Sophie Scholl – The Final Days
Encyclopedia
Sophie Scholl – The Final Days is a 2005 German film by director Marc Rothemund
and writer Fred Breinersdorfer
. It is about the last days in the life of Sophie Scholl
, a 21-year-old member of the anti-Nazi
non-violent student resistance group the White Rose
, part of the German Resistance
movement. She was found guilty of high treason by the People’s Court
and executed the same day, February 22, 1943.
The film was presented at the Berlinale in 2005 and won Silver Bear awards for Best Director and Best Actress (Julia Jentsch
). It was nominated in September 2005 for an Oscar in the category Best Foreign Language Film.
, Sophie Scholl and a close friend, Gisela Schertling, are bent over a radio. They sing along softly as Billie Holiday
sings "Sugar". Sophie announces that she must go. She walks through darkened streets and quietly steps in a door. In a cellar studio, members of the White Rose
student organization, including Sophie's brother Hans
, are preparing copies of their sixth leaflet. They have mimeographed more than they can distribute through the mail. Hans hits on the idea of distributing the extras at university the next day. Willi argues that the risks are unacceptable. Hans announces that he will take full responsibility. Trying to reassure the others, Sophie volunteers to assist Hans, explaining that a woman is less likely to attract the attention of any security personnel.
The next day, Sophie carries a small suitcase as she and Hans walk to the main building of Munich University. They cross the square that now bears their name (Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, "Scholl Siblings Square"). In the building, where classes are in session, they set about putting down stacks of leaflets near the doors of lecture rooms. With only minutes left until the period ends, they start to leave, but Sophie tells Hans she still has some copies left over. Running to the top (third) floor, she sets a stack of leaflets on the balustrade, then impulsively pushes them over the edge. The mass of sheets flutters to the floor of the great atrium. Descending the stairs, Hans and Sophie seem safely enveloped in the anonymous throng of students emerging from lecture rooms. However a janitor who saw Sophie scatter the leaflets shouts at them to stop, detains them until police come (quickly) and arrest them. The Gestapo
orders that the building shall be sealed.
The siblings are taken to the Munich Stadelheim Prison
, where Sophie is interrogated by Gestapo investigator Robert Mohr
. Claiming initially to be apolitical, she presents an elaborate alibi; she and her brother had nothing to do with the fliers, she merely noticed them in the hall and pushed a stack off the railing because it is in her nature to play pranks; she had an empty suitcase because she was going to visit her parents in Ulm and planned to bring back some clothes. Her deception seems to be working; she is dismissed. As her release form is about to be approved, though, the order comes not to let her go. She is placed in a prison cell with fellow prisoner Else Gebel.
The investigation has found incontrovertible evidence that Sophie and Hans were indeed responsible for the distribution of anti-Nazi leaflets. Sophie concedes her involvement (as has Hans) but, determined to protect the others, steadfastly maintains that the production and distribution of (thousands of) copies of leaflets in cities throughout the region were entirely the work of Hans and herself. Mohr admonishes her to support the laws that preserve order in a society that has funded her education (and the educations of her friends); Scholl counters that before 1933 the laws preserved the right of free speech. She has seen police spit in the face of her Jewish schoolteacher, seen mentally disabled children taken away in trucks to be euthanized, learned about the Jewish extermination camps from soldiers returned from the eastern front. Some lives are unworthy, Mohr suggests; every life is precious, counters Sophie, final judgments are not for humans to make. Mohr cannot understand how conscience can be a reliable basis for action. "Without law, there is no order. What can we rely on if not the law?" Mohr asks. Sophie mildly replies, "Your conscience. Laws change. Conscience doesn't." He is affronted by her frank dismissal of Hitler. When she says that she is willing to accept all blame, and refuses to name accomplices, he ends the interrogation.
Sophie, her brother and a married friend with three young children, Christoph Probst
, are charged with treason
, troop demoralization and abetting the enemy. In the subsequent show trial
, Probst is the first to be examined by President of the People's Court Roland Freisler
, whose prosecutorial zeal makes the nominal prosecutor superfluous. Freisler contemptuously dismisses Probst's appeals to spare his life so that his children can have a father.
Hans maintains a taut composure in the face of Freisler's increasingly impatient questioning. Declining to answer only what he is asked, he avers that the defeat of the Nazi state has been made inevitable by the alliance of Russia, Britain and the United States; all Hitler can do is prolong the war. He has seen the conditions on the Eastern Front; the judge has not. In her own examination, Sophie declares that many people agree with what she and her group have said and written, but they dare not express such thoughts. Freisler pronounces the three defendants guilty and calls on each to make a brief final statement. Sophie tells the court that “where we stand today, you [Freisler] will stand soon.”
