Sophie Scholl: A Great German Woman

Inspired by two radio programmes both based on collections of letters. One was an adaptation of letters written by Vincent Van Gogh, the other letters written by John Betjeman. I also obtained a novel entitled Sophie Scholl, The Real Story by Frank McDonough from my local library.

                                        Sophie Scholl: A Great German Woman

A Radio Drama for Women’s Hour

Cast List
Sophie Scholl: a young German girl
Hans Scholl: her older brother
Inge Scholl; Sophie’s older sister
Werner Scholl; Sophie younger brother
Gestapo Interrogator
                                     

                         FADE UP A LONE GERMAN VOICE RECITING THE LORDS PRAYER

                                      FADE UP JANGLE OF KEYS IN A LOCK

GESTAPO INTERROGATOR:  Come with me, if you please, Prisoner Scholl.

                                      FADE UP THE ECO SOUND OF WALKING

SOPHIE SCHOLL: (NARRATING) Having followed this short neat man every morning for three days, walking behind him, though darkened prison corridors; I wondered what sort of man he really is. My only discovery is a silver framed picture, which he keeps proudly on his desk. My Gestapo interrogator has a son, who is serving on the eastern front. The son’s face reminds me of my darling Werner; both are desperate to appear older than they really are. I wondered if like Werner, my Gestapo man’s son is also the family joker.

                                      FADE UP LAUGHTER & GENERAL FAMILY NOISE

WARNER SCHOLL: I’ve just climbed up the statue of justice outside the courthouse. You should have seen me; I nearly fell off twice trying not to laugh. When I was quite at the top, I blindfolded the eyes of justice with the Nazi flag.

                                      FADE UP GUN FIRE & SHELL BURSTS

WARNER SCHOLL: Letter to Sophie December 1942
Dear Sophie, thank you the homemade cake. Send my love and thanks to Mother for my new socks. I will try to write a longer letter soon, but at present, the fighting is very hard going. I send my love to all the family, and prey God keeps you all safe. Don’t worry about me as I ‘am well thought with in my squad.

                                      FADE UP HEAVY DOOR BANGING & KEY LOCKING

SOPHIE SCHOLL: (NARRATING) There had been another inmate with me in this cell. Yesterday she was moved out quite suddenly. I’ m left feeling bereaved without this companion, who I hardly knew. My thoughts wander around now that I’m here alone.

                                      FADE UP SOUNDS OF A SUMMER MEADOW

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry summer 1932
How I love our beautiful German landscape. Sitting alone in this lovely field, I’ m feeling very close to the beating heat of my country. Out walking yesterday, I found myself in a small wooded glade. Hugging each tree in its turn, I told them how important they are to my Germany. There really can be no country in the whole world like my own.

                                       FADE UP COMPLETE SILENCE

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry autumn 1932
I have been reading the bible in my spare time lately. I feel God is close around me in all the wondrous beauty of nature. When I pray I feel myself unburned of the worries of life.

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry summer holiday 1933
There is a very bad atmosphere in our holiday cabin today. I hoped this holiday would bring us all back together, but it just seems to have had the opposite effect. Father is terribly upset that his daughters have joined the Young Girls League (Jungmadel). I told him that we didn’t really have any choice in the matter. Our Führer has made it a law for all young girls to join. If I don’t I won’t be allowed to take my school exams. Father is short sighted at times, I feel.

SOPHIE SCHOLL:    Diary entry spring 1934
This year I will go camping (twice), hiking (once) and have just come back from a scouting trip. I fell in love with my German landscape all over again. I was reminded how beautiful it all looked in the spring sunshine. The only down side to all these wonderful activities away from home is that afterwards we have to sit around a campfire in the cold of the evening singing very solemn Nazi songs. I would much rather be tucked up in my lovely bed.

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry summer 1934
Now that I’ m fourteen I must join the League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Madel). I get the sense that I will greatly enjoy the independence, which will come with being just that bit older. I will spend even more time away from Mother and my chores. All this is of course, providing Father will let me join the BDM at all.

