There are many memorial places for the Scholl siblings at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. The new Geschwister-Scholl-Institut for political science, founded in the post-war era, was named after them on Januar 30, 1968. The area in front of the university's main building is named "Geschwister-Scholl-Platz." The last flyer of the White Rose is set in the ground. Since 1997, a memorial to the Geschwister Scholl and other members of the White Rose can be found in the atrium of the main building, and since 2005, a bronze bust of Sophie Scholl. The Geschwister-Scholl-Preis is awarded annually in the auditorium of the university. However, a proposal by the student government to rename the university "Geschwister Scholl University" was rejected by the university's leadership.
In addition, since 1945, many cities in both the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
have named streets, plazas and schools after the Scholl siblings. Geschwister-Scholl-Schule is the most common school name in Germany. In the Thuringian town of Flurstedt, there is even a Geschwister-Scholl fountain.
External links
- Sophie Scholl in Ludwigsburg Website about Sophie Scholl's childhood years in Ludwigsbug, Germany