The White Rose-Sophie's Outstanding Bravery

After I was finished reading The White Rose: Long Live Freedom I realized that Sophie Scholl was a young woman of outstanding courage and bravery; she was braver that Hans Scholl or Christoph Probst. Sophie was the youngest of the three, only 21, yet she took part in an organization, The White Rose, that she knew to some extent could cost her her life. Her whole life was ahead of her, the second she agreed to take a stand and pass out these leaflets was the moment she risked everything, her future, her career, her chance of marriage, everything. Not only was Sophie the youngest rebel against the Nazi regime, but she was also female. She was anything but the stereotypical female of the time, she did not let men control her life and she did not back down in dangerous times, she stood strong in her belief, something most men at this time could not even vow that they did. When Sophie was standing her trial and facing death she proved her bravery in saying, in front of a whole courtroom of people that disagreed with her, that:

"Somebody, after all, had to make a start.

What we wrote and said is also believed

bymany others. They just don't dare to

expressthemselves as we did".

When Sophie said this, I can only imagine the shock and outrage on the faces of the audience. Who was this young and naive college girl that had the audacity to speak this blasphemy? She was facing death and yet she still stands by the very action that brought her to death. Sophie knew death was coming for her yet she refused to take anything she did back. How many people in the 1930's could say that they did the same? How many males could say that they refused to let Hitler push them around?

After the trial was finished and both Sophie and her brother Hans were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death, Sophie did not waiver. Her display of bravery and courage in front of her parents during their last visit together was beyond selfless. Sophie, even with death staring her in the face, refused to cry; in fact she smiled. She would not let her parents see her fear, she would not let fear control her just like she would not let Hitler control her. Hans Scholl, while brave, did not possess the courage that Sophie did during that last visit; he waivered, he had to turn away. It is written about Hans that

"Here for a moment, tears threatened,

and he turned away to spare his

parents the pain of seeing them".

Hans may have had courage, but his courage waivered unlike his sister. Sophie tells her mother, knowing that she will never see her again that, "What we did caused waves." Sophie does not regret what she did, she knew that something had to be done and she possessed the bravery to take it upon herself. When she left her parents for the last time her face still had a smile, the smile that her parents loved but would never be able to see again, she kept her composure as she walked away from her parents for the last time.

Her final act of bravery that shows her fearless nature was shown when she was led first to the guillotine. She was even described later as she was walking to the guillotine, as she knew that she would be viciously killed, by a bystander. This bystander reported that,"Without turning a hair, without flinching". How could you walk to your death and not even flinch? Bravery and courage is the only solution. Sophie Scholl is an inspiration to everyone with her fearless nature, with her refusal to backdown.