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry autumn 1934
Hans has joined the Hitler Youth without asking Father for his permission and has already learned how to give the perfect Hitler salute, which also failed to impress Father. Hans does look very handsome in his uniform and I think that father may be jealous of how well Hans has done within the HJ. He is already quite the envy of his own school friends as well as mine

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry autumn 1934
Hans came home overjoyed today, as he has already been made a Squad leader (Fahnleinfuhrer) and put in charge of one hundred and fifty younger boys. Hans and father had yet another row over the HJ. Afterwards I took Father on a long walk and he tried to explain his pacifist views. He is horribly out of touch with modern Germany I feel. Father said to me, ‘Sophie, can’t you see where it will all end?’ I could not listen anymore to my own father, and I told him that his anti-Hitler views were made up lies.

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry Christmas 1934
It has come as quite a shock that Annelise and Luise will not be allowed into the BDM. As both are Jewish, neither is allowed to join. I said to Father, ‘Luise has blonde hair and blue eyes and looks far more the Aryan than I do with my dark hair and dark eyes.’ He told me that I wouldn’t have to give up their friendship if I didn’t want. Following his advice, I have invited them both around for tea on this Sunday.

SOPHIE SCHOLL:  Diary entry spring 1935
I’ m still wearing my new uniform as I write this; I have been parading around Ulm all day catching sight of myself in shop windows. The BDM uniform is made up of a brown coat, white blouse, black tie complete with a swastika pin. We also have to wear a navy blue skirt and white stockings. A black scarf tops it all off. Completing my new brand-new look I have had my haircut short in a more ‘boyish’ style. I was very impressed that the BDM has all classes of folk in the squads. I just hope that I will be a good member and help those girls from these different social classes.

                                      FADE UP FANFARE OF TRUMPETS & MALE VOICES

HANS SCHOLL:   Letter to Sophie Nuremburg September 1935
My dearest Sophie, we are stationed in a vast tented city which is located in a Zeppelin field. So far, all has gone quite satisfactorily and the Ulm troop has performed very well. I am struggling however with some anti-intellectual troops from the cities. Now I’m mixing with troopers from other social backgrounds I feel a huge chasm exists between them and us. There is no place here for a sensible conversation, there is only rowdy, brutal and frankly stupid behaviour. Worse still, this seems to be actively encouraged by the other squad leaders. I suppose that this makes me some sort of snob and not a true believer. Conforming my actions and speech has left me feeling quite demoralised.

                                      FADE UP COMPLETE SILENCE

SOPHIE SCHOLL:   Diary entry summer 1935
I went for a long walk today with Hans who has just back from Nuremberg. When Hans left on that special train for the rally, he was proud to have been chosen to carry the HJ flag for his Stamm [600-member group]. Now however, he has become very depressed. He talked about the endless drills, marching and roll calls, which left him, exhausted. Added to this, the vulgar jokes and brutish behaviour have succeeded in turning him off the HJ. Taking hold of my hand, he said, ‘I feel completely disillusioned with Nazism now that I know what real Nazi activists are like.’

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry spring 1936
I should be feeling proud and happy that German soldiers have taken back the Rhineland. Instead, I feel numb with anger because today on of my favourite teachers has been dismissed from school just because he is not a Nazi. When Father came home, I asked him if Adolf Hitler knows about the concentration camps. He said, ‘How could he not know?’ A girl a school has been given a terrible time by some of the teachers. Her father has been sent to Dachau concentration camp. His only ‘crime’ is to belong to the Social Democrat political party.

                                      FADE UP SOUNDS OF THIRTIES MUSIC

INGE SCHOLL:    Letter to a friend summer 1936
Yesterday, Sophie and I went to a local dance hall. My sister is very good dancer and attracted a lot of attention. I felt quite jealous of Sophie who can get up and dance with almost any partner. We both must have danced with five or six partners, although most of mine wanted me to ask Sophie to dance them, which of course made me angry. One of Sophie’s school friends, who had been watching her dance, said in a very loud voice, ‘that Sophie’s dancing was quite indecent.’

