{ "id": "eph0z8pp42", "slug": "sophie-scholl-the-final-days", "title": "Sophie Scholl – The Final Days", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics", "label": "Historical dramas and epics", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z", "label": "Titles M to Z", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z.alpha-sc-to-z", "label": "Titles Sc to Z", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z.alpha-sc-to-z" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "Western Europe · 2001 to 2020: War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001", "label": "Western Europe · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Sophie Scholl – The Final Days (Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage) is a 2005 German drama by Marc Rothemund starring Julia Jentsch, dramatizing the White Rose member's arrest, Gestapo interrogation, trial, and 1943 execution; Oscar-nominated, with two Silver Bears.", "snippet": "Sophie Scholl – The Final Days (Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage) is a 2005 German drama by Marc Rothemund starring Julia Jentsch, dramatizing the White Rose member's arrest, Gestapo interrogation, trial, and 1943 execution; Oscar-nominated, with two Silver Bears.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z.alpha-sc-to-z", "markdown": "# Sophie Scholl – The Final Days\n\n**Sophie Scholl – The Final Days** (German: *Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage*) is a 2005 German historical drama directed by Marc Rothemund and written by Fred Breinersdorfer, depicting the last six days of the life of the anti-Nazi resistance fighter [Sophie Scholl](https://www.edgepedia.org/sophie-scholl), from her arrest in Munich on 18 February 1943 to her execution four days later[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/sophiescholl) • [2](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/userFiles/uploads/films/136/sophiescholl-presskit.pdf). Julia Jentsch stars as Sophie Scholl, with Fabian Hinrichs as her brother Hans, Alexander Held as the Gestapo interrogator Robert Mohr, and André Hennicke as the Nazi judge [Roland Freisler](https://www.edgepedia.org/roland-freisler)[3](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/sophie-scholl-the-final-days/). The film won the Silver Bear for Best Director and the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 2005 [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival) and was Germany's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film[4](https://www.berlinale.de/media/download/preise-jurys/55_ifb_awards_2005.pdf) • [5](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/sophiescholl).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title | *Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage*[3](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/sophie-scholl-the-final-days/) |\n| Director / screenwriter | Marc Rothemund / Fred Breinersdorfer[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/sophiescholl) |\n| Release | Premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival on 13 February 2005; German theatrical release 24 February 2005[6](https://www.proquest.com/docview/236294253/A7FBCD36E2AB4B9DPQ/2) • [7](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/50529/en/aboutstructure/) |\n| Runtime / language | 117 minutes, German with English subtitles[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/sophiescholl) |\n| Principal cast | Julia Jentsch (Sophie Scholl), Fabian Hinrichs (Hans Scholl), Alexander Held (Robert Mohr), Johanna Gastdorf (Else Gebel), André Hennicke (Roland Freisler), Florian Stetter (Christoph Probst)[3](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/sophie-scholl-the-final-days/) |\n| Major awards | Silver Bears for Best Director and Best Actress (Berlin 2005); three Lolas including Audience Award and Best Actress; Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film[4](https://www.berlinale.de/media/download/preise-jurys/55_ifb_awards_2005.pdf) • [1](https://kinolorber.com/film/sophiescholl) • [5](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/sophiescholl) |\n| Historical basis | Gestapo interrogation transcripts, trial records, and interviews with survivors and relatives[8](https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/14993/sophie-scholl-the-final-days) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and historical setting\n\nThe film covers the period from 17 to 22 February 1943, told from Sophie Scholl's own perspective[2](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/userFiles/uploads/films/136/sophiescholl-presskit.pdf). Sophie and her brother Hans are members of the [White Rose](https://www.edgepedia.org/white-rose), an underground student resistance group at the University of Munich that wrote, printed, and distributed leaflets denouncing the Nazi regime and the war[9](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/white-rose). On 18 February 1943 the siblings carry leaflets into the university's atrium and lay them out before the lecture halls; Sophie drops a thick stack from an upper floor just as the hall begins to fill after lectures, and the two are seen and arrested[10](https://www.goethe.de/de/kul/flm/arc/fdb.cfm?filmdbId=1808120135530100001).\n\nMost of the film consists of Sophie's interrogation by the Gestapo officer Robert Mohr, which develops into a psychological duel. She initially denies involvement and fights for her freedom and her brother's; when incriminating evidence is found, Hans cracks under pressure and Sophie confesses, placing herself protectively in front of the other members of the White Rose[11](https://www.epd-film.de/filme/sophie-scholl-die-letzten-tage) • [12](https://www.deutscher-filmpreis.de/film/sophie-scholl-die-letzten-tage/). Moved by her bravery, Mohr offers her a way out if she presents herself as a mere follower, but she refuses, and the film presents her refusal as the act that seals her fate[3](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/sophie-scholl-the-final-days/).