This movie is based on historical facts, so far unpublished
interrogations and new interviews with witnesses.
SOPHIE SCHOLL The Final Days
Sugar, I call my baby my sugar
I never maybe my sugar That sugar baby of mine
He's special ration
Funny, he never asks for my money
All I give him is honey
And that he can spend anytime
I'd make a million trips to lips If I were a bee
Because he's sweeter than chocolate candy to me
- Gisela, I have to leave. - Where are you going?
- Gisela. - Oh, I see.
Come on, let's go
- Ok, see you tomorrow noon at the English park. - At the lake cabin?
- Yes. Hans really should give me a phone call. - I'll remind him.
- Has he calmed down now? - You shouldn't have yelled at him.
But it's forgotten already.
Finally, about time. Continue.
- Is this all? - This is the rest, no more...
"Shaken and broken, our people behold the loss of the men of Stalingrad.
330,000 German men have been senselessly and irresponsibly driven
to death and destruction by the inspired strategy of our WWI Private First Class."
Sophie! Willi would be very happy if you helped him.
Here are the stamps, and the list.
Thanks.
What about the rest?
I'll distribute them at the university tomorrow.
- Are you crazy? - Willi, the recent demonstrations of female students
- almost succeeded. - That's why Gestapo are in the first degree alert now.
- Hans... - Don't forget our slogans are everywhere
Hans, before we get new envelopes we can hide the rest under the boards.
That won't work. There are none left. Lack of paper.
It's already pretty dangerous to write slogans on walls at night...
But giving out flyers at campus in the day time... Are you mad?
We have to do something now! Let's bring along the whole city!
Now after Stalingrad the campus is swarmed by snitches!
When the Bolsheviks come they'll at least be able
- to catch the spies in one heap. - If I were you
I wouldn't wish for Russians to come before Americans.
Don't you hate Bolsheviks the most? Hans, that is crazy!
Don't do it!
I'll go when they are having classes, nobody will be in the hall...
and then I'll come right out. In at the front, out in the back.
- It's too dangerous! - Willi...
I will take all the responsibility.
I alone.
You are going to walk through Schwabing with a big suitcase?
I'll take it.
Hans, I don't think you should involve Sophie in this...
If we were to be checked, it would be easier for a woman to pass.
She is right.
Alright, let's go.
Alex, meet me at my place at twelve tomorrow.
- So tomorrow already? - Nazis don't wait either.
Thanks.
Don't work too late.
- Good night. - Good night.
Dear Lisa, I'm listening to Schubert's Trout Quintet
You can literally feel and smell the air and aromas in this
and hear the joy of birds and other creatures.
The repeating of themes on piano, it's like cool, clear water...
Oh, it fills me with so much joy. I hope to hear from you soon.
Best wishes, your Sophie.
Does mother still have jam? For stamps you can only get turnip syrup now.
Inconspicuous enough?
- Today we spark the university. - Yes.
February 18, 1943
Good morning!
- Good morning. - We are going to the neurological hospital. Are you coming?
- Sophie is going to Ulm. I'll be there right away. - Hurry up.
Let's get out now! Come! Hurry up!
- There are still some in the suitcase, Hans. - What?
- There are no flyers upstairs yet, wait. - I'm going with you.
Freeze! Stop!
Stop right now! You there... Stop!
- You are under arrest! Stop, damn you! - What's wrong?
- You are under arrest! - That's ridiculous! You can't just arrest us!
- You were the only ones upstairs. Come! - We were at the Psychology Department.
- You scattered leaflets! - Nonsense!
Let go of him! I threw the paper.
So, we'll report this now. Both of you, come with me!
Believe me, even in my university you can't get away without consequences.
"Shaken and broken, our people behold the loss..."
Come in!
So many? Unbelievable!
- They are all here? - Yes!
You can go now!
Schmid, you'll write a report.
We catch them green behind the ears, too.
There... there, the student has something there...
Come, give it to me! Look, another leaflet.
Give it to me! Or do you want me to use force?
This belongs together.
- Mohr, state police. Heil Hitler. - Heil Hitler.
These are the two under arrest for now...
- and this is the pamphlet. - I have arrested...