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry summer 1937
Hans and Inge are just back from Munich were they visited the House of German Art. The exhibition is supposed to show the superiority of Aryan Art but most people ignored it and opted to view an exhibition of banned art. Hans described the paintings of the Dada and Bauhaus movements as ‘very stimulating.’ He said that the, ‘Nazi paintings looking dull and lifeless in comparison.’ I can’t say I’ m struck by modern art, but I can’t see it now as it’s been closed.

                                      FADE UP COMPLETE SILENCE

SOPHIE SCHOLL:   Diary entry autumn 1937
I had tried to read a poem by Heinrich Heine today in my BDM meeting. My BDM group leader overhead me and told me off in front of the whole troop. She even tried to take the book away from me. I said to her, ‘whoever did not know Heine did not know German literature.’ I’ m starting to dislike my BDM meetings anyway, I don’t have anything much in common with the other girl’s anymore.

                                      FADE UP MORE SOUNDS OF THIRTIES DANCE MUSIC

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry summer 1937
Today I was invited to Annellies Kammerer’s House. Although she is my friend of course, the main purpose of my visit involved her huge gramophone collection. I find that Annellies can by very annoying and I have to hold my tongue or we would fall out all the time. I spent a very happy afternoon however, playing her gramophones loudly and dancing around her dining room. This was soon forgotten, when a young man named Fritz Hartnagel came to call. He was introduced to me and although Annellies got very jealous, we managed a long conversation. I discovered he is four years older than I am. This is good a point although he is also a graduate of Potsdam military academy, which is not so good, as I fear he must be a Nazi. At present, he is stationed in Augsburg and he has promised to take me out when he is next on leave. I said my goodbyes to Annellies, who was sick with rage, and came home.

                                      FADE UP COMPLETE SILENCE

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry autumn 1937
This has been a terrible day for the whole family. We were all at home except Hans when the Gestapo started pounding on the front door. After father had opened the door me, Inge and Werner were all arrested. Then we were taken to Gestapo headquarters all the way to Stuttgart.

INGE SCHOLL: Letter to a friend autumn 1937
After we reached Stuttgart, the Gestapo put each of us in a separate cell. I told them that I was a BDM squad leader and had nothing to hide. It appears that the Gestapo mistook Sophie for a young boy; this was due to her stupidly short haircut. The senior Gestapo officer became very apologetic and released Sophie and I at once. Poor Werner though, was held overnight and apparently interrogated about Hans.

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Letter to Fritz  Hartnagel autumn 1937
Hans has been arrested by the Gestapo. I don’t really understand the charges that Hans is being held on. He is now being held at the Gestapo headquarters in Dusseldorf. Hans has told father that most of the boys from his troop have also been arrested. Father has told me that these boys are, ‘all accusing each other of terrible sex crimes under Gestapo interrogation.’ I feel so helpless in this matter. Please Fritz will you help Hans if you can.

                                      FADE UP SOUNDS OF JOYOUS CHEERING

SOPIE SCHOLL: Diary entry spring 1938
German troops have marched into Austria today. I feel no joy however, at this news. Stupidly I wrote to Fritz telling him about Hans being arrested. Now I feel terribly guilty, as I’ m sure there is nothing Fritz can do to help Hans. I have had a horrible time at school lately. Girl’s can be so horrible, especially if they are pro-Nazi girls. I have also been stripped of my squad leadership at the BDM and charged with disloyalty, just because Hans is my brother. I will never forgive the Nazis for this putting my family through this terrible ordeal. I now see that there is a clear choice between doing what the Nazis want and having one’s own viewpoint on life. A person just can’t have both anymore.

