The cell was cold and the grey, cement walls made it feel dark even
though the sunlight was pouring in through the window. Sophie shivered and blew
on her hands, as she surveyed the little room. There was nothing much to it -
three cots with a blanket on each, a little wooden table, the chair on which
she sat, and the blank piece of paper that lay before her.
Oh, that piece of paper! How could it ever hold all that she still
wanted to tell the world? There were things she wanted to write to her parents and
the siblings that she would leave behind. Hopes and dreams that had never been
voiced. Plans and ideas that could never happen now. Then there was the cause
itself, it must be carried on.
She picked up the pencil but didn't write. Instead, her eyes strayed to
the window and she watched as the sunlight poured in through the
bars.
Such a fine, sunny day. She recalled the dream she’d had in
the night. It had been a sunny day, just as it was now. She thought of
the child in the perfectly white dress that she had carried. She thought of the
steepness of the hill that led up to the church. If only she could have made it
to the top and placed the child safely down!
She sighed, she could still feel the terrible sensation of the ground
giving way; of falling as a chasm opened up beneath her. She trembled for a
moment as she thought of what that chasm represented and yet, she felt a
strange peace about it all. The child had been put safely down on the solid
ground after all. She had only been meant to carry it for a short while. Now
she was going to the place that the Lord had gone ahead to prepare for
her.
"The child is our idea. In spite of all obstacles, it will
prevail." She had told her cell mates earlier that morning. "We were
permitted to be pioneers, though we must die early for its sake."
The other girls hadn't seemed to understand, but she hoped someone
would. Someone had to carry on in the cause.
"How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly
anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Such a
fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but how many are dying on the battlefield in
these days, how many young promising lives." She sighed. "What does
my death matter, if, through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred
to action?"
She spoke aloud though there was now no one else in the cell. They were
words that needed to be heard. She glanced down again at the clean, white sheet
of paper and finally she knew what to write. A single word would suffice to
tell all. She scribbled it across the page and then jumped to her feet for she
heard a key turning in the lock.
A moment later, a guard led her out and the cell was left empty. Only
the piece of paper remained to tell of her presence there. On one side, in the
font of a typewriter, was the indictment that read:
'Hans Fritz Scholl, Sophia Magdalena Scholl, and Christoph Hermann
Probst are accused:
In 1942 and 1943, in Munich, Ausburg, Salzburg, Vienna, Stuttgart, and
Linz, committing together the same acts:
I. With attempted high treason, namely to change the constitution of the
Reich, and acting with intent to...
1.) organize a conspiracy for the preparation of high treason,
2.) render the armed forces unfit for the performance of their duty of
protecting the German Reich against internal and external attack,
3.) influence the masses through the preparation and distribution of
writings.
II. With having attempted, in the internal area of the Reich, during
time of war, to give aid to the enemy against the Reich, injuring the war
potential of the Reich.
III. With having attempted to cripple and weaken the will of the German
people and to take measures against their defense and self determination.
The accused on the whole were willing to admit to their acts and on this
account they are to be punished by death. Their honour and rights as citizens
are forfeited for all time.'
They had done it all, just as the indictment said. They hadn't denied it
and they weren't ashamed of it. They didn't consider fighting injustice and
pleading with the German people to surrender the war to be crimes.
Yes, it had all been done just as the indictment read. It had all been
done through simple words. On the opposite side of the paper, Sophie had left
one more. One more word that enunciated all that they had already said; all
that they had desired to achieve. One more word to plead with the German people.
One more word to show the victory that she felt even in facing death. The word
she scribbled on the back of the indictment was: FREEDOM
Hans had left a similar message etched onto the wall of his cell. It was
a quote that his father had him commit to memory as a child:
"Hold out in defiance of all despotism" -Goethe
These siblings wanted the German people to be free but they knew that
they could only gain freedom through surrender. While they allowed wicked men
to council them to fight for their own gain, while they continued to exercise
cruelty for “the furtherance of their own people” they could never truly
be free. Never free as God intended them to be free.
Hans, Sophie, and Christoph had forfeited their honour and rights as
German citizens for all time, but in so doing they had maintained their honour
and rights in a higher kingdom. It was this that they longed for Germany to
understand.
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will
lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew xvi.25)
Hans, Sophie, and Christoph had freedom even in death. That was a true
freedom. Not freedom to do what was right in their own eyes, but freedom to do
that which was actually right.
They had died for exercising that freedom. Nazi Germany and its ideals
would likewise have to die if its citizens were ever to taste that kind of
freedom. The same is true for all that is wrong, sinful, and rebellious within
you and I.
True freedom is not to do whatever you think is right, but what is truly
right no matter the consequence.
"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do
not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians v.1)
In Christ
Quiana
The story above is written in a historical fiction format but it is entirely based off of the biographical record of Hans and Sophie Scholl as recorded by their sister Inge Scholl in The White Rose. The dialogue, indictment, and all other facts were taken directly from that resource.
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