Do you have any ID?
- Miss Sophia Magdalena Scholl? - Yes.
- Mr. Hans Fritz Scholl? - Yes.
- Brother and sister? - Yes.
Female.
21 years old...
So, you want to resist the German Reich
the has already taken the whole Europe?
This young man tried to tear up this paper in my presence.
Some student pushed this in my hand
and I wanted to destroy it so it isn't held against me.
- Is this your suitcase? - Yes, it's mine.
Take them!
I've given the order to close off the university until further notice.
This includes the teaching stuff and the school board.
Yes, sir! I will also stay here naturally.
- Go home and tell Alex not to wait for me. - Silence!
Scholl, Hans, get in the room to Mahler for interrogation!
Follow me, Miss!
Come with me!
Remove the handcuffs!
Thank you.
Let's begin.
Sit down.
Scholl, Sophia Magdalena, from Ulm,
born on May 9, 1921 in Forchtenberg.
Evangelical. Father?
Robert Scholl. He was a mayor of Forchtenberg.
- Education for children's nurse finished? - Yes.
Still living in two room apartment in Munich, 13, Franz-Joseph St.
- Landlord's name Schmidt? - Yes.
- Any criminal record? - None.
You have admitted in front of the custodian,
that you threw these flyers from the balustrade.
They were lying on the marble railing.
I pushed them when I was passing by.
Why?
It's in my nature to joke around.
I admitted it then and there. But I see now,
that by pushing the paper I made a stupid mistake.
I regret it, but I can't change it now.
Miss Scholl, the flyers you spread in the University,
violate Military Special Penal Decree.
Do you want to know the punishment for high treason and supporting the enemy?
- It has nothing to do with me. - Prison, penitentiary
- or execution. - It really has nothing to do with me.
- A cigarette? - No, thank you.
- But you do smoke? - Occasionally.
They fit perfectly.
Just coincidence.
Why did you bring an empty suitcase to school?
I planed to go home to Ulm to pick up my laundry,
- which I brought to my mother last week. - To Ulm?
You wanted to go that far? During school week?
- Yes. - Just for some clothes?
No. I also wanted to visit a friend who just had a baby.
- And my mother is sick. - Why didn't you wait till weekend?
You still have classes! This seems hasty.
My friend wants to go to Hamburg earlier than planned, so I decided
to go before the weekend.
I planned to take the 12:48 train.
I already made the appointment with my sister's friend in Holzkirchner Station.
You can ask him.
- His name? - Otto Aicher.
He arrived from Solln and reached Munich at 11:30.
- Aicher starts with an "E"? - With "Ai".
So you had no dirty laundry to take to Ulm?
No. The smaller pieces I wash by hand
and as for the bigger ones haven't accumulated yet.
So you have no need for fresh clothes
and at the same time you are saying
that you are taking an empty suitcase home especially for fresh clothes?
Since I was already going to Ulm I wanted to take care of the next weeks.
Why were you doing at the university when you wanted to go to Ulm?
I had an appointment with a friend. Her name is Gisela Schertling.
We planed to have lunch together in English park at noon...
Despite you going to Ulm?
I changed my mind yesterday evening
and went to the university to cancel the appointment.
Why was your brother with you at the university
when you just came to cancel the appointment?
We often go to school together and Hans wanted to go to the neurological hospital.
The custodian stated that you were on the third floor at 11.00.
- What were you doing there? - We were on the way to Gisela
who was in Prof. Huber's philosophy class.
- But that was on the second floor. - Yes, but we had 10 minutes to spare
so I showed my brother the Psychology Department,
where I often go to classes. That's on the third floor.
And where did you find the flyers?
You mean the paper? It was on the floor everywhere.
- And you didn't read them? - Yes, but I just glanced over.
- My brother even said a joke about them. - A political joke?
No, he said it's a waste of paper. He is not interested in politics, like me.
There was recently some unnecessary fuss of female students at the German museum,
when Gauleiter had a speech.
Were you there?
No.
- But everyone had to attend. - I keep away from everything political.
What do you think of the speech given by Gauleiter
when he said a couple of days ago,
girls should rather give birth to children for our leader,
than to fool around the university and when he
promised to appoint his own assistants to the less beautiful ones?
