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 a heroine. God. Nothing good could ever be a dont get forgotten that i think about my my daughters hopefully there wont be a war and then so he said no hopefully someone will finally go after hitler so he cant do whatever he pleases everywhere kind of recipe. Hitlers opponents used flyers in desperate attempts to make people see the nazis crimes and prevent worse 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 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. Is down so from this Current Issue state does not include 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 there is the nazis punish them harshly. And its on i must leave the my parents lived and loved their lives when it was the only thing they had. And in their time their behavior was different while outstanding because they swam against the time the. Big names told muslims and. Born in one thousand nine. Hundred in 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. As flash gordon who for example then my mother became a receptionist cyclical i got through it she did secretarial work in the doctors office. And for one doctor she assisted during operations and took x. Rays. Was all she was always interested in doing a thorough job. You know. If i didnt type that was unclear was also the time of the Major Economic crisis and if she found a course in Natural Sciences and went to night school stuff. Oh there she met young people her age who were unemployed before and she liked them. I wasnt part of this politically they were on the left young communists. Or i and there was one in france comma part of whom she was particularly fond if that meant the time he was studying at the university in berlin. As 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. Crowds of nazis chanted germans defend yourselves dont buy from jews. Under hitlers regime a scapegoat for all the countrys misery was found quickly the Jewish Population suffered discrimination humiliation and ostracisation. Those who oppose this is done politically were brutally silenced. Buttering a single complaint about the nazis led to harsh punishment killed iraq his friend france karma experience the oppression is outside bus. With fundamentalist times you continued to be Close Friends with france comma. 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 of until the tenth of november nine hundred thirty eight his mother ran a small guest house in process. November tenth was the day that the windows were smashed and the synagogues burned. Youth and such. And give off important their say and others came into the apartments. But your hand at her guest house is going to actually erect the whole interior. I know what thats done my mother rushed over there it is a fault that there was nothing that could be done. Without lights so i tell speed ahead to two days later harry girl i think read that all jews would be stripped of their right to run businesses and i think that transcend he didnt see any opportunities here any more. Kind of transmits what everything was only getting worse. And he decided to exploit the last opportunity and emigrate. Well my mother at the disposal of 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 august nine hundred thirty nine they parted almost as ish so actually that. Ones 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 one nine hundred forty one jews were forbidden by law to leave. The dr hilda work for was drafted into the military at the start of the war. She got a job at the Government Insurance company and she maintained contact with her communist friends. At that time she was meeting often with a great idea to go. About where we are staying in one thousand forty and then once thats you know i went for a long walk and critter yoga said come along a few friends are getting together. And one of them was my father and father and so obviously and so on thats how they met in nineteen forty i knew god 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. Of all. Kinds and hilda got along well from the start the budding friendship was soon to develop into something more. Than to make up getting closer and closer. And then in nineteen forty one they married on the fourteenth of june i ought to feel me but if you were me you me. 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 distributed a 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. We were having so 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 this last week and we gladly face the consequences afterward to. The fourth now over. The financial siblings had liberal parents they grew up and bought. Timberg and christian values were important to the family funds was the second oldest rank order hands at the mall with my brother hans always sought out special people what he would in gauging discussions in advance the debate he set the tone even when he was still just in Elementary School sure 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 feel safer last night condren regain my bus and five. Pounds was a confident single minded young man he found friends quickly. His younger sister sophie was by contrast shy the softer you see it simply because i didnt bite and discovery was very reserved. She didnt really take part in discussions much even though she was really bright and articulate. And. Good she could write very well too good she wrote the best final essay in her High School Class of. The 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. By nine hundred thirty seven they had turned their backs on nazi ideology. We should have a memory. 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 my god hopefully there wont be a war my good for you clique and act and so he said no hopefully someone will finally go after hitler so he cant do what ever he pleases everywhere bomb kind of us repeat. The resistance was taking shape under the name the white rose upon shore 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 university in munich they were sent to poland as medics there they saw the true horrors of war a friend feel a graph soon joined the white rose. The friends had to be careful their activities were kept secret even from their families. Media lately i saw how a graph and Alexander Small came to our house we are sick 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 try and find. Sophia 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 was on home leave in germany she asked him to stamp a coupon authorizing her to get a duplicating machine. Parts novel was also against the war and he suspected his friends were in danger and. See that you could say she told him it was for a good cause he immediately thought that it was something illegal and told her sophie is it clear that this can cost you your head and she said yes thats clear to me. Pretty hard not going 