Sophie Scholl stamp
In May 2021, Deutsche Post issued a stamp commemorating the 100th birthday of anti-Nazi political activist Sophie Scholl.
In 1942, during World War II, the student joined the resistance group Weiße Rose, or White Rose. Together with her brother Hans and others, she conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign that called for active opposition to the Nazi regime. On 18 February 1943, while distributing the sixth leaflet at the University of Munich, Sophie was arrested by the Gestapo. Four days later, she and her brother Hans as well as their friend Christoph Probst were convicted of high treason and condemned to death. The sentence was executed only a few hours later. Sophie Scholl died on 22 February 1943, at the age of 21. Her memory lives on.
Detlef Behr’s stamp design features a portrait of the young women and a quote, recorded by her cell mate, the communist resistance fighter Else Gebel:
Such a fine sunny day, and I have to go. What does my death matter if thousands of people are stirred up and awakened by our actions.
First Day of Issue postmarks for Bonn and Berlin. The former features the word Freiheit! (“freedom!”), which Sophie Scholl wrote on the back of the bill of indictment during her trial. The latter reads Das wird Wellen schlagen (“This will make waves”) – words that the student told her parents shortly before her death.