A matter of taste.
The circumstances in which you were found at the university
make you a suspect. I seriously advise you
to tell the whole truth.
I deny having anything to do with the flyers,
except the stupid joke I made. I understand that
we will keep being suspects until you find the real perpetrators,
- but my brother and I had nothing to do with this. - Do you really think,
that you can hide your true personal beliefs in this interrogation?
All I have told you everything.
Miss Scholl, my colleagues found no traces of these flyers
in the suitcase. Your brother's statements prove your story.
Relieved?
I was never worried.
Let the recorder come in.
I will let her record your statement. You have to listen carefully
and if there is any conflict with your affidavit you must interrupt me.
- Do you understand, Miss Scholl? - Yes.
Nevertheless you will be taken to detention
but, we will see...
Maybe in the evening you could still go to Ulm.
Finished?
Metternich! Release papers. Heil Hitler.
Mr. Schurmer, follow me!
You students think you can keep us running around
with your intrigues.
Please hand out your jewelry, watch.
... we are determined to defend our life with all means,
with no considerations if the world around us
- sees the necessity of this fight. - Necklace and pendant.
The total war is therefore the command of today...
Follow me.
Now the end must come to the sensitivities of citizens,
who still want to be guided by principles
even in this fatal fight: Wash my fur,
- but don't make me wet. - Take off your clothes.
It is great danger.
So our efforts must be great, too.
If you have anything illegal, give it to me, I'll throw it down the toilet.
- I am also a prisoner. - So, the time has come...
I have nothing.
To take off the gloves.
Here we are.
... will thank us on their knees tomorrow for taking care of them.
Ladies, get in, hurry. I want to listen to the speech!
Did you hear anything about my brother?
Your brother already finished. He is waiting with other men upstairs.
Right now you are the main suspect, because you carried the suitcase
and threw the flyers. Do not admit anything!
I have nothing to admit.
- How long have you been here? - One year and five days.
They caught me with a paper, in which Ludwig Thoma criticizes Hitler.
- Though you still work for these people? - They order me to do this.
The reason why I am here is to prevent you to commit suicide.
- Why are you again Nazis? - My brother and I are communists,
despite the fact that he is holds senior position in an insurance company.
But the communists stick together, that impressed me.
One has to do something.
Scholl, Sophia. Come with me!
- I hope we don't see each other anymore, good luck! - You too, good luck!
Wait here.
So, Miss, your release papers. You were lucky this time.
Copy.
Understood!
Follow me, follow me!
You can take off your coat.
Sit down.
Your father was put into jail for 6 weeks, because he called our Fuhrer
God's punishment for human beings.
He was arrested because of insidiousness,
and he wasn't allowed to go to work anymore.
I ask myself, how your father reacted,
when you joined the German Girls' League.
Our father never influenced our political preference.
Typical democrat! Why did you join German Girls' League?
Because I heard that Hitler will bring our nation glory,
good luck and welfare, everyone will have job and bread.
Everybody will enjoy freedom and happiness.
- You are single? - I am engaged.
With Fritz Hartnagel. He is a commander on the Eastern Front.
- Stalingrad? - Yes.
- When was the last time you saw him? - Half a year ago.
Have you seen this gun before?
My brother has a gun like this. He is a sergeant in the army.
Why do you have 190 bullets in your drawer?
- 9mm bullets? - They are also my brother's.
When was the last time you bought stamps?
- About two weeks ago. - Where? How many?
Leopold street, post office 23.
Ten 12 cents and five 6 cents. I can't remember exactly.
- No more? - No.
Have you seen these stamps before?
No.
- Are you sure? - Yes.
We found these in your brother's room.
Why did you fail to mention, that he has such quantities
of post stamps has?
Your question was when and where did I buy stamps recently.
140 stamps? Which one of you needed that many? And for what?
What did you want to send out?
Compliments to friends and relatives. We write a lot.
So you have seen these stamps? - I am just guessing.
You found those at my brother's place, not mine!
Do you have a typewriter?
The one in my brother's room belongs to our landlady.
- She lent it to us so my brother could type something. - What?
