Hi, my name's Kevin Hicks, welcome to my Youtube channel the History Squad.
Today's film, our little video here is about the White Rose Movement commemorating the death of
Hans and Sophie Scholl and their friend Christoph Probst they were executed under the Nazi regime
by guillotine on the 22nd of February 1943. the White Rose Movement was a peaceful movement they
were predominantly young people there was only 35 to 40 members so Hans and his sister Sophie Scholl
and their friend Christoph Probst were students at Munich university and as part of the White
Rose Movement in fact they were central to it they used to deliver or distribute leaflets
telling people in Germany the southern states of Germany particularly what the Nazi party was
really up to they were concerned about the amount of soldiers that were being killed
and in one of their leaflets they were going on about the way the jews were being persecuted
and killed now Hans and Sophie were actually seen with leaflets in Munich university by a janitor
he was a member of the Nazi party he'd been in the SA and he found the gestapo
the heimstadt polizzi, the state secret police and doors were locked they were captured
at first the interrogators believed that Sophie was innocent but she wouldn't have any of it and
she tried to protect her brother well evidence also mounted up and Christoph their friend
was brought in and within four days they were on trial
and on the same day the 22nd of February 1943
those three peaceful souls think about it the White Rose ,what a peaceful symbol, will be
headed by guillotine the executioner recorded what Sophie had to say I'll read it out to you.
‘How can we expect righteousness to prevail
when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause
and this bit really gets me 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 into action’ within seconds young Sophie's head
lay in the basket.
She was just one of over 3,000 people executed by this executioner. I'm not going to name him,
but what he had to say about Sophie was that she was the bravest person he had killed.
She's buried next to her brother and with her friend Christoph at the Friedhof cemetery
in Munich and you can actually go and visit her grave.
It's incredible to think isn't it that in fairly modern history that somebody would
resurrect the idea of the guillotine so they've discovered uh in a locked room
a guillotine they did so a few years ago and it's said to be the very guillotine that executed
Sophie Hans and Christoph um they don't know what to do with it and i'm not surprised yeah um Adolf
Hitler he ordered these machines to be made there was over 20 of them made and they were distributed
all over Germany. Uh as I've probably mentioned uh 16 000 people beheaded by the guillotine,
that doesn't include the people who are executed before some of them by the axe it's incredible
isn't it but when i'm reading about it I found this and it's oh it is such a twist.
Cruelly the Nazis even charged the families of those they had imprisoned and beheaded, can you
believe this, for every day that a prisoner was held a fee of 150 reichsmark was charged
the executions cost 300 reichsmark
even the 12 pfennig cost of the invoice was demanded back by the Nazi state.
Wasn't it enough that they killed the innocent that their families had to pay for it to be done.
It's a bit of a tough film this one isn't it? It's uh no fun in it at all but I felt as if it needed
to be said yeah I've heard of the White Rose, and of Sophie and Hans and Christoph, well now
you know part of their story yeah? So if you have enjoyed the film, if you can call it that then
thumbs up, if you're a subscriber thank you. If you're not a subscriber then subscribe, ding that
bell and let's get some more of these films out there. Thank you very much for your time, bye-bye.