After a refreshing walk yesterday around the Tidal Basin to see the first of the famous Washington Japanese cherry blossoms, Hubby and I made it the art cinema downtown (Landmark, at 11th and E Streets, NW, for locals) to see Sophie Scholl — Die letzte Tage (Sophie Scholl — The Final Days).
Scholl was — there’s no point occluding her fate — a twenty-one year old German resistance pamphleteer and member of the White Rose. She was caught and executed in 1943 with other members of the White Rose, including her brother. I’d known about her and the White Rose for about twenty years. I think there was an article about them in the old Unitarian Universalist World tabloid, with an intimation that they were Unitarians, but I may be remembering that wrong, and in any case it doesn’t seem to be true. Scholl in particular is remembered for her bravery — even by the Nazis — and newly released interrogation manuscripts and interviews flesh out the story.
I was particularly rivited by her fearlessness and faith. (And got a chuckle when the prison chaplain, a sympathetic character, arrived in her cell in black gown and bands; the German ones are cut differently, though.)
See it, and get a copy for your church library if you have one. It’ll make you feel braver for it.