An essay on philosophical and theological questions.
- Not this flyer? - No.
Maybe philosophical and theological questions like:
"Hitler cannot win the war; he can only prolong it."
Or: "A criminal regime cannot achieve a German victory."
Or: "The Germany of the future must be a federal state."
"Freedom of speech, freedom of religion."
Hans didn't write those.
- You wrote them? - No.
- But you believe in this kind of world order. - I don't care about politics.
Still, the comparison was made, and this is the typewriter
that was used for this bullshit, that reached several addresses,
among other in Augsburg and Munich at the beginning of month.
I know nothing of this.
Sit there! Watch her!
But you were there when this bullshit was found on your brother,
when he wanted to destroy it.
Have you seen the paper before?
- No. - Read before you say anything untrue.
"200,000 German brothers were sacrificed
- for the prestige of a war opportunist." - Does this remind you of anything?
It's written in exactly the same manner as other six flyers.
Take a look at the handwriting.
- I don’t know it. - Listen to me!
The author of this pamphlet is a certain Christoph Probst,
a friend of yours from Innsbruck. We found letters from you at his place.
It's exactly the same handwriting!
Probst, is also a medicine student in our leader's mercy.
A family man with soul and love of his homeland mountains.
A black sheep amid the privileged ones, while others are dying on the front.
Who, beside your brother and Christoph Probst
- helped with the flyers? - Please stop with the imputations!
You held back the evidence from your house,
even though you were forced to tell the whole truth!
I can tell you just what I know.
Would you like to hear, what your brother had to say to this evidence, after he,
like you, was beating around the bush?
"After I realized that the military position
after the defeat on the Eastern Front and the immense rise
of British and US military power, made it impossible
for us to win the war. So after many difficult considerations
I came to the conclusion, that there is only one possibility to prevent
further senseless killings while keeping the European idea,
that is shortening of the war. On the other side the handling
of the lands and people occupied by us seemed gruesome to me.
That is just a political explanation, not a reproaching point of view.
This is...
undermining our defensive power and high treason!
I don’t believe either that my brother had said that!
So you think we are showing you false statements?
Before my brother doesn't tell me in person, I don't believe
he made those statements.
Do you know Eickemayer Studio?
Yes.
Eickemayer is in Krakau as architect for the past few months. He gave us the key
of his studio, so we could show his pictures to our friends.
The fingerprints on the copy machine
are your brother's.
Your brother has admitted.
He said for the record that he did everything alone.
He designed, copied and distributed all six flyers.
He claims he sent out 5,000 handbills in Munich in one night.
You live with your brother,
you were with him in the gallery this morning.
And you still want us to believe that you knew nothing of this?
You claim you thought the pamphlets were harmless papers? Admit finally,
that you made and delivered the flyers along with your brother!
Yes! And I am proud of it!
What happens now to me and my brother?
You should have thought about it before, Miss Scholl.
- Will our family be held responsible? - I don't decide about that.
- I have to go to toilet. - Not now.
Who wrote the flyers?
- Me! - You are lying again, Miss Scholl! Weeks ago already
an expert opinion has been made,
from which it is evident that the author is a man.
Intellectual. Your brother!
- And who mailed out these handbills? - My brother and I.
Excuse me, I really have to go to the toilet.
Locher!
Toilet!
Follow me.
Hurry!
Open the handcuffs, it hurts!
What did you want to do with that?
Do you know the colleague, Miss Scholl? You can't stop it now...
Next door to the left. You know that already.
INVESTIGATION MOHR
What's with the scrawls: "Down with Hitler"
and "Freedom"
and a painted over swastika at the university, in Ludwig street
in Marien square, Kaufinger street and in Schwabing?
My brother and I did it.
Your brother said after his arrested: "Go back home
and tell Alex, not to wait for me."
Schertling was right there.
Was than an appeal telling Schmorell to escape?
Hans had an appointment with Schmorell, he didn't want him to wait in vain.
- Did you talk about your plans with Schmorell? - No.
- And Graf? - No.
- Why do you keep lying? - I don't lie.
February 19
Here.
This is your today's confession. Sign it.
Locher!
