Das kurze Leben der Sophie Scholl: Mit e. Interview von Ilse Aichinger (Mädchen & Frauen)

by Hermann Vinke

German

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, German Literature, World War II, Historical, Germany

189 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Hermann Vinke is a German broadcast journalist and author of non-fiction literature, including many biographies and educational material for young readers.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been teaching Sophie Scholl's short life in school again.

It never stops hurting, and this year, it was particularly difficult, considering the fact that more than 21% of voters in my home country seem to be willing to elect an openly homophobic, racist, misogynist and white supremacist party with roots in fascism. If the polls don't lie, it might even end up the strongest party, with the democratic prerogative to choose the prime minister.

Teaching Sophie Scholl and her group of Munich friends, opposing Hitler during the Second World War, in this atmosphere of hopelessness is chilling. Over and over again, I realise that Nazi Germany has become romanticised horror fiction in the Anglo Saxon world, and this view is copied in the Scandinavian countries which are fed a regular Anglo Saxon media and movie diet. The Second World War - that means action movie, soldiers wading through ice or water, or spy thrillers and villains with funny accents. It means swastikas symbolising the caricature of comic strip evil, and the ghostly surreal terror of the Holocaust as a sad tragedy on the sidelines. That is exciting and exotic - but not REALLY real, in the minds of many young students.

Teaching Sophie Scholl means making the terror of fascism real and tangible again. It means showing the danger of speaking up against a totalitarian state. It means showing the courage of intelligent protest, of nonviolent resistance, of belief in the human rights of all - not just of those who praise the Fuhrer cult.

Teaching Sophie Scholl means showing students what a show trial is, and how propaganda, bullying and intimidation work on a state level.

Teaching Sophie Scholl means opening a wound and letting it bleed again. It means going though her execution over and over again, four days after she was arrested at university with her brother.

Teaching Sophie Scholl means hope. There are people willing to speak up for human rights even in societies in which they know they will be decapitated if they are caught. There are young, inspired people who believe in freedom and fairness and justice for all, even when the so-called leaders of the world look away and pretend not to know what is going on, or when they bow to crimes against humanity out of "respect" for the "tough guys" with murderous power.

Teaching Sophie Scholl is teaching the value of life. The White Rose had a simpe message: Hitler can't win the war. He can only prolong it. A humanist has the duty to shorten the war in order to protect humanity from unnecessary suffering and death. We know Sophie was right.

But she died with her friends while Germany embarked on the mayhem of the two most horrific years in world history: der totale Krieg.

Sophie Scholl died 22nd February 1943. Close your eyes and imagine if the war had ended that spring instead.

Just a random example:

Anne Frank was arrested a year and a half later, on 4th August 1944. If the war had been terminated earlier, she - and so many others - might have been saved, ...

I am teaching Sophie Scholl, and my students shudder at the Medieval methods of mid-20th century Germany. "Luckily, it is over", they say. But can we be sure, as long as the majority of people in our liberal democracies are too busy with their private ambitions to even register the changes in the political world, while extreme parties are working over-time to create an atmosphere of exclusive club belonging?

"Unpolitisch" - that is a position we can't afford in the world of 2018. Sophie Scholl chose education and distribution of facts in a world of propaganda.

And teaching Sophie Scholl means teaching the bravery of seeing the unpleasant truth in the flood of soothing fake news.

Es lebe die Freiheit!

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das erste Buch das ich dieses Jahr gelesen habe drehte sich auch um diese Widerstandsgruppe und zwar das Buch von Inge Scholl selber, die Hermann Vinke für dieses Buch auch interviewt hat. 'Das kurze Leben der Sophie Scholl' fand ich eigentlich noch besser, wahrscheinlich weil es ein bisschen weniger pragmatisch war und sich echt auf Sophie konzentrierte. Ich habe viel über sie gelernt, z.B. wie viel sie die Natur liebte und genau wie pazifistisch sie war. Ich würde es empfehlen.

[Anna-Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein Buch über eine Widerstandsgruppe, die mir nicht mehr aus dem Kopf geht.

Sehr informativ, sehr herzzerreißend.

[Cathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compilation of interviews, letters, diary entries, and more to honor the life of Sophie Scholl, a young resister in Nazi Germany who was executed along with her brother and friend. Poignant and a reminder of the differences between belief and action.

[Britt-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detta är en ungdomsbok. I läsegruppen var omdömet en intressant bok. Beskriver bl a studentlivet och motståndsrörelsen.

[maya.pglt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ich glaube, dass das eines der besten Biografien von Sophie Scholl ist, die ich je gelesen habe. So viele Originalquellen und Ansichten, die ich so noch nie vorher irgendwo gesehen habe 💯

H. V.: Wenn heute Jugendliche sich mit den Geschwistern Scholl und der Weißen Rose beschäftigen, was, meinen Sie, können sie daran lernen?

I. A.: Sich nicht anpassen lassen. Die kleinen Träume vergessen, damit die großen nicht vergessen werden. Sich noch weniger denn je anpassen lassen an diese Welt, die sie immer deutlicher zur Verzweiflung treibt, gerade die Jugend.

[Kokonöt · Rating 3 out of 5]

En otroligt sorglig historia om modiga människor. Halvkul skriven, därav lägre betyg.

[Denis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man muß einen harten Geist und ein weiches Herz haben. 🥹

[Manou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Niet voor mij

[Oh.Cecilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non ho letto questo libro.
Ho letto "Leggere È Libertà" curato da Barbara Fischer con scritti di Sophie Scholl e Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Introvabile su Goodreads e non mi prende il codice a barre. Un peccato perché lo consiglio.

[Evi ☀️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

love naar Sophie

[Veronika Kaufmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Next to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Secret Garden, the short life of Sophie Scholl belongs to my favorites. Despite it’s all to well known ending, I found her story uplifting and inspiring. Her writings on her surroundings, nature, are simply wonderful. The events which led to her execution are told succinctly. Sophie’s unshakeable faith permeates to the reader but it still goes without saying the Nazis were horrible. Three days from arrest to execution is for me just unbelievable. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her parents to lose two children. Parallels to today’s events struck me. This should be a mandatory read for all high school kids.

[Terese]

<< Sophie sa ordagrant: "Det är så många människor som dör för den här regimen, det är dags att någon dör i arbetet mot den.">> (s.141)

Jag gillar vanligtvis inte biografier, och ska jag vara ärlig så var det segt att läsa även denna, det är helt enkelt inte min genre. Även fast denna bok var väldigt intressant och lättläst. Sophies, och hennes med konspiratörers öde är gripande, i synnerhet när det kommer till den snabba rättegången och den extremt snabba avrättningen. Ingen nåd, inget andrum.

Det är svårt att tänka sig vad man själv skulle ha gjort i samma situation, man skulle kunna hoppas att man hade deras integritet och lugn, men samtidigt, deras aktioner drabbade hela familjen. Det blir mer förståeligt att majoriteten drog öronen åt sig och inte vågade stå upp mot regimen.

Jag menar, inte alla kan ha Hans Scholls inställning att han måste "vara aktiv en gång till innan han 'oskadliggjordes'" (s.140) och tog medvetna risker trots farorna. Nu verkade ungdomarna inte räkna med att de skulle avrättas, och de trodde säkerligen inte att deras familjer också skulle fängslas, men ändå... deras mod är otroligt.

Jag var inte medveten innan denna bok att de dessutom hade avrättas med giljotin. Det låter så otroligt förlegat, det var chockerande att tänka sig, utöver det chockerande dödsstraffet i sig.

Rått, gripande, modigt... ett kort liv, som så många andra under denna regim. Väl värd att läsa.

Det slog mig att Fritz Hartnagl, som sågs som Sophies "pojkvän" och som senare gifte sig med hennes syster Elizabeth, noterade att han inte ville att Sophie skulle helgonförklaras, utan att hon var en flicka som alla andra... vilket är värt att komma ihåg. Man behöver inte vara ett helgon för att göra motstånd, men kan vara vem som helst, precis som alla andra.

