The TRAGIC Execution Of Sophie Scholl - The White Rose

During the Second World War and also in Germany in the 1930s, there were numerous groups within the country that opposed Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. Resistance to the Nazis and Hitler usually was put down rather brutally with those in opposition being sent to concentration camps, or even worse being put to death. One particular group 'The White Rose' lives on today in the memory for being a student group which featured two siblings who died for their beliefs.

Sophie Scholl at the age of 21 would be tragically executed using the guillotine at Stadelheim Prison in Munich. She had been part of the White Rose and had been caught alongside her brother distributing leaflets across Munich University which told people to rise up and defy the Nazis and Hitler. This was an incredibly serious thing, and many of those who practised acts of resistance like this would be sentenced to death for treason. Sophie had been an active part of the White Rose and their spreading of anti-Hitler propaganda, but she was caught.

A pro-Hitler janitor had caught Hans and Sophie Scholl throwing leaflets from a balcony at the University, and for this the Gestapo were called and the siblings arrested. They were placed on trial in a sham-trial, and then sentenced to death for treason. A day after this sentence they were executed, and Sophie's execution was performed using the guillotine by Johann Reichhart. It took a matter of seconds for the young girls life to be taken away.

Today she is remembered as an incredible and courageous young woman, who defied the tyranny of evil.