THE SHORT LIFE OF SOPHIE SCHOLL

by Hermann Vinke ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1984

In America, relatively few young readers will immediately recognize the name of Sophie Scholl--who, with her brother Hans, is the most famous of the handful of German students who died in the cause of anti-Nazi resistance. So this loose assemblage--""a description of the stages of Sophie Scholl's life in a sort of collage of reports, letters, documents, testimonies, and photos""--may seem more than a little remote or oblique. Still, despite the format and the over-didactic tone (""The Parents: Progress and Social Commitment in a Conservative Environment""), Sophie's remarkable courage and moral rigor do emerge clearly through the diaries, letters, and interviews here. Born in 1921 in southwest Germany, daughter of a progressive mayor/accountant, Sophie grew up in a tiny pocket of pacifist/liberal sympathies: circa 1933 her brothers and his friends belonged to ""free youth movements"" instead of Hitler's cadres. By the late 1930s Sophie was a firm anti-Nazi, doing only the barest minimum of required service to the state. When the war dame she was fiercely contra--even to the point of opposing clothes-donations for freezing German soldiers: ""We have to lose the war. If we donate woolens now, we help prolong it."" So then, after training as a kindergarten teacher, student Sophie (biology/philosophy) joined in her brother's Christian-existentialist ""White Rose"" group: Munich-based student resistance, devoted primarily to the printing and distribution of anti-war leaflets. They were eventually arrested, of course, showing uncommon steadfastness against Gestapo interrogations. And when four of the White Rose students were sentenced to death, 22-year-old Sophie went to the guillotine ""without batting an eyelash."" An epilogue-interview heavyhandedly suggests that today's young people can, ""by becoming involved with the Scholls and the White Rose,"" learn to be idealistic non-conformists--to ""forget their petty little dreams so that the great dreams will not be forgotten."" Throughout, in fact, there's a particularly European sort of political preachiness. Nonetheless: worthy documentation of an inspiring--if under-illuminated--life-story.

Pub Date: April 1, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION