When the National Socialist came to power in one nine hundred thirty three they ruthlessly enforced conformity with their regime in germany the majority of germans willingly followed hitler on the road to war and genocide yet not everyone wanted to bow to the dictators power son tried to resist. She was brave and all and im sure she certainly was there on. What ive read that dr ive got to get together been to get one not that i think about my my daughters hopefully there wont be a war and then sophie said no hopefully someone will finally go after hitler so he can do whatever he pleases everywhere kind of recipes. Hitlers opponents used flyers in desperate attempts to make people see the nazis crimes and prevent word. From happening. Driven by faith in freedom and confidence in the allies strength Resistance Groups clung to their hope of toppling the nazi reign of terror. People from bobby the hope was the soviet union and the red army when that war started then that would also be the end of naziism in germany. But setbacks come one after the other other and then they all got arrested. Many women also paid with their lives in their fight for humanity. Dished out and so from if. She stayed just not into he might. Get. More than seventy years after the war cons copy jr the only son of two people who resisted the nazis is in berlin. Hes proud of his parents hilda and hans. The wrist everything for their convictions and their belief in a better world. For this the nazis punished them harshly. On the sleeve of my parents lived and loved their lives when there was the only thing they had. And in their time their behavior was different while outstanding because they swam against the tide the. Good mans told muslims and. Born in one thousand nine. Hundred and youth in berlin in the one nine hundred twenty s. She went to high school and continued on to study Business Times were turbulent anyone who could find work in the Weimar Republic could consider themselves lucky. Those. Who for example then my mother became a receptionist cyclical i got through three little secretarial work in the doctors office. And for one doctor she assisted during five and so i think it was unclear was also the time of the Major Economic crisis at them and she found a course in Natural Sciences and went to night school stuff and. Oh there she met young people her age who were unemployed. And she liked them. And. I wasnt politician thats a logically they were on the left young communists. Or i and there was one in france comma part of whom she was particularly fond yesterday at the time he was studying at the university in berlin. And i thought thats what they called to have two hundred communist he was among the first people to be ostracized in one thousand thirty three and lives. On. The boycott started this morning at ten am. It will be continued until midnight. It is being carried out with a prop force and with impressive masculine discipline as well. That the. Crowds of nazis chanted germans defend yourselves dont buy from tombs. Under hitlers regime a scapegoat for all the countries misery was found quickly the Jewish Population suffered discrimination humiliation and ostracisation. Those who oppose this is jim politically were brutally silenced. Uttering a single complaint about the nazis led to harsh punishment the rock is friend france carmen experienced the oppression. Of boss. With at this time she continued to be Close Friends with france comus young today you would say they had a relationship. With. Him and of course she also experienced that under those conditions her friend was barely able to make a living. This was all the us has got some say it until the tenth of november nine hundred thirty eight his mother ran a small guest house in fresh strawson. November tenth was the day that the windows were smashed and the synagogues burned. The youth and such. And the usa and others came into the apartments. But your hand at her guest house is gone they actually wrecked the whole interior. I know what thats done my mother rushed over there it was a fault that there was nothing that could be done. Without lights in the home so i thought. Two days later her girl decreed that all jews would be stripped of their right to run businesses and i think that transcend he didnt see any opportunities here anymore. Kind of shuns me as with everything was only getting worse. And he decided to exploit the last opportunity in demographic. Well at that i suppose and my mother probably would have been happy to do the same. But she couldnt leave her mother alone and her mother was alone and had no pension so she was dependent on her daughter. And you bought it and. You could talk to and use and so on and august nine hundred thirty nine they parted or was this not known but as this thought she that. Runs karma fled to scandinavia just in time World War Two began a month later. Germany became a hell for the jews who remained at the end of october nine hundred forty one jews were forbidden by law to leave. The dr hilda worked for was drafted into the military at the start of the war. She got a job at a Government Insurance company and she maintained contact with her communist friends. She had just done the outside of the moment you dont look good at that time she was meeting often with cricket you go. Thats. Where we are stay in one nine hundred forty and whats you know they went for a long walk and critter you go said come along a few friends are getting together. One of them was my father and father and so obviously me and so on thats how they met in nineteen forty i get out and he invited her to come to elaine its in the spring. Ive been working there since one nine hundred thirty eight and had bought himself a folding boat. Together with other friends they set up their folding boat at the boat house. Funds and hilda got along well from the start the budding friendship was soon to develop into something more and so they kept getting closer and closer. And then in nineteen forty one they married on the fourteenth of june i ought to do me but the uni puts in you only. One of the bonds they shared was their Firm Conviction that something had to be done against the nazi regime. Other opponents of the nazis were already drawing attention with flyers and other illegal publications. Those who were caught or denounced were brutally punished. The nazis didnt tolerate any opposition. Sophie schol became one of the best known members from these groups. Into sophie one time sophie said so many people are dying for hitler its time that someone finally died fighting against hitler. This is where it all started and came to an end back then at the university in munich sophie and her brother distributor the new flyer from the Resistance Group the white rose they were betrayed arrested interrogated for hours and ultimately paid for their actions with their lives their desire for freedom peace and justice outweighed their fears of the consequences. It was so war but we were so impressed by what my brother and sister did. We were amazed at them from the first moment we discovered what they had done last week and we gladly face the consequences afterward to. The fourth now. And the financial siblings had liberal parents they grew up and bought invertebrate and christian values were important to the family plans was the second oldest bank board on hand at him with my brother hans always sought out special people that he would in gaijin discussions in advance the debate he set the tone even when he was still just in elementary school. He was very attractive. I still remember that school mates often came to pick me up in the hopes that my brother would open the door. Of my brother had a nose for people he could rely on people who he could do things with deal for last mccolgan we didnt advice and five. Times was a confident single minded young man he found friends quickly. His younger sister sophie was by contrast shy the sophie. Didnt button disc so he was very reserved. She didnt really take part in discussions much even though she was really bright and articulate. And. Could she could write very well too good she wrote the best final essay in her High School Class of. Get to. Sleep and they used to read it aloud as an example right up until her imprisonment shaming and death thing in class and for good listening pulled it. Against the express will of their father hans and sophie both became enthusiastic members of the hitler youth and the federation of german girls. Initially they followed the ideals of the National Socialists but soon realized that they dedicated themselves to a regime that subjugated people with violence and fear and. By nine hundred thirty seven they had turned their backs on nazi ideology. We see every moment you know how i remember it was probably one or two days after the start of the Second World War i was walking along the danube with sophie and i said oh my god hopefully there wont be a war my good for you and creek and act and so he said no hopefully someone will finally go after hitler so he cant do what ever he pleases everywhere bomb could possibly. The resistance was taking shape under the name the white rose punch shawl and his classmate Alexander Small rails and a leaflet in one nine hundred forty two and sent it anonymously to intellectuals in munich they appealed to peoples conscience and called on them to engage in passive resistance. The first leaflet said do not forget that every people deserves the regime it is willing to endure. The. Young mens experience on the Eastern Front played a crucial role between semesters of their medical studies at the university in munich they were sent to poland as medics there they saw the true horrors of war a friend billy graf soon joined the white rose. The friends had to be careful their activities were kept secret even from their families. To help make their lives three i saw how and Alexander Small came to our home. They told me they were going to the gynaecological Womens Hospital to explain why they were going out at night. And then i was walking with sophie in the english garden and sophie said we should write slogans on the walls i said well i only have a pencil in my pocket and she answered thats not enough we need black tar paint and i said thats dangerous to settle and she shot back the night is freedoms friend did not the fish try and cry and. Sophie began studying biology and philosophy at the university of munich in the summer of one nine hundred forty two. Through close contact with her brother she soon got to meet all the members of the white rose hans confided in sophie he told her everything he had also insisted that she not take part. But sophie wanted to do something. She joined the white rose. The groups second flier said when does a wave of unrest goes through the land then in a great final effort this system can be shaken off. After all an end to terror is preferable to terror without end. Sophie hunts and their friends knew they were in mortal danger they kept the group small because of it. When sophies boyfriend officer for talk model was on home leave in germany she