Sophie, who had been told that legal practice was that execution was not earlier than 99 days after conviction, learns that she is to be executed that day. She is put into a room, where a table and chair are, with paper and pen to write her last words while fighting to maintain her composure. Then she is told that she has visitors. She is visited by her parents, who express their approval of what she has done. She assures her mother they will meet again in heaven. Mohr comes to the prison and sadly watches Sophie taken away after understanding her predicament. The prison chaplain comes and she receives his blessing. He tells her she has the greatest love of all — to give up one's life for one's friends. She is led into a cell where Christoph Probst and Hans await. They quietly share a cigarette, then embrace. Probst remarks that what they did was not in vain. As Sophie is led into a courtyard, she says "The sun is still shining" She is brought to the execution chamber and placed in a guillotine. The blade falls and the picture goes black. Footsteps are heard, then Hans's voice exclaiming "Es lebe die Freiheit!" ("Long live Freedom!"). Another shudder as the blade closes. More footsteps, a third fall of the blade (Probst).
In the closing shot, thousands of leaflets fall from the sky over Munich. A title explains that copies of the White Rose manifesto were smuggled to Scandinavia and thence to England, where the Allies printed millions of copies of the "Manifesto of the Students of Munich" that were subsequently dropped on German cities. The first frames of the credits list the names of the seven members of the White Rose group who were executed, more than a dozen who were imprisoned, and supporters and sympathizers who received draconian punishments.
Marc Rothemund
Marc Rothemund is a German film director. He is the son of the film director Sigi Rothemund and the brother of the actress Nina Rothemund. He began his career as an assistant for his father and then began to direct episodes for TV series. His first feature film was the 1998 production Das...
and writer Fred Breinersdorfer
Fred Breinersdorfer
Fred Breinersdorfer is a prominent German screenwriter, producer and film director.- Work :Fred Breinersdorfer studied law and worked as a lawyer before he debuted as an author of crime fiction in 1980, writing detective novels published by Rowohlt...
. It is about the last days in the life of 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...
, a 21-year-old member of the anti-Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
non-violent student resistance group 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...
, part of the German 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. She was found guilty of high treason by the People’s Court
People's Court (German)
The People's Court was a court established in 1934 by German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, who had been dissatisfied with the outcome of the Reichstag Fire Trial . The "People's Court" was set up outside the operations of the constitutional frame of law...
and executed the same day, February 22, 1943.
The film was presented at the Berlinale in 2005 and won Silver Bear awards for Best Director and Best Actress (Julia Jentsch
Julia Jentsch
Julia Jentsch is a Silver Bear, two-time European Film Award, and Lola winning German actress. She is best known as the title character in Sophie Scholl – The Final Days, Jule in The Edukators and, Liza in I Served the King of England.-Career:Jentsch was born to a family of lawyers in Berlin and...
). It was nominated in September 2005 for an Oscar in the category Best Foreign Language Film.
Plot
In student lodgings in MunichMunich
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...
, Sophie Scholl and a close friend, Gisela Schertling, are bent over a radio. They sing along softly as Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
sings "Sugar". Sophie announces that she must go. She walks through darkened streets and quietly steps in a door. In a cellar studio, 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...
student organization, including Sophie's brother Hans
Hans Scholl
Hans Fritz Scholl was a founding member of the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany.-Biography:...
, are preparing copies of their sixth leaflet. They have mimeographed more than they can distribute through the mail. Hans hits on the idea of distributing the extras at university the next day. Willi argues that the risks are unacceptable. Hans announces that he will take full responsibility. Trying to reassure the others, Sophie volunteers to assist Hans, explaining that a woman is less likely to attract the attention of any security personnel.
The next day, Sophie carries a small suitcase as she and Hans walk to the main building of Munich University. They cross the square that now bears their name (Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, "Scholl Siblings Square"). In the building, where classes are in session, they set about putting down stacks of leaflets near the doors of lecture rooms. With only minutes left until the period ends, they start to leave, but Sophie tells Hans she still has some copies left over. Running to the top (third) floor, she sets a stack of leaflets on the balustrade, then impulsively pushes them over the edge. The mass of sheets flutters to the floor of the great atrium. Descending the stairs, Hans and Sophie seem safely enveloped in the anonymous throng of students emerging from lecture rooms. However a janitor who saw Sophie scatter the leaflets shouts at them to stop, detains them until police come (quickly) and arrest them. 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...
orders that the building shall be sealed.