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. Streams 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 with 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 Jacobi 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 hans wanted to protect his sister and their friends. At first he denied having anything to do with the leaflets. He fearlessly 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. Consistence. Apparently not just people who were known each other from before nineteen thirty three got together. In the arts as an nazi and so they could recognise not nazis or nazi opponents come from thais you could recognise them from the back by their haircut and posture was of course short term but in conversation words came up. Were different well they recognize each other by words and gestures they were codes and courts for months as i can. Power shows the boys and had been working in the Intelligence Division of the rice air Ministry Since one nine hundred thirty four yet 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 libertas he remained loyal to the resistance sought by the gestapo as the water capello or red orchestra they developed an underground organization and. Use a lot in the by socalled war took up rather it 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 instead they were groups of friends who overlapped through the acquaintance of individuals the boy scouts become selfimportance awful and. These days youd call it a network as as well. But i didnt go. Through communist friends should suppose and soon met tons copy. What if you suppose my thought on this and we got so hot oh sure its a boys and didnt need to do a lot of convincing with my father of course for him it was clear that their hope was the soviet union and the red army. And cities likely called this more would start then that would be the end of naziism in germany. A good being a target for my son 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. For guts. Then my father asked why and i said that in the next days the war with the soviet union would begin and that he had received two radios from the soviet embassy. 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 hans coming. Here the company was also active in resisting the National Socialists. In moscow woodfull youll find my mother for example was listening to radio moscow back then just like quite a year ago that might be. Fun but some critics have fun with it they would write down name was in the addresses of german prisoners of war who spoke on the radio saying my name is and i lived please tell my parents and my wife alone tell them im alive. Thats logs i was like counterpropaganda because i said as a rule that the russians dont take any prisoners and we found that. The german there mark. 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. Hitler 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. Look them up its a mile after the german army was repulsed for the first time on the outskirts of moscow in november and december opponents of hitler and the whole regime began to think of now theyve really conquered themselves to death. And it will be supportive to see the boys and now im sure its a boys and other friends published a leaflet in september called fear over germanys future is spreading among the people of course so i knew when that excess of one hundred copies of it were sent to people who theyd picked out of the telephone book sometimes. Into the phone book i was going to happen 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 may have opened up at the pure. Killed a copy was providing the paper for the road to capellas leafleting campaigns her job at the Rice Insurance institute made it quite convenient. As. The phone im not but really isnt that only later did i read in her file about some other people that my mother took paper from this Insurance Organization when thought there. Was some of it she kept at her mothers. And my father also joined in putting these leaflets into mailboxes. And later in may nineteen forty two there was this anti soviet special exhibition in the last cotton. The soviet paradise. It took up two thirds of the whole garden and. There they showed the jewish bolshevism had spread in the soviet union. A Million People went to that propaganda exhibit which was meant to further insight war against bolshevism. It seems like it was a victorious advance of all troops war correspondents have reported that the soviet paradise has made a deep impression on them it has shown them the hopeless groene 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 unscrew predicted immediately. And they have not found even if it was about the home front after the war in the east had stalled then they wanted people up in arms again. And thats when shultz boys and the idea of writing a short text entitled permanent exhibition the nazi paradise more 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. 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 any more to see that the home is mocking them and it will. Mix them up. So in the end they decided to do it the group posted the flyers all over berlin in mid may nine hundred forty two schultz 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 one 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 unit where Howard Schultz avoidance 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. And so forth and you know before my one came right into my grandparents dutcher and my grandfather was standing there. Whereas copy. I gave him a punch in the gut for that and he asked. And im scrappy no not on school but he lives over there hes my son. On it and my mother was likely already there too and she said hes off because hes not here he was just called up into the army the day before yesterday where somewhere near posen then right away her car turned around and drove to pose. 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 acts on our plates of police i find no other they brought to go stop our headquarters in prince our british. Quinns eye and they put him in a cell where he remained the whole time you got to know you got to type. On the eighteenth of february one thousand nine hundred three hundred since oficial 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 that 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 banisters 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. This testimony would. Sophie maintains 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 and the war in the east was dragging on people needed to be convinced of the coming triumph. Being wished claim that the german people have tired of the governments total war. Game which started 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 this 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 nine hundred forty three. 