on the 22nd of February 1943 a young 21-year-old Woman made her way to the guillotine inste of stadham prison in Munich she had been condemned to death for her work resisting an oppressive and brutal dictatorship that gripped the German nation and plunged them into the second world war Sophie Shaw has been convicted of high treason after being captured Distributing anti-nazis propaganda around a university she was a member of the white rose movement but the Executioner who claimed her life as well as thousands others stated that she was the bravest person he had ever executed Sophie
Shaw was born on the 9th of May 1921 inside of fortun BG inside of Germany and her father was a politician and a Critic of the Nazis he later became the mayor of their Hometown and she had a number of siblings who she was raised alongside she was raised in a Lutheran Church and had a relatively successful schooling but at the age of 12 she joined the female youth group and wing of the Nazi party known as the league of German girls and she was to begin with enthusiastic about this her brother Hans was also
involved in the Hitler Youth and he was seen as a possible future leader inside of the group however the pair then became disillusioned by the n na party and they began to find their own political beliefs of course at this time being opposed to the Nazis in Germany was very dangerous and it was something that could lead to the execution torture and even being sent to a concentration camp Sophie schaw however loved art which was classed by the Nazis as degenerate and she read many authors many of whom who had been banned and it was
at the age of just 16 years old when she was first arrested by the gapo her brother Hans had been found out to have been involved in anti-hitler youth group and these people would get together and often beat up Hitler Youth members Hans sha was arrested at a military base and the other scha siblings including Sophie were arrested at their home this first arrest only lasted a matter of hours for Sophie but it had a profound impact on her as her brother Hans was locked up for 3 weeks and was questioned questioned heavily but Sophie
continued to be anti-nazi and she then would offer her own ideas up when discussing politics with her friends Hitler relied on imposing a brutal regime upon the German people and he would not tolerate anyone who dissented against him and it was common for the resistance elements of society to disappear as they were arrested and then condemned to death by The pro-nazi People's Court there was little Mercy offered to to anyone who went against Hitler's ideas and his policies in 1940 Sophie Shaw graduated from secondary school and she then became a kindergarten teacher and she also
wanted to avoid the forced National Labor Service and she was ordered to do a six-month stint as a nursery teacher elsewhere she became more willing to get involved in passive resistance and she enrolled at the University of Munich and then began to study philosophy and biology she was attending with her brother Hans who studied medicine and the pair had a group of friends who had many shared interests but amongst these was a deep rooted hatred of Nazism Sophie Shaw and Munich met many other writers and artists who were influential upon her and she became a
full member of the resistance group known as the white rose H her brother had met with others about resistance to the Nazis and there was a number of like-minded people who began to carry out passive res existence but Sophie and the white rose went further and they produced anti-nazi leaflets and propaganda and they called for the destruction of the national socialism and Hitler the activities of the group began in June of 1942 and the first four Defiance leaflets were written by Hans schaw and Alexander schmorl but in these pieces of literature the white rose quoted
the Bible and other thinkers and urged German people to think twice about giving over to the Nazis they were distributed in telephone books in telephone booths sent to professors and students and they were distributed at different universities Sophie wanted to get involved in the white rose and she dreamed of writing for the group and imprinting her own philosophical ideas out into the Publications she was a valuable asset to the group and she was a young woman and she had less chance of being stopped by the Garo in the SS when disputing the propaganda however the
authorities would catch up with her within a year and on the 18th of February 1943 Sophie and Hans schaw were at the Ludwig Maximillian University and they had with them a suitcase full of white rose leaflets to distribute they attracted the wrong sort of attention and dropped piles of the white rose leaflets for students to find and Sophie after seeing some of them throw many of the leaf from the top floor of the staircase the Nazi supporting janitor told the authorities about this he informed the Gusto and Hans and Sophie were then both arrested Sophie
sha tried to hide any incriminating evidence but the Garo recovered what they needed to sop if he was thought to have been Innocent by Robert Moore the Garo interrogator however after her brother confessed to being involved in the resistance Sophie assumed full responsibility for the actions of trying to resist Hitler to try and save others she was then taken to the People's Court a heavily naied Court to Stand Accused of treason and she was then tried by the horrific Roland frer and during the proceedings she said somebody after all had to make a start what
we wrote and said is also believed by many others they just don't dare Express themselves as we did Sophie was not allowed to testify and on the same day that her trial began she was found guilty and was sentenced to death it was hours later that the execution would then be carried out her mother and father did manage to see her before the execution and it was executioner Johan reichart who carried out her guillotining he would later claim that she was the bravest person he had ever executed and Sophie Shaw's final words were such a
fine sunny day and I have to go but what does my death matter if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action she was one of many people who opposed Hitler who lost her head on the guillotine at 5:00 p.m. inside of stadelheim prison Sophie schaw was brought towards the execution chamber and present was the Reich prosecutor who oversaw the guillotining and other officials the prison Warden and a government official were also there as was the prison doctor and Sophie Shaw was led towards the guillotine by two male prison officers her identity
was confirmed and she was passed over to the Executioner Yan rart and his assistant took her towards the guillotine and she was strapped to the board which was then slid under the guillotine blade then reichart released the blade and this fell straight onto her neck and took her head clean off she went to her death incredibly calm and it took just 6 seconds from when she was strapped to the guillotine to when the blade fell it took just 48 seconds seconds from when she left her cell to being declared dead her body was then placed
in a coffin and was buried in a grave near to the stadheim prison in mudic Sophie Shaw's life was one that ended incredibly brutally yet she was defiant in the face of Hitler and the Nazis and she wanted to inspire others to resist her story is one which shows at such a young age she had a huge amount of bravery and determination thank you for watching to support please make sure to subscribe and again thank you for watching