[Gary McGath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I read this book in German, I'm writing the review in English just because it's easier. The book tells of Sophie Scholl's life, ending in her execution for opposing Hitler, mostly through documents from her and people close to her. It might not be the ideal introduction to the Weisse Rose, as it focuses heavily on her and not the other participants, notably her brother Hans.

The book helps to understand what it was like to grow up under the Third Reich. The preceding years had seen the German unification movement, with a strong emphasis on patriotism, and then the frustration of the Versailles Treaty. Hitler played on both, and for a while Sophie Scholl was a member of the BDM (the girls' counterpart to Hitler Youth). In the end, she opposed Hitler because she was a German patriot and was horrified by the senseless loss of life in the war.

The book presents a picture of courage and independence. By all accounts, she died bravely, while most Germans cheered Hitler.

[Lena Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wanted to write a long, detailed review of this book, but I feel like my words cannot do this woman's story justice. I feel a way about this book that I haven't felt in a long, long time, I'm deeply touched, and I feel connected to Sophie Scholl in more ways than just in the name. There is nothing I can say that hasn't already been said - Sophie was a remarkable, admirable, strong, brave and incredible woman, and I wish I could thank her in person, for sacrificing her life, so that other people would not have to die in this cruel regime. I am thankful that I got to read her story, and I will never forget her name.

[Lucy Bouman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot more about this beautiful human. It took several months for me to find the motivation to finish it, since it was both in German and not the lightest subject matter. But it was a good biography, especially considering there can't be much material out there about her. In this day and age, it can never hurt to remember people who fought fascism and gave their lives for the cause.

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mir hat das Buch sehr gefallen, da ich viel über die Kindheit und den werdegang von ihr erfahren habe und auch wie sie von der Überzeugung für den Nationalsozialismus gegen ihn gekommen ist. Eine sehr bemerkenswerte Frau. Mehr möchte ich nicht sagen weil ich finde egal was man über das Buch erzählt man spoilert. Man muss es selbst lesen wenn man sich für die Zeit interessiert.

[Raphaela Strohmayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Going into this book I didnt know much about Sophie Scholl or the movement of Die weiße Rose, and I think this made it a bit harder to comprehend the full story of this book. The story just tells us about Sophie and her life, but not much about the whole world and her influence in this time. I wish there would have been a bit more of explaining going on.

[Birgit Zs. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das Buch gibt sehr gute Einblicke wie das Leben früher und vor allem auch zu Kriegszeiten für Sophie Scholl und ihre Familie war. Keine Ahnung wann es vorbeigehn wird aber ich bekomme noch immer eine Gänsehaut wenn man liest mit welcher Entschiedenheit und klarem Denken die Geschwister Scholl ihre Todesstrafe hinnehmen.
"Die Gedanken sind frei....."

[Nina#Sreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

1984? 1985? Ich erinnere immer noch, wie großartig die Mutter der Geschwister Scholl, nach dem letzten Besuch, den sie ihnen abstatten durfte, sich um den Rest der Familie kümmernd, diese erstmal zum Essen ausführt.

[Mephistofelice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Da ich mich bereits zu meiner Schulzeit intensiv mit Sophie Scholl befasst habe, enthielt dieses Buch nicht allzu viel neues für mich, bietet meiner Meinung nach aber einen super Einstieg in die Thematik rund um die "weiße Rose".

[Lätizia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eine sehr gut aufgebaute Reportage und Biographie. Die Geschichten der interviewten Verwandten von Sophie Scholl bringen den Leser ihr wirklich nah.

[Mona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spannender, kurzweiliger Umriss des Lebens der Sophie Scholl, super anschaulich und einprägsam auch durch Erweiterung des Texts um Briefe, Zeichnungen von ihr usw.

[Labyrinth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Das Buch ist vom 1980 und stellenweise fällt die altmodische Erzählweise negativ auf.

[Fenja · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3,75

[Aileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Lilli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr interessantes Buch. Fand es am Anfang irgendwie nicht so spannend aber, das muss es ja auch nicht sein da es kein Roman ist.

[tamy⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Herzzerreißend 💔

[bunybladee · Rating 5 out of 5]

girlboss!!

[robin ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

sophie girlboss!!!!