Sophie Scholl grew up in the German city of Ulm, located on the Danube. Her father, a Nazi dissident, exposed Sophie and her brother Hans to art and music, encouraged them to express their individuality, and to cherish freedom.
Sophie expressed an opposition to the Nazi regime at a young age, but due to the mandatory enrollment in the Hitler Youth, she joined the German League for Girls at the age of twelve. In an attempt to evade military service, Sophie became a kindergarten teacher upon graduating secondary school. However her efforts were to no avail and in 1942, she was sent to Blumberg, Germany to serve as a teacher in the army.
Her participation in the German League and the labor service only intensified her opposition and passive resistance to Nazi ideologies. Sophie joined her brother and enrolled in the University of Munich in 1942. While in school, she befriended others who not only shared her passion for the arts but also had a fervent desire to bring an end to Nazi oppression.
The Group came to be known as the White Rose and was responsible for the implementation of an anti-Nazi leaflet campaign, writing and distributing six leaflets around the University and throughout Germany.
In 1943 Sophie was caught distributing leaflets and was arrested by the Gestapo and charged with high treason and opposing the 3rd Reich. In February of that year she was executed by hanging on February 22nd, 1943.
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