asked him to stamp. Coupon authorizing her to get a duplicating machine. Park novel was also against the war and he suspected his friends were in danger and. See that you could check she told him it was for a good cause he immediately thought that it was something illegal and told her sophie is it clear to you that this can cost you your head and she said yes thats clear to me. And. Pretty hard not go wasnt an initiate but he fulfilled his girlfriend sophies wish the group was unable to make thousands of protest flyers against the hated nazi regime at the end of january one thousand nine hundred three they printed a leaflet entitled a call to all germans hitler cannot win the war he can only prolong it make the decision before it is too late. On the eighteenth of february sophie and hans were placing leaflets at the university before classrooms are open. They failed to notice that they had been seen. The sixth flyer was directed at students and sealed the siblings faked the name of germany is dishonored for all time if german youth does not finally rise take revenge and atone smash its tormentors and set up a new europe of the spirit students the german people are looking to us sophie and hans for betrayed. The hall porter yakob schmidt and others held the two until the gestapo arrived brother and sister were arrested immediately. In hanss file the agents noted taken into custody on suspicion of distributing flyers. The two did not know the think a sample had already searched their residence. Twenty three year old hands wanted to protect his sister and their friends. At first he denied having anything to do with the leaflets. Youre listening face the officers. Sophie wasnt intimidated by the interrogation either she said the leaflets were already stacked in the halls and on the stairs when she arrived at the university. But what the gestapo found in their rooms was clear evidence against them. The questioning went on endlessly. By the Resistance Groups besides the white rose had long since been formed they had to be careful because their ideas were prohibited. One wrong word in the wrong place could mean immediate betrayal to the gestapo. No consistence as it was. Apparently not just people who were known each other from before nineteen thirty three got together. In the arts as a nazi and said they could recognize not nazis or nazi opponents come from ties you could recognize them from the back by their haircut and posture as of course short trip but in conversation words came up that were different they recognized each other by words and gestures they were codes and chords ones as i can. Howard schultz a boys and had been working in the Intelligence Division of the russian air Ministry Since one nine hundred thirty four yes he had been opposing the nazis ever since they seized power as the publisher of a left leaning liberal magazine he was detained by s. S. Thugs in april one nine hundred thirty three and had to look on as a jewish friend and colleague was murdered. After that he outwardly went along with the dictatorship he believed that capitalisms days were numbered and turning to the east and communism together with his wife live there to look at not all the couples the socalled all took up. Wasnt the type of Organization People long maintained it was it was neither a group of spies nor part of the illegal communist party and. Stead they were groups or. Friends who overlap through the acquaintance of individuals the bush president becomes selfimportance often and. These days you call it a network. Your communist friends should sit boys and soon met tons copy. With us would suppose my father missed whats oyo should supporters and didnt need to do a lot of convincing with my father wanted to be of course for him it was clear that their hope was the soviet union and the red army. Events these likely called things this war would start then that would be the end of naziism in germany. It being a target before my time got a place before my parents got married. Boys and approached my father and asked him if he could imagine working as a radio man. Forgot what went on my father asked why and i said it in the next days the war with the soviet union would begin and look at he had received two radios from the soviet embassy at us though he said it would be really important to maintain contact with moscow during this war which was all or nothing. Contact had it. Should said boys and used his position in the rice air ministry he passed on military information to the soviet Foreign Intelligence Service the other conspirators and hunts. You know the company was also active in resisting the National Socialists. In moscow what for your for my mother for example was listening to radio moscow back then just like quite a year ago that might be the best. Fun. Yet they would write down names in the dresses of german prisoners of war who spoke on the radio saying my name is and i lived please tell my parents. My wife alone tell them im alive but thats why you thought it was like counterpropaganda because i said as a rule that the russians dont take any prisoners and you found. The german there marched initially advanced rapidly along the Eastern Front and reported success after success. Yet in the autumn of one nine hundred forty one the army became bogged down. There had forecast that russia would be defeated by christmas he hadnt thought about the autumn rains and the approaching frigid winter the german troops were woefully underprepared enough to youve got to. Get some out after the german army was repulsed for the first time on the outskirts of moscow in november and december when opponents of hitler and the whole regime began to think of now theyve really conquered themselves to death. At something as well to support even see the boys and not all sorts of boys and other friends published a leaflet in september called fear over germanys future is spreading among the people. So i knew when that existed all hundred copies of it were sent to people who theyd picked out of the telephone book and sometimes. Into the phone because it was looked up and you sick or you could stop also record of the operation because two hundred sixty of those copies were handed over to the police or the gestapo. Gestapo were also investigations into where the paper came from. Because people would notice if you bought several hundred pieces of paper somewhere. By the future and all of that money evoking that cough that killed a copy was providing the paper for the road to capellos leafleting campaigns her job at the Rice Insurance institute made it quite convenient. Thats how bush is. Different and that but he isnt the only later did i read in a file about some other people that might. Mother took paper from this insurance organization. Some of it she kept at her mother as. My father also joined in putting these leaflets into mailboxes and later in may nine hundred forty two there was this and the soviet special exhibition in the last cotton soviet part of the soviet paradise was first sight so that it took up two thirds of the whole garden and these are all still on the. Site where they showed the jewish bolshevism had spread in the soviet union. A Million People went to the propaganda exhibit which was meant to further insight war against bolshevism. With a victorious advance about troops war correspondents have reported that the soviet paradise has made a deep impression on them it has shown them the hopeless gray daily grind bit by bit with each break in their advance. Propaganda ministry slogans railed that poverty misery and squalor were ever present in the soviet union it was proof that the war in the east was justified. So its a boys as group reacted immediately. And they had what for and even if we could most it was about the home front after the war and the east had stalled at that and they wanted people up in arms again. And thats when shultz boys at the idea of writing a short text and titled permanent exhibition the nazi paradise or hunger lies the gestapo for how much longer. And someone found a printer and they made about a thousand of them and. Then one sunday evening that talked it over again. Someone who had worked on it discussed and weighed up whether it was the right thing to do or if it were too dangerous its called his office and even the older one said were not touching that. But then they decided to go ahead when shultz poison came and said well always go in pairs and if we dont do it today and were not going to do much of anything anymore i think sees it as a home. And it will be. So in the end they decided to do it the group posted the flyers all over berlin in mid may nine hundred forty two schulz of boys and had since been promoted to first lieutenant. He was still transmitting radio warnings about secret fair mox maneuvers in the east. The gestapo long search for who was behind it but they werent able to track them down. Until july nine hundred forty two when a soviet secret Service Transmission from the previous august was finally decoded it was a message from moscow to brussels in it where Howard Schultz of voisins name and address. On august thirty first the gestapo came to his office in the russian air ministry chilled to boys and was arrested immediately and interrogated. He could not refute the allegations all the evidence was against him. When he didnt come home that evening his wife suspected something was wrong. A few days later the gestapo took her into custody as well. Meanwhile hans copy had been drafted but his name and the name of his wife hilda soon came up during the course of the investigation the nazis came to the property in september. So for them you know before mine no one came right into my grandparents dutcher and my grandfather was standing there. Wheres copy. I gave him a punch in the gut for that and he asked. Hans copy no not unscom but he lives over there hes my son. On it and my mother was likely already there too and she said hes off to the us hes not here he was just called up into the army the day before yesterday where somewhere near posen and right away the car turned around and drove to pose it was. He thought everyone everyone who lived on that property my grandparents my fathers brother and my mother were all arrested and taken to jail it out xander plots or some other some up lots of pretty sorry for my father and they brought her gestapo headquarters and prince are british. Quins i and they put him in a cell where he remained the whole time you got to know the guns its. On the eighteenth of february one thousand nine hundred three hundred and sophie schol were questioned in the gestapo prison in munich. The agents asked again and again about the white roses leaflets sophie vehemently denied even knowing of the Resistance Group let alone having anything to do with the flyers. Documents of her testimony reveal how she maintained the flyers were already in the halls outside the University Classrooms when she and her brother hans arrived. She saw them first on the upper part of the stairs on the first floor. Each of them picked one up read it cursorily and then put it in a pocket