1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: Hi again, Welcome to this day in history class where 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:19,959 Speaker 1: history waits for no one. Today is February. The day 3 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: was February nineteen. German student and anti Nazi activists Sophie Shoal, 4 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: her brother Hans, and their friend Christoph Prost were on 5 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: trial for treason at the People's Court in the Munich 6 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 1: Palace of Justice. Just four days prior, they had been 7 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,479 Speaker 1: arrested and indicted for treason after they were caught passing 8 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: out pamphlets at the University of Munich that condemned the 9 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: Nazi regime. So on February, the infamous Nazi judge Roland 10 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: Freisler found all three of them guilty and sentenced them 11 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: to death. The verdict came down quote that the accused 12 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: heaven time of war, by means of leaflets, called for 13 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: the sabotage of the war effort and armaments, and for 14 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: the overthrow of the national socialist way of life of 15 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:20,559 Speaker 1: our people, have propagated defeatist ideas and have most vulgarly 16 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: defamed the furor, thereby giving aid to the enemy of 17 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: the Reich and weakening the armed security of the nation. 18 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: On this account, there to be punished by death. Their 19 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,680 Speaker 1: honor and rights as citizens are forfeited for all time. 20 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:43,680 Speaker 1: At five PM. Just a few hours later, executioner Johann 21 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: Reichart beheaded Sophie at the guillotine, followed by Christophe then Hans. 22 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: The shows Improst were members of the non violent political 23 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: resistance group called White Rose, which formed in Nazi Germany 24 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: nineteen forty two. The group wrote and distributed leaflets and 25 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: put up graffiti that denounced Nazi policies and encouraged people 26 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:14,120 Speaker 1: to resist the Nazi regime. But Sophie had not always 27 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: been so fervently anti Nazi. Sophie's parents, Magdalena and Robert Shoal, 28 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: opposed Hitler in the Nazi regime. Robert was even imprisoned 29 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty two after telling his secretary the war 30 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: it is already lost. This Hitler is God's scourge on 31 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: mankind and if the war doesn't end soon, the Russians 32 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: will be sitting in Berlin. But early on the Shoal 33 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: siblings had bought into Nazi ideology, believing that Hitler would 34 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:51,520 Speaker 1: improve the country. As children, Hans and his brother Werner 35 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: joined the Hitler Youth, the youth organization of the Nazi 36 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: party that was designed to indoctrinate children with not sill 37 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: g and to train members to fight for the Nazis 38 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: as soldiers. Sophie and her sisters joined the League of 39 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: German Girls, a branch of the Hitler youth movement that 40 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,360 Speaker 1: aimed to train Nazee girls and not see ideology and motherhood. 41 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: But as they grew older, the Shuls siblings grew disillusioned 42 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 1: with Nazi views. After realizing how much Nazi propaganda they 43 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: were learning in school, how much their views were being suppressed, 44 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: and how many of their Jewish classmates were being forced 45 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: to leave school, the siblings changed their tune. Hans had 46 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: even served on the Eastern Front as a medic, where 47 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,280 Speaker 1: he saw the abuse of Jewish laborers and heard rumors 48 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: of the mass murder of Jewish people. So Sophie, Hans 49 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: and other disillusion University of Munich students, including Christoph Prost, 50 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: Alexander Schmorell, and Billy Groff, began reading anti Nazi sar Men's. 51 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: They also attended classes taught by psychology and philosophy professor 52 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: Kurt Huber, whose lectures included bill criticisms of the Nazi regime, 53 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: and in June of nineteen forty two, they decided to 54 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: take action by sending out pamphlets outing Nazi atrocities and 55 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: urging people to reject Nazi ideology and rebel against the regime. 56 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: The movement gained ground as they mailed out leaflets to 57 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: random people, left them in stairwells on campus, placed them 58 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: in phone booths, and took them by train to other 59 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 1: cities outside of Munich. But the Gestapo Nazi Germany's political 60 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: police were looking to silence any dissenting voices, and the 61 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: creators of the White Rose pamphlets were one of their targets. 62 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:55,920 Speaker 1: So on February nineteen forty three, Hans and Sophie took 63 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: a suitcase full of copies of White Roses sixth pamphlet 64 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: the University of Munich, throwing some out into a courtyard, 65 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 1: but a custodian caught them in the act and reported 66 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: them to the Gestapo, who proceeded to interrogate Hans, Sophie 67 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: and other White Rose members. The Gestapo ended up finding 68 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 1: a leaflet drafted by Kristof Probst on Hans Shul, incriminating 69 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: his collaborator, So Sophie, Hans and Kristoff stood trial on 70 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: February twenty two, but the so called People's Court that 71 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: held the trial was just a vehicle for the Third 72 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: Reich to hand out a ton of death sentences for 73 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: supposed political crimes, and the trial was really just a 74 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:46,799 Speaker 1: show trial as there were no witnesses or evidence presented. 75 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: The three were sentenced to death, but were surprisingly courageous 76 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,000 Speaker 1: in the face of their executions, which were set to 77 00:05:56,040 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: occur that very afternoon in Stottleheim Prison mh. Just before 78 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: he was beheaded, Hans cried, long Live freedom. Many other 79 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: White Rose members were tried and executed later that year. 80 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: I'm Eaves, Jeff Coote, and hopefully you know a little 81 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd 82 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: like to learn more about the White Rose group, you 83 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: can listen to the stuff you missed in history class 84 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: classic episode called the White Rose in Nazi Germany. Get 85 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:35,279 Speaker 1: more notes from History on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at 86 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: T d i h C podcast. Thank you for joining 87 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,560 Speaker 1: me today. See you same place, same time tomorrow.