The siblings are taken to the Munich 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:...
, where Sophie is interrogated by Gestapo investigator Robert Mohr
Robert Mohr (Gestapo)
Robert Mohr was an interrogation specialist of the Gestapo. He headed the special commission that was responsible for the search for, and arrest of, the White Rose, part of the German Resistance to Nazism.-Early Life:Robert Mohr was born in 1897 into the family of a Palatine-born master mason, one...
. Claiming initially to be apolitical, she presents an elaborate alibi; she and her brother had nothing to do with the fliers, she merely noticed them in the hall and pushed a stack off the railing because it is in her nature to play pranks; she had an empty suitcase because she was going to visit her parents in Ulm and planned to bring back some clothes. Her deception seems to be working; she is dismissed. As her release form is about to be approved, though, the order comes not to let her go. She is placed in a prison cell with fellow prisoner Else Gebel.
The investigation has found incontrovertible evidence that Sophie and Hans were indeed responsible for the distribution of anti-Nazi leaflets. Sophie concedes her involvement (as has Hans) but, determined to protect the others, steadfastly maintains that the production and distribution of (thousands of) copies of leaflets in cities throughout the region were entirely the work of Hans and herself. Mohr admonishes her to support the laws that preserve order in a society that has funded her education (and the educations of her friends); Scholl counters that before 1933 the laws preserved the right of free speech. She has seen police spit in the face of her Jewish schoolteacher, seen mentally disabled children taken away in trucks to be euthanized, learned about the Jewish extermination camps from soldiers returned from the eastern front. Some lives are unworthy, Mohr suggests; every life is precious, counters Sophie, final judgments are not for humans to make. Mohr cannot understand how conscience can be a reliable basis for action. "Without law, there is no order. What can we rely on if not the law?" Mohr asks. Sophie mildly replies, "Your conscience. Laws change. Conscience doesn't." He is affronted by her frank dismissal of Hitler. When she says that she is willing to accept all blame, and refuses to name accomplices, he ends the interrogation.
Sophie, her brother and a married friend with three young children, Christoph Probst
Christoph Probst
Christoph Hermann Probst was a German student of medicine and a member of the White Rose resistance group.-White Rose:...
, are charged with treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, troop demoralization and abetting the enemy. In the subsequent show trial
Show trial
The term show trial is a pejorative description of a type of highly public trial in which there is a strong connotation that the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as...
, Probst is the first to be examined by President of the People's Court 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...
, whose prosecutorial zeal makes the nominal prosecutor superfluous. Freisler contemptuously dismisses Probst's appeals to spare his life so that his children can have a father.
Hans maintains a taut composure in the face of Freisler's increasingly impatient questioning. Declining to answer only what he is asked, he avers that the defeat of the Nazi state has been made inevitable by the alliance of Russia, Britain and the United States; all Hitler can do is prolong the war. He has seen the conditions on the Eastern Front; the judge has not. In her own examination, Sophie declares that many people agree with what she and her group have said and written, but they dare not express such thoughts. Freisler pronounces the three defendants guilty and calls on each to make a brief final statement. Sophie tells the court that “where we stand today, you [Freisler] will stand soon.”
Sophie, who had been told that legal practice was that execution was not earlier than 99 days after conviction, learns that she is to be executed that day. She is put into a room, where a table and chair are, with paper and pen to write her last words while fighting to maintain her composure. Then she is told that she has visitors. She is visited by her parents, who express their approval of what she has done. She assures her mother they will meet again in heaven. Mohr comes to the prison and sadly watches Sophie taken away after understanding her predicament. The prison chaplain comes and she receives his blessing. He tells her she has the greatest love of all — to give up one's life for one's friends. She is led into a cell where Christoph Probst and Hans await. They quietly share a cigarette, then embrace. Probst remarks that what they did was not in vain. As Sophie is led into a courtyard, she says "The sun is still shining" She is brought to the execution chamber and placed in a guillotine. The blade falls and the picture goes black. Footsteps are heard, then Hans's voice exclaiming "Es lebe die Freiheit!" ("Long live Freedom!"). Another shudder as the blade closes. More footsteps, a third fall of the blade (Probst).