she said hans even laughed about it. She didnt deny that she pushed a few of the leaflets from the bannisters down into the atrium. She said she knew she was being watched as she did it. She said i admit only that i did something stupid by behaving the way i did but i cant change that now i admit that a number of. Facts speak against my brother and me. At the same time hunt show was being interrogated in another room the agents asked him how he got the leaflets that have been found in his coat pocket if he didnt have anything to do with those responsible. Hunts answered that he had found an envelope in the mailbox that morning on the way to the university. There was a leaflet in the envelope. He skimmed over briefly and then tore it up and put it in his pocket. His testimony would become fateful for the siblings. Because sophie said she and her brother left their rooms together that day the interrogators asked her if she had seen the envelope in the mailbox. Sophie maintained when my brother and i left our rooms at about ten thirty am the mailbox must certainly have been empty because i had emptied it an hour earlier this inconsistency sealed their doom. On the day of their arrest propaganda minister years of goebbels was giving a speech in berlin the war in the east was dragging on people needed to be convinced of the coming triumph. I. Claim that the german people are tired of the governments total war. We dont want total war but capitulation. They want total war. I. Do you want war if necessary more total a more radical than we can imagine today. The germans were to fight on any form of resistance was to be brutally suppressed console tangling himself an inconsistency as was being backed into a corner. Letters had been found in his rooms the evidence weighed heavily against him. On the morning of the nineteenth of february one thousand nine hundred forty three he finally confessed. He admitted sharing responsibility for the fliers and that he also distributed them in the halls of the university. He was also forced to reveal the name of his counterpart christopher. Draft of the seventh white rose leaflet. It was already on his trail they found and arrested him on the twentieth of february questioned him for hours on end. Stuck to her story. She continued to deny having anything to do with the leaflets and staunchly protected her friends but she. Told her brother had confessed in her confession she said we were convinced that the war was lost for germany and that every single human life sacrificed for this last war was for nothing. Home when they learned of the arrest of their children. My parents were told by a woman who studied with my brother. She came to and told my parents that they had been arrested and why. And it was a mediately clear to my parents that it could only mean the Death Penalty for them so far this new and total tried. Had been president of the Peoples Court the for half a year he was reputedly the best known and most notorious judge of criminal cases in the third. Trials on the twenty second of february one thousand nine hundred three himself came from. To preside over the trial against sophie and honshu. The parents and siblings of the defendants were present in the palace of justice at the time. They knew it wouldnt end well then put it up finish for tiger then the public defender was called to speak on behalf of my sister he said he hadnt been given access to the files ahead of the trial for if he would have that he still would have argued that execution was fully justified. And then my father stood up and said that when the defender wouldnt defend his children that he wanted to do it. Were not exactly tied to assign a kingdom from time to denver. And then they threw all of us my mother my sister and my brother venner out of the courtroom oath and as he was being taken out my father called out loudly there is a higher kind of justice the haida antigay hate he got. The Court Sentenced tonnesen sophie short to death for treasonous aiding of the enemy preparing for high treason and attempting to demoralize the military their sentence to be carried out the same day. Christopher probst had desperately begged for clemency in vain. He left behind a wife and three children the youngest only four weeks old. The white rose would die with Christopher Probst and sophie and hunch. In november one thousand nine hundred two hunks copy was sitting in his cell in berlin he was still awaiting sentencing. Meanwhile his wife was in the womens prison environments trust. My father and i believe forster my father wrote a letter to my mother from the gestapo present. Its tone was what do you in your thoughts still stroll along the sunny side of our lives he wrote you came like spring personified arms sleep because i puffed a good feeling then it was spring for letter continued summer was full it was so long so short you cant mark it on a calendar yet it gave us everything we longed for now autumn is coming kinds copy had realised he wouldnt come out of jail alive so he wrote to hilda what he couldnt say. With him hes sent him to please step for me these letters about their days and of the joy they had together are the nicest testimonial not the leaflets you see instance. They had their one side together thats nothing at the other side as well as you and thats what i think over again and again. Ive moved my table beneath the window to write you these lines by the light of day the awareness of our shared identity is a continuous source of new thoughts that revolve around each other of what we experienced