Sophie Scholl (comic)

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Sophie Scholl is a 2015 graphic novel by the author Heiner Lünstedt and the illustrator Ingrid Sabisch for Knesebeck Verlag .

content

The biographical comic tells Sophie Scholl's life from her first meeting with her boyfriend Fritz Hartnagel at the age of sixteen until her untimely death through her execution in the prison in Munich-Stadelheim. The focus is on the correspondence between Sophie Scholl and Fritz Hartnagel.

In her hometown of Ulm , the young Sophie Scholl met the soldier Fritz Hartnagel, to whom she would not stop writing. The two lovers, Sophie and Fritz, quickly get closer and Fritz is introduced to Sophie's family. However, since young Fritz is a soldier, he has to go to the front. The letter contact, in which they share both experiences and opinions, takes its course. These letters address conflicts between values ​​that also preoccupy other critically thinking people of the time.

Sophie, who is quickly skeptical of National Socialism both because of her family background and the stories and reports from her fiancé's front , is training as a kindergarten teacher in the hope of being able to bypass the Reich Labor Service. Your work turns out to be very tiring.

In a letter, Fritz gives his fiancée his view of the soldiery: He sees it as a venerable way of life, in which his fiancée agrees with him little. Sophie's plan turns out to be a failure: she has to go to the labor service, in which she also has positive, but above all unpleasant experiences. At the same time, Fritz is slowly but surely becoming disillusioned with the life of a soldier. The lovers spend time together on Saturdays.

In 1942 Sophie Scholl began studying biology and philosophy at the University of Munich. Through her brother living there, the young woman quickly came into contact with Nazi resistance activists, such as the educated Professor Huber or Alexander, a friend of Hans'. Fritz visits her fiancée in Munich. The first leaflet of the group, in which Sophie was not yet involved, will be distributed soon. At the same time, Robert Scholl , Sophie and Hans' father, was arrested for an outspoken insult to the Führer.

The student group is working on the next leaflet, which will be distributed through the whole Reich via handouts at train stations.

At the same time, Fritz was suffering from the unbearable cold on the Eastern Front and was given a badly injured card because of his frozen hands and feet. Thanks to this he can get to Lviv.

The resistance movements of the group are increasing: The group describes walls during the night and thus causes a scandal in Munich. Now the 6th leaflet, written by Professor Huber, is to be distributed. However, the siblings are caught throwing a pile of leaflets from a banister in Munich University. The group of three was arrested and sentenced to death. Fritz finds out about the sad news. The writer Thomas Mann addresses the German people via the BBC by praising the siblings. In addition, the 6th leaflet was dropped thousands of times over Germany.

characters

Main character: Sophie Scholl

The protagonist Sophie Scholl, with her full name Sophia Magdalena Scholl, is the focus of the comic and can be equated with the historical figure Sophie Scholl, who was involved in the White Rose resistance group . Sophie Scholl is portrayed in Heiner Lünstedt and Ingrid Sabisch's comic as a very sensitive and receptive young woman with great sensitivity, which is particularly evident in her letter dialogue with Fritz Hartnagel. At the same time, Sophie Scholl, on the other hand, is characterized by a certain heartiness and determination, which the reader can see, for example, from her unannounced visit to Fritz Hartnagel in an air force barracks in Augsburg. Sophie Scholl has been relatively suspicious of National Socialism from the beginning of the story. When she started her training as a kindergarten teacher, she wrote to her boyfriend that she hoped to bypass the Reich Labor Service in this way. When she later has to go to work, her disaffection with National Socialism is confirmed. Sophie Scholl is also very skeptical about the military. She sees in it, as she tells her friend in one of her letters, nothing more than an executive member of his government. "His job is to obey."

Sophie's tendency to question things and get to the bottom of them shows at a very early age and indicates her later involvement in the resistance group. In Munich, Sophie Scholl quickly came into contact with a group of resistanceists and was interested in their ideas. She shows an interest in politics and a burning thirst for action. Her engagement in the group is growing rapidly, so she quickly takes initiatives. The young Sophie Scholl turns out to be a staunch pacifist against the Nazi dictatorship . After her arrest, the young adult remains true to her principles, defends what she has done adamantly and shows moral courage.