In the closing shot, thousands of leaflets fall from the sky over Munich. A title explains that copies of the White Rose manifesto were smuggled to Scandinavia and thence to England, where the Allies printed millions of copies of the "Manifesto of the Students of Munich" that were subsequently dropped on German cities. The first frames of the credits list the names of the seven members of the White Rose group who were executed, more than a dozen who were imprisoned, and supporters and sympathizers who received draconian punishments.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Julia Jentsch Julia Jentsch Julia Jentsch is a Silver Bear, two-time European Film Award, and Lola winning German actress. She is best known as the title character in Sophie Scholl – The Final Days, Jule in The Edukators and, Liza in I Served the King of England.-Career:Jentsch was born to a family of lawyers in Berlin and... |
Sophia Magdalena '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... |
| Fabian Hinrichs Fabian Hinrichs Fabian Hinrichs is a German actor. He is probably the best known for his performance as Hans Scholl in Sophie Scholl – The Final Days, which was nominated for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.... |
Hans Fritz Scholl Hans Scholl Hans Fritz Scholl was a founding member of the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany.-Biography:... |
| Gerald Alexander Held | Robert Mohr Robert Mohr (Gestapo) Robert Mohr was an interrogation specialist of the Gestapo. He headed the special commission that was responsible for the search for, and arrest of, the White Rose, part of the German Resistance to Nazism.-Early Life:Robert Mohr was born in 1897 into the family of a Palatine-born master mason, one... |
| Johanna Gastdorf | Else Gebel |
| André Hennicke André Hennicke André Hennicke is a German actor.Hennicke was born in Johanngeorgenstadt in Saxony. He was awarded a German television award for his work in Toter Mann in 2002... |
Dr. 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... |
| Florian Stetter | Christoph Hermann Probst Christoph Probst Christoph Hermann Probst was a German student of medicine and a member of the White Rose resistance group.-White Rose:... |
| Maximilian Brückner Maximilian Brückner Maximilian, greatest name in the world, Brückner is a German actor. He has won numerous awards including the Deutscher Kritikerpreis in 2006 and received a European Shooting Stars Award in 2007.... |
Willi Graf Willi Graf Willi Graf was a member of the White Rose resistance group in Nazi Germany.... |
| Johannes Suhm | Alexander Schmorell Alexander Schmorell Alexander Schmorell was one of five Munich University students who formed a resistance group known as White Rose which was active against Germany's Nazi regime from June 1942 to February 1943.-Early life:Schmorell's father, a medical doctor, was a German born and raised in Russia... |
| Lilli Jung | Gisela Schertling |
| Petra Kelling | Magdalena Scholl |
| Jörg Hube Jörg Hube Jörg Hube was a German actor and director. He died of cancer.- Theatre :Some of Hube's roles:*1973 in Plenzdorf's Die neuen Leiden des jungen W., München*1974 in Brechts Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe... |
Robert Scholl Robert Scholl Robert Scholl was a Württembergian politician and father of Hans and Sophie Scholl. Scholl was a liberal and a critic of the Nazi regime. He also co-founded the All-German People's Party after the war.-Personal life:... |
| Franz Staber | Werner Scholl |
Awards and recognition
- Berlin Film Festival, 2005
- Silver Bear: Best Director - Marc RothemundMarc RothemundMarc Rothemund is a German film director. He is the son of the film director Sigi Rothemund and the brother of the actress Nina Rothemund. He began his career as an assistant for his father and then began to direct episodes for TV series. His first feature film was the 1998 production Das...
- Silver Bear: Best Actress - Julia JentschJulia JentschJulia Jentsch is a Silver Bear, two-time European Film Award, and Lola winning German actress. She is best known as the title character in Sophie Scholl – The Final Days, Jule in The Edukators and, Liza in I Served the King of England.-Career:Jentsch was born to a family of lawyers in Berlin and...
- Silver Bear: Best Director - Marc Rothemund
- European Film Awards, 2005
- Best European Actress - Julia Jentsch
- Audience Award
- German Film Awards (LolasDeutscher FilmpreisThe Deutscher Filmpreis is the highest German movie award. From 1951 to 2004 it was awarded by a commission, since 2005 the award has been given by the Deutsche Filmakademie...
)- Audience Award
- Best Film, Silver Prize
- Best acting performance (female main role) - Julia Jentsch
- 78th Academy Awards78th Academy AwardsThe 78th Academy Awards honored the best films of 2005 and were held on March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. They were hosted by The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, with Tom Kane making his first appearance as the show's announcer...
- Nominated for Best Foreign Language FilmAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language FilmThe Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
- Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film