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. Composed a draft of the seventh white rose leaflet biggest awful was already on his trail they found and arrested him on the twentieth of february and questioned him for hours on end. Resolutely stuck to her story. She continued to deny having anything to do with the leaflets and staunchly protected her friends but she gave up one gestapo interrogation specialist robert moore told sophie 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. And of my parents were told by a woman who studied with my brother. She came to him and told my parents that they had been arrested and why. And it was immediately clear to my parents that it could only mean the Death Penalty for them and them so fuck off us this new and total tried and con. Had been president of the Nazi Peoples Court the folks he reached for half a year he was reputedly the best known and most notorious judge of criminal cases in the third reich hearings in his court were nothing more than show trials on the twenty second of february one thousand nine hundred three price for himself came from. To preside over the trial against sophie and hans show. The parents and siblings of the defendants were present in the palace of justice at the time. They knew it wouldnt end well. I dont know what the definition for title then the public defender was called to speak on behalf of my sister right here he said he hadnt been given access to the files ahead of the trial. 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 than he wanted to do it. Were not exactly tied to a sidekick and only time hes done for us mom and then they threw all of us my mother my sister and my brother venner out of the courtroom house and as he was being taken out my father called out loudly there is a higher kind of justice the haida antigay hate he. The Court Sentenced tons and sophie short to death for treason is 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 honshu all. In november one nine hundred forty two hundred copy was sitting in his cell in berlin he was still awaiting sentencing. Meanwhile his wife was in the womens prison in barneys trust. One thought before my father wrote a letter to my mother from the gestapo president. Its tone was what do you in your thoughts still stroll along the sunny side of our lives you wrote you came like spring personified arms because i puffed a good feeling then it was spring the 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 kopi had realised he wouldnt come out of jail alive so he wrote to hilda what he couldnt say. To me sent him to least for me these letters about their days and of the joy they had together are the nicest testimonial not the leaflets the students uncertain as. Though they had their one side together thats nothing at the other side as well and thats what i think of 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 copy 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 once wrote 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 its not an its about this but. My father saw me on the ninth of december. You know he was taken to Barnum Strasser are 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 hard knock on twelve other men and women. And he was murdered at platts and say on december twenty second to go for science one says its a. Good since the old it full. Sentence for the members of the wrote a capella was death by hanging killed a copy learned of the death of her husband in jail and by. The next shock came on january twentieth one thousand nine hundred forty three when she herself was sentenced to death for the execution was to be carried out as soon as she had weaned her baby. And thats why the tradition and the sui 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 day i saw this book she knew it would come to an end at some point. Because the most 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. But i couldnt be spoiled too much. She was also worried about her mother so i know that would continue. And thats why she made the decision to have her mother care for me so shed have something to do with this is 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 part leaving my little hands is already behind me. Promise me for his sake stay brave and strong. Im going to my big guns 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 hands oh 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 nine hundred forty three. A guillotine was used to behead hilda copy at blitz in prison on august fifth one thousand nine hundred forty three. Puns copy jr was raised by his grandmother. And was always aware that his parents were heroes. Then was next also with us but 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. I didnt do me any good at all i missed them by force if you know i imagine a really feverish lead dreamed as a boy that they might come back again thats. Because there was always someone showing up who was pretty leave 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 as a person whos important shes far more than a resistance fighter. 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. Oh and 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 heroine the nearer she is to me thats the neo what does it. Feel to copy was a courageous woman and she was also a mother who loved her child. And my. Phone. I didnt see and couldnt if you can see women as heroin as you thought was distorted with stood a life full of disruption and adversity the hope and hope come of then you can actually be proud of her that it was her. And thats the way itll stay from a. Killer copies wish came true her son is staying true to his parents legacy through his own fight against fascism. In the arctic the battle for Natural Resources is well underway. When neighboring states discover new resources to take action to exploit them in the hopes of making huge profits. But International Conflicts are looming on the horizon because many mourners in the arctic region are not clearly defined. By the fight for the arctic. Thirty minute d. W. Every journey begins with the first step and every language but the first word published in the. Rico is in germany to learn german why not learn something thats simple online on your mobile and free themselves from d w z e learning course he can speak german made easy. And why heres a. Picture of. A trip airplane. Seventeen thousand kilometers in six weeks. Breathtaking landscapes. Comfortable experience a. Touching story of. Oh this is our home its gods country of this another better place seventeen thousand kilometers through canada starting on february twenty seventh. This is d w news live from berlin at the Munich Security Conference escaping condemnation of iran for. Prime minister. Mr zarif. Do you reckon. That in a ten yahoo confronts the Iranian Foreign minister over a drone israel shot down an israeli air space irans foreign minister hit back