Take her away!
I heard that Mohr told Locher: People like these
are what Germany needs. They have to be re-educated first though.
Maybe they will try with ideological education.
But I tell you, they will soon have backs to the wall.
- Why? - Even the big shots are shaking.
People are talking that in 8 to 10 weeks there will be an invasion.
After that, sooner or later, Germany will be liberated.
When my mother finds out that we are under arrest,
she won't stand it.
She is over 60, and she's been sick for months.
And if Gestapo comes to our door again
and then they even hold her responsible...
And your father?
He is 10 years younger. He always gave us his strength.
So she is not alone.
Thanks.
"We will not be silent, we are your guilty conscience!
The White Rose will not leave you alone!"
- Who are "we"? - My brother wrote this.
The last line of 4th handbill says: "Please copy
and pass around." Here is the speech of resistance movement.
- It doesn't sound like a doing of one person. - There is no organization.
How much do you know about Willi Graf?
Sergeant, he studies medicine like my brother. He comes to our house sometimes.
We know, he helped to copy the handbills at the studio.
You found his fingerprints in the studio.
- But he was in the studio at another time. - When?
Middle of January, when we showed Eickemayer's paintings to friends.
That's the reason why fingerprints of others are also in the studio.
- Who else was there? Schmorell? - Maybe, I don’t know.
I was just there only at the beginning, then I went to a concert.
- Did Probst supply Salzburg and Linz with flyers? - No.
Hans didn't tell him anything, because he has a wife and three children.
Damn, you have to tell the truth here. I expect from you,
to call a spade a spade.
Graf, Anneliese?
I came in contact with her about 8 to 10 times.
- What did you talk about? - About literature and science.
- I found her totally apolitical. - Apolitical, but knew what was going on?
I insist that Graf had nothing to do with our flyers.
- What about Schertling? - I meet with Gisela more often,
since we study in Munich. I know her from Krauchenwies work camp.
- She is oriented to National Socialism. - In your opinion, Miss Scholl,
the country is swarmed with apolitical people and members of the movement.
Then it's good for you, too, Mr. Mohr.
According to our findings the so-called "White Rose" procured
only in January 10,000 sheets of paper
and 2,000 envelops.
- Who did that? - My brother and I.
I could believe you,
since the first four pamphlets were printed only in a few hundred copies.
But you can't be telling me, that you and your brother alone
printed and sent out thousands of copies
- of the fifth and sixth flyer? - We worked day and night.
I admire you. And all that while you attended classes at the same time?
Yes. We wanted to give the impression that our resistance has many members.
We know that your brother, Graf, Schmorell
and a certain Furtwangler and Wittenstein served on the Eastern Front.
They all study here in Munich.
Didn't they exchange political views there?
My brother just told me about horror of innumerable deaths.
- Not about his comrades. - I don't believe you, Miss Scholl.
Nowadays everyone is careful regarding his political statements.
As one can see from your flyers.
Where did you get the addresses?
They were copied from phone books in German Museum.
Let's take a look at Stuttgart: January 27 and the morning after,
there were 700 flyers sent out from the post.
At the same time about 2,000
flyers were distributed here in Munich.
Your brother couldn't have done this alone... 2,000 pieces!
I took the fast train to Stuttgart on 27th
and I had flyers in my suitcase. After I arrived,
I threw half of them in post-boxes around the station
and the rest in the suburbs during the day.
But your brother couldn't have stuck 2,000 flyers
in phone booths and phone books in Munich and other places
on the 28th. Who helped him?
I wasn't in Munich.
Who supported the action financially?
My father gives me 150 Marks every month,
and my brother received an officer's pay.
So you live of that and can also pay for flyers and postage?
Every one of your many trips to Ulm cost 15 Marks.
- We borrowed some money from friends. - From who?
Here, on the left
is the letter "l", which certainly means "Income".
- The name after the amount must mean who lent you the money. - Yes.
Your fiancé is also here.
- So he's an accomplice! - No!
Every time we borrowed, we made an excuse.
You can ask anyone.
My brother and I are the perpetrators you are looking for.
Have you thought about the consequences, if you
and your brother take all the blame?
We know all the names!