Minor characters

In order of their appearance:

Anneliese

Anneliese is a friend of Sophie's. With her, Sophie meets Fritz for the first time and gets to know him.

Fritz Hartnagel

Fritz Hartnagel is Sophie Scholl's four-year-old boyfriend. He is a soldier in the German Wehrmacht. Although Fritz sees a way of life in which one has to combine numerous virtues in being a soldier, events of the war also shake him deeply. Like his girlfriend Sophie, he is also characterized by great humanity. Through Sophie he questions the ruling regime more and more. On the eastern front in front of Stalingrad, Fritz struggled with the freezing cold and suffered third-degree frostbite on two fingers. By being given a card for the seriously injured, he was relieved to get to Lviv, where he was taken care of. The soldier received the news of the execution of his girlfriend in the hospital in Lviv, about which he was deeply shocked.

Robert Scholl

Robert Scholl is the father of the children Sophie, Hans, Inge, Werner and Elisabeth Scholl. He was arrested by the Gestapo in Ulm because of an insult to the Führer . The father of the family is sentenced to a four-month prison term in a special court. He, his wife, Inge and Elisabeth are taken to the detention center after Sophies and Hans have been executed.

Lena Scholl

Lena Scholl is the mother of the children Sophie, Hans, Inge, Werner and Elisabeth Scholl. During the negotiation between Sophie and Hans, she is amazed at the strength and bravery of the two.

Inge, Werner and Elisabeth Scholl

Inge Werner and Elisabeth Scholl are the siblings of Hans and Sophie Scholl.

The leader

The Führer heads the Reich Labor Service, in which Sophie goes. In the eyes of young Sophie she is anything but lovable.

Hans Scholl

Hans Scholl is the brother of Sophie, Inge, Werner and Elisabeth Scholl. He studies in Munich and is a co-founder of the student resistance group. During the semester break, he and the other members of the resistance group have to go to the Eastern Front as soldiers. His last words before his execution were "Long live freedom!"

Alexander

Alexander is a friend of Hans Scholl and also belongs to the White Rose.

Professor Huber

Professor Huber is a philosophy professor at the University of Munich. As a scholar, he criticized Hitler and the Nazi regime very sharply. Like Hans Scholl, he is in a crisis of resistance. He also writes leaflets that are distributed by the students. His lectures at the university are very popular among students.

Mr. Mohr

Mr. Mohr occupies an office of the secret state police in Munich. To his horror, he was told about the leaflets of the resistance movement.

Thomas Mann

Thomas Mann addresses the German people via the BBC and praises the group's activities there.

Press reviews

Heiner Lünstedt and Ingrid Sabisch received positive reviews for their biographical graphic novel. For example, Linda Jessen writes for the Munich evening newspaper: “This is how a highly authentic work was created.” “Anyone who does not know so much about Sophie Scholl, but is interested in the life of a brave resistance fighter, is sure to find this comic biography good start. The book made me curious. ”The novel is praised for its illustration of German history and the portrayal of Sophie Scholl's personality from an intimate perspective. “But even if you've heard, read and seen a lot about Sophie Scholl: The graphic novel biography by Ingrid Sabisch and Heiner Lünstedt deserves its place on the bookshelf.”

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Abendzeitung Germany: New biography: Sophie Scholl comic: White Rose, colorful pictures - Abendzeitung Munich. Retrieved December 18, 2019 .
  2. ↑ tinelesemomente: [Review] "Sophie Scholl: The Comic Biography" by Ingrid Sabisch and Heiner Lünstedt. In: Reading Moments. October 25, 2018, accessed December 18, 2019 .
  3. ^ Girls' Life in the Third Reich: Two Graphic Novel Biographies. In: KindAmTellerrand. May 17, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2019 .