                                      FADE UP COMPLETE SILENCE

HANS SCHOLL: Letter to Sophie summer 1938
Now that my ordeal is over my dearest sister, I can thank you for all your love and support. Thank you too for all the handmade gifts you sent whilst I was in prison. I’ m left with a great feeling of bitterness over the whole affair. Since my release and my coming back to barracks, I have taken to keeping a white rosebud in my pocket. I take this out from time to time and remind myself how greater God’s works are over that of man.

SOPIE SCHOLL: Diary entry spring 1939
I fear that war coming due to Adolf Hitler’s foreign policy. I have asked all my trusted male friends who may be conscripted never to kill anyone. All have agreed.

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Diary entry spring 1939
I have lately been greatly inspired by the writings of Thomas Aquinas. I have discussed these feelings with Hans. I told him that I particularly found the view that barbarians can never prevail against God’s truth as particularly uplifting. Hans said ‘that Aquinas had the view that the state should serve the individual, not the other way round, and that is how a country must be run.’

SOPHIE SCHOLL: Letter in Inge September 1939
The time that I have managed to spend with Fritz has been wonderful. We have been to the Baltic coast and then across to the North Sea coastal area. Yesterday we went to Worpswede spending the sunny day on a pleasure boat. The art on view here is wonderful, but Inge what astounded and inspires me is the natural landscapes. All the colors and tones used by a loving creator for our benefit. Inge, war is now upon us, please don’t tell me it’s all for the sake of our Fatherland. I find it all too monstrous. Looking out at this lovely view I try to remind myself the Adolf Hitler with never conquer the bright sunshine or destroy our dark mountains.

    FADE UP A LONE GERMAN VOICE

RECITING THE LORD’S PRAYER

On The Last Day

On The Last Day

Genre: Fiction based on real events.

A girl sits looking towards the rooms’ only window. The room is bare apart from this table and chair. Its walls are white washed, and the floor is made of rough stone. The girl’s hands are clasped together, and she is resting her elbows gently on the pot-marked surface of the table. Through the window, which is barred, she can see the clouds moving across a blue sky.

Her dark eyes are shining and bright. The narrow mouth moves slightly as she whispers. ‘Dear God please hear this last prayer from your most faith servant. My name is Sophie Magdalena Scholl; I ‘am twenty two years of age, and about to be executed by guillotine.’

These words hardly break the silence within the room, ‘on this day I feel love for all those who would do me harm lord. Please forgive them, just as I have forgiven my dearest brother whose blunder has lead us into the shadow of death. I pray for my beloved family and for my country. Please lord keeps them safe from harm, and in your love.’

Getting up from the table, the girl walks toward the high window still in prayer. ‘I have been in this prison for only two days lord but in that time I’ve been brutally interrogated and tried in the so-called People’s Court. There was no jury to sit in judgement on my actions, just one man. Our Nazis government saw fit to bring the President of the People’s Court to Munich. Judge Roland Friesler traveled from Berlin especially to sit in judgement on Hans, Christoph and myself. This ungodly regime wanted Friesler to pronounce the death sentence in person having found us all guilty of treason. You are the only one who can sit in judgement on us lord, and I know you will find us all blameless. Friesler ranted and spit hate at us like a mad man throughout the trail. My only regret is that my poor parents were in court to witness such shameful actions.’

The girl searches the sky for any sign of her god before continuing her prayer. ‘You gave me the strength and courage O Lord to stand on my broken leg in front of Friesler and boldly look into those evil eyes. With this courage, I was able to ask him, ‘‘you know as well as we do that the war is lost. Why are you so cowardly that you won’t admit it?’’

The girl smiles slightly at the memory of the effect those words had on the judge. For the penultimate time in her life, she cries and continues with her prayer.

‘Those words made him shriek at me like the demon we all knew him to be. He said, ‘’you are a traitor both to your country and to your führer and for that you will all be guillotined.’’ As the tears start to drip down from her face onto the stone floor, the girl finishes her last prayer.

‘Lord I ‘am not a traitor to my country, I love Germany will with all my heart. It is to this Nazis government that I have been treasonous. These Nazis have poisoned the good out of the people of Germany making them turn against one another. Please lord find an end to this terrible war before my country is destroyed. The evil men who run my country will drag us all to the gates of hell itself before they are finished.’

