Matthew Blanchard

GERM 1101

Sophie Scholl The Final Days Summary & Discussion

This movie detailed the fate of the White Rose, an opposition movement to the National

Socialist party in Munich. Many people contribute to the White Roses effort, but the movie focuses in

detail on the brother/sister pair Hans and Sophie Schnoll. The group has jointly finished their sixth

pamphlet, so Hans and Sophie decide to go to the university and lay the pamphlets near all the

classroom doors during lecture time. Just as theyre about to leave, Sophie goes back into the building

and places the rest of her pamphlets down; she then pushes some pamphlets off the ledge of the top

floor just as class gets out. The two try to escape as students are leaving class, but a janitor spotted

them coming down from the top floor and gets the police to detain them.

Once captured, Hans and Sophie are held separately and do not see each other. The movie now

follows Sophie as the protagonist. She is interrogated by a Gestapo officer named Robert Mohr. Her

initial round of questioning goes well, and she seems to deceive the officer successfully by saying she

simply pushed the stack of fliers as a prank, but did not place them there. Unfortunately, the Gestapo

finds evidence of their involvement when they search their residence. Both brother and sister confess to

their involvement in producing the fliers, but try their best to protect their colleagues from

incrimination. A major difference in thought becomes apparent over the course of Sophies

interrogation. She believes that all people are entitled to follow their conscience, and that there is an

inherent moral sensibility within people. She believes that the Nazis have crossed the line and are doing

objectively amoral acts. The interrogator does not cede whether the Nazis are moral or not; he says it is

his job to analyze and apply the law to citizens, not to question its rightness. The interrogator finds

comfort in the idea of an unchanging law, laid out clearly for everyone to conform to. Sophie believes
that laws can be wrong, and that conscience supersedes law. Eventually, they are indicted on treason,

troop demoralization, and aiding the enemy.

The subsequent trial is essentially propaganda to cast dissidents in a negative light. Hans and

Sophie are tried along with Christoph Probst, a colleague of theirs and a father of three. Christoph begs

for mercy because of his family; Sophie and Hans use their questioning to decry the Third Reich and

bolster their message. The audience of Nazi officers do not seem as radical as the judge, who uses the

trial to insult the three defendants. Once Sophie is transferred to the prison to await execution, she is

informed that her execution is on the same day. She thought that citizens were entitled to 99 days

between their sentencing and execution, but this arbitrary change of rules is nothing new for the Nazi

government. Sophie comes to terms with her situation and says goodbye to her parents, who say that

they are proud of her strength. The three are executed by guillotine after sharing a cigarette, thanks to a

sympathetic prison guard.

The movie closes by telling about how their pamphlet spread across Europe. Eventually, White

Roses thoughts were spread across Germany when the Allies dropped millions of copies over the

companies by plane. The document was titled the Manifesto of the Students of Munich.