“And now you cry because your little throats are being cut.”

– Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels speaking of the German people as Berlin was falling to the Russians, from memoirs of Hitler’s last days, depicted in the movie Downfall.

 My previous post — Why the Brett Kimberlin Story Could be a Tipping Point — was dedicated to Sophie Scholl, a German student who, along with her brother, was executed by the Nazis for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets. It is important that you understand who Sophie Scholl was and how her story contrasts with that of Traudl Junge, a willing accomplice of Adolph Hitler. We must learn lessons from the actions of people who came before us.

First, a look at Sophie Scholl, from her biography at Holocaust Research Project:

On February 18, 1943, the Scholl’s brought a suitcase full of leaflets to the university. They hurriedly dropped stacks of copies in the empty corridors for students to find when they flooded out of lecture rooms. Leaving before the class break, the Scholl’s noticed that some copies remained in the suitcase and decided it would be a pity not to distribute them. They returned to the atrium and climbed the staircase to the top floor, and Sophie flung the last remaining leaflets into the air.

This frantic action was observed by the custodian Jakob Schmid. The police were called and Hans and Sophie were taken into Gestapo custody. The other active members were soon arrested, and the group and everyone associated with them were interrogated and charged with treason.

In the People’s Court before the notorious Judge Roland Freisler on February 21, 1943, Scholl was recorded as saying “Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just do not dare express themselves as we did.” Scholl and her brother’s defiance, in the face of terrifying consequences, gained them enormous admiration. [...]

[...] On February 22, 1943, Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and their friend Christoph Probst were found guilty and condemned to death. They were all beheaded by executioner Johann Reichhart in Munich’s Stadelheim Prison only a few hours later at 17:00.

The execution was supervised by Dr. Walter Roemer who was the enforcement chief of the Munich district court. Prison officials emphasized the courage with which she walked to her execution. Her last words were “Die Sonne scheint noch”—”The sun still shines.”

In contrast to Sophie Scholl, we have Traudl Junge, one of Adolph Hitler’s personal secretaries, and the youngest, having been hired at age 22. Junge was with Adolph Hitler and many of his closest advisers during the last days in the bunker where he committed suicide as the Russians overwhelmed Berlin in the final days of World War II.

Traudl Junge’s Book: Until the Final Hour: Hitler’s Last Secretary

Junge was never convicted of any crime in regard to her role as a “young follower” of Hitler, deemed too ignorant to have known what she had gotten herself into. Junge and others provided the memoirs upon which the movie Downfall, about Hitler’s last days, was based. Excerpts from an interview with Junge appear in the movie, and one of the most powerful things that she said, in my opinion, was in regard to how she came to realize that she did have some level of responsibility. Junge remarked on an epiphany that she had on this point when she visited the memorial to Sophie Scholl and noticed that she (Junge) and Scholl were both born in the same year. It occurred to her that if Sophie Scholl, who was the same age, could have been so aware of the evils of Nazism and acted against this evil even to the point of sacrificing her life, then Junge too, although deemed a “young follower” by the Allies, could also have known and made a different choice.

There were many people who chose to be ignorant and/or silent in the face of evil. Often, those who sit by and remain silent are otherwise very good and well-intentioned folk. The good must remember that they, too, can become responsible for evil by their silence and by their unwillingness to see evil where it is clearly in front of them. When we put our hopes in evil people, no matter how secure we may find ourselves to be, when the “moment of truth” comes, those evil people will abandon those who helped bring them to power. This is evident in the words of Joseph Goebbels, overheard by a very dismayed Traudl Junge, which also appear in Downfall:

“And now you cry because your little throats are being cut.”

Never, never put your faith in immoral people to lead a nation.