Looking up at the clouds passing the sun, the girl says, ‘Amen’. The window is high up in the wall of her prison cell but she wants to get a last look at her last day. Keys rattle in the lock and the cell door swings open.

***

In a cell, much the same as Sophie’s, her brother Hans Scholl stares out of his window watching a flock of birds which are flying in tight formation over to the east where the park is situated. They remind Hans of the bombers flying in tight formation, which he’d seen flying over the cities of Russia. As grey eyes searched the sky, he wished that he knew the names of the different birds better so that he could fix this last view of the world in his mind. Turning away from the high window, he retreats into the gloom of the cell.

Looking at Christoph sitting calmly at the table praying Hans is reminded of his beloved Sophie. The thought of his sister invades his mind, and Hans feel certain that like Christoph, Sophie will be praying too. The effort to keep calm is impossible unless you are very religious like Christoph or very spiritual and good like Sophie. As for himself, he cannot stop his mind returning to events now over forty-eight hours old.

For the thousandth time Hans told himself that, he had been a fool to allow Sophie to help with the distribution of the White Roses leaflets at the University. It had been bad enough that she had been with him working in that borrowed artist’s studio where the printing of the leaflets was carried out. Sophie in her quite brave way had volunteered to help him with the leaflets, when it had been reasoned that they were too heavy for one individual. By the time their arguments were over, he had had to except her help, and they both had had to rush over to the university. Hans admired had always how she fitted into the printing and posting group. Now he felt he had used her unselfish approach to either work or danger against her.

After running to the university, they had still arrived too late for their task. However, there was no choice now, as neither could leave the leaflets were they were. Sophie had taken one of the suitcases, heavy with the newly printed leaflets. Working against the ticking atrium clock, with the taste of fear in their mouths, each one had raced up flights of stairs and down empty corridors. A memory of Russia floated through Hans and for a second the fear he felt had almost overcome his body. Each sibling had chosen opposite sides of the atrium staircase, and had caught glimpses of the other as they worked their way up almost to the very top. Taking care not to been seen from the classrooms, each had completed their tasks just as the lunch bell was to sound.

Overcome with a mixture of fear and relief they had narrowly escaped colliding into each as they both had hurtled round that final corridor. Looking down each sibling could see the neat piles of leaflets ready to be read. It was then, just as they were so close, that disaster had hit. One of the suitcases was not quite empty, and they could not carry the case through the lunch period with leaflets still inside.

Sophie had whispered, ‘quickly up to the top floor!’

They had both charged up that final flight of stairs, and put the remaining leaflets on the top balcony overlooking the atrium just as the bell sounded unleashing both students and masters from their respective classrooms. Sophie had then pushed this final pile of leaflets with the very tips of her fingers, and launched them into the air. As the leaflets floated down on to the heads of those now below, each sibling had paused for a few fatal seconds.

This great gesture of deviance, had Hans late concluded, been what had alerted the caretaker. Always the ardent Nazis, this little man proved to be the undoing of the siblings. The movements of the floating paper caught up in the spiral rays of light, which shone through the glass roof of the atrium, had killed them. Hans stopped remembering that moment, as keys jangled in the lock and the cell door lurched open.

***

The three stand in a tight circle, a last silent embrace. It is against the prison rules but by a miracle, a kindly warder has allowed them this last brief moment together.

Sophie is lead away out to the courtyard. She looks up at the sky again admiring the deeper blue of late afternoon. Half the courtyard is now cast in shadow but she keeps herself in the brightness of the sun. Immersed this light she feel translucent. Reaching the end of her walk the world seems to have stopped. No sound reaches her ears except her own breathing. Passing through another door Sophie is presented with another white room, another a stone floor, but this room has a crucifix. A tall thin man dressed in black, and wearing a top hat. He is standing by the guillotine. Making the sign of the cross, she walks forward.

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