together and of what still awaits. At the time of her arrest hilda kopi was seven months pregnant. And november twenty seventh she gave birth to a healthy boy she named him after his father. Im so overjoyed i dont know where to start on throat our son has arrived mommy in court brought me the joyous news today given hugs and kisses and much love from his father a great big hug to you ill hold you until i see you again. So some. Of this but father. My father saw me on the ninth of december. You know he was taken to bottom strasser my mother and i were taken to him. And see him and then on the nineteenth of december. He was sentenced to death with shorter boys and hanukah and twelve other men and women. And he was murdered at platts and say on december twenty second the total fault lines one says its above puts an old at fault. The sentence for the members of the road to capella was death by hanging killed a copy learned of the death of her husband in jail in burning strawson. The next shot came on january twentieth one thousand nine hundred forty three when she herself was sentenced to death the execution was to be carried out as soon as she had weaned her baby. And thats why not to dish and the sweet of course that was a very difficult time for. Me because on the one hand she was very happy with me. And on the other she knew it would come to an end at some point. Because i must meanwhile she was also thinking about me still and in a certain way ordered that i would learn a trade and have a respectable job. That i shouldnt be spoiled too much. She was also worried about her mother and how that would continue. And thats why she made the decision to have her mother care for me so shed have something to do that there would be life there for her again to grieve and feel as you. My dear mother soon it will be time for us to say farewell forever. The hardest parts leaving my little hands is already behind me. Promise me for his sake stay brave and strong. Im going to my big hands now. I hope that little hans has inherited the best in both of us. When you hold him to your breast your child will always be with you much nearer than i can be to you now. I hope little hands will grow up tough and strong. With the warm open hearted helpful down to earth character of his father we loved each other very much and love guided our actions. My dear mother and my little hans all my love surrounds you always. Be brave the way im trying to be brave always your daughter hilda. The sentence was carried out on the same day hilda copy wrote that letter to her mother. Hitler rejected her request for clemency in july one thousand nine hundred three. A guillotine was used to behead hilda copy at glistens a prison on august fifth one nine hundred forty three. Puns copy jr was raised by his grandmother. And was always aware that his parents were heroes. Thats also those where it was more my grandmother tried of course to set up certain rules of behavior that i should adopt. And that were related to my late parents. Though sometimes it wasnt easy for me. Especially where people would praise my parents and thought that i didnt do me any good at all i missed them by the most of them you know i imagine and really few versions we dreamed as a boy that they might come back again that will be good because there was always someone showing up who was believed to have been long dead. Sons as parents staked everything on their beliefs and paid for it with their lives after the war they were honored as heroes in communist east germany there was even a stamp with the couples picture yet for hundreds jr its his mother is a person whos important shes far more than a resistance fighter. Who presumably didnt because. Ive got trouble with the concept of heroin. Because were talking about my mother. And it was always difficult for me to establish a relationship tour i am one she was brave and all and im sure she certainly was a heroine. But first and foremost for me shes my mother. And the more i get away from this heroin the nearer she is to me this is the new you know what is in your. Field a copy was a courageous woman and she was also a mother who loved her child. Than my. Own kids i didnt see and couldnt if you can see women as heroin as you thought was destroyed withstood a life full of disruption and adversity the hope and the hope come up then you can actually be proud of her that it was her. And thats the way itll stay for me. The companys wish came true her son is staying true to his parents legacy through his own fight against fascism. Plug ins barely feel. The scars on some up the drain still tangible. Some for law for gods. Law for cities and. They have survived but do they also have a future. I really understand people who say they dont want to stay here. But they also admire people who want to stay here and who decided to create something. Of a new beginning in peace time for the people making it possible what needs to happen if tolerance and reconciliation are to stand a chance for this fellow to get the photos once a really difficult complicated bit of forgiveness reconciliation forgetting they get stuck in your struggle to get. Out of darkness cities after more. Players starting march tenth on t. W. Plane. To model. This is news coming to you live from Berlin Germany and turkey reboot relations but it what it calls critics fear german types like these used to attack cornish rebels in syria were part of a deal to free an imprisoned journalist now plans are being made for turkeys controversial president to visit berlin also coming up