Sophie Scholl - This will make waves

Sophie Scholl was nonconformist, self-confident and linguistically gifted. Her resistance to the Nazi state cost her her life. At just 21 years old, she was murdered by the Nazis in Munich. In May of this year, she would have celebrated her 100th birthday. Who was this modern-looking young woman, what drove her and what makes her actions so extraordinary to this day?

​

The documentary "Sophie Scholl - this will make waves" traces the life of the determined resistance fighter and explores why Sophie Scholl has become an icon, especially for young people today. Martin Schwimmer and Dominik Utz visit one of 200 schools named after Sophie or Hans Scholl in Germany. They meet Hildegard Kronawitter, chairwoman of the White Rose Foundation. One question is always there: what waves has the memory of Sophie Scholl made in today's world?

​

But the political developments of the present also show how important it is to remember the resistance and the victims of National Socialism. Right-wing movements and populism are gaining ground worldwide and are threatening freedom of expression and freedom of the press. In Turkey, for example, a young writer was classified as a terrorist because she helped found the MeToo movement in Turkey and campaigned for women's rights and queer lifestyles. We meet Nazli Karabiyikoglu in Nuremberg - the former stronghold of the Nazis - where she currently lives in exile. A few kilometers further on, we visit with the "Fürth Alliance" and speak to the writer Leonhard F. Seidl, who deals with right-wing violence in almost all of his novels. They all have one thing in common: Sophie Scholl's resistance and murder are still making waves today.

​

​

TEAM

Director: Martin Schwimmer & Dominik Utz

Camera: Pius Neumaier

Editor: Andreas Nicolai

Editor: Gunnar Dillschneider

Channel: SAT.1 Bavaria