\n\nThe final act is the show trial before the People's Court (Volksgerichtshof), presided over by Roland Freisler, who is sent from Berlin to Munich with the death sentence already decided[12](https://www.deutscher-filmpreis.de/film/sophie-scholl-die-letzten-tage/). Sophie, Hans, and their fellow member Christoph Probst are condemned for high treason and executed by guillotine at Stadelheim prison on 22 February 1943, the same day[9](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/white-rose) • [13](https://www.lemonde.fr/le-monde-des-religions/article/2025/05/11/sophie-scholl-la-resistance-au-nazisme-au-nom-de-l-evangile_6604901_6038514.html). The historical Sophie Scholl was 21 years old at her death[13](https://www.lemonde.fr/le-monde-des-religions/article/2025/05/11/sophie-scholl-la-resistance-au-nazisme-au-nom-de-l-evangile_6604901_6038514.html).\n\n## Sources and production\n\n**Documentary basis.** The screenplay by Fred Breinersdorfer draws on previously unavailable original minutes of the Gestapo interrogations, eyewitness accounts of the trial, and interviews with Robert Mohr's son, Sophie's younger sister, and the nephew of Else Gebel, Sophie's cellmate in her final days[8](https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/14993/sophie-scholl-the-final-days). The interrogation transcript of Sophie Scholl had been held in East German archives until 1990 and became available only after the fall of the [Berlin Wall](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-wall); Rothemund's film was the first on the subject to use these recently discovered records[14](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2005/oct/28/5) • [15](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/03/24/scholl-riveting-resistance/34a58449-0356-446f-ab1b-25cb75195163/). Much of the dialogue in the interrogation and trial scenes follows the actual records[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sophie_scholl_die_letzten_tage).\n\nThe film was produced by Goldkind Film and Broth Film in co-production with Bayerischer Rundfunk, Südwestrundfunk, and Arte, with Christoph Müller, Sven Burgemeister, Fred Breinersdorfer, and Marc Rothemund as producers[6](https://www.proquest.com/docview/236294253/A7FBCD36E2AB4B9DPQ/2). Martin Langer was director of photography, Hans Funck the editor, and Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil composed the score[3](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/sophie-scholl-the-final-days/). In 2005 Breinersdorfer's screenplay was published as a paperback by Fischer together with documents including the interrogation transcripts of Sophie and [Hans Scholl](https://www.edgepedia.org/hans-scholl), Christoph Probst, and Alexander Schmorell[10](https://www.goethe.de/de/kul/flm/arc/fdb.cfm?filmdbId=1808120135530100001).\n\n## Reception and awards\n\nThe film premiered in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival on 13 February 2005, where the international jury awarded it the Silver Bear for Best Director (Marc Rothemund) and the Silver Bear for Best Actress (Julia Jentsch), and the Ecumenical Jury gave it its main prize[4](https://www.berlinale.de/media/download/preise-jurys/55_ifb_awards_2005.pdf) • [17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426578/awards/). At the German Film Awards (Lolas) it received three honors, including the Audience Award and the Best Actress award for Jentsch[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/sophiescholl). Jentsch also won the European Film Award for Best Actress in 2005[18](https://www.filmportal.de/film/sophie-scholl-die-letzten-tage_abb07572ee2a4e5c86a9af1e621e37ce). The film was selected as Germany's official entry for the 78th Academy Awards and nominated for Best Foreign Language Film[5](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/sophiescholl) • [17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426578/awards/).\n\nCritics praised Jentsch's performance and the film's restraint. Roger Ebert described it as a police procedural in which the audience knows from the outset that Sophie is guilty, with the drama carried by the interrogation across a desk in police headquarters[19](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sophie-scholl-the-final-days-2006). On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 87% critics' score from 94 reviews[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sophie_scholl_die_letzten_tage). In Germany it sold 1,159,056 cinema tickets (figure as of 2016, per the Filmförderungsanstalt)[20](https://www.filmportal.de/node/78031/availability), and its United States gross was $676.2K[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sophie_scholl_die_letzten_tage).\n\n## Place in cultural memory\n\nThe film is the third recent German feature centered on the 21-year-old student, after [Michael Verhoeven](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-verhoeven)'s *The White Rose* and Percy Adlon's *Fünf letzte Tage*, both from 1982[10](https://www.goethe.de/de/kul/flm/arc/fdb.cfm?filmdbId=1808120135530100001). Adlon's film covered essentially the same period from the point of view of Sophie's prison cellmate, based on the cellmate's memoirs rather than the then-undiscovered interrogation records[21](https://decentfilms.com/reviews/sophiescholl). Scholars of German cultural memory have read Rothemund's film as a \"post-memory film\" that normalizes its heroine, moving beyond the earlier generation's glorification so that modern audiences can experience the history viscerally; the screenwriter Breinersdorfer said he had initially been reluctant to write the script because he saw Scholl only as a distant figure \"who is always on a plinth and whom schools are named after\"[22](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/representing-the-good-german-in-literature-and-culture-after-1945/memories-of-good-and-evil-in-sophie-scholl-die-letzten-tage/485B07B5259CF218A8F7A237A06728BF).\n\nThe film fits within a broader wave of German cinema, alongside *[Downfall](https://www.edgepedia.org/downfall-2004-film)* and *The Ninth Day*, that dwells on the moral choices of individuals to collaborate with or resist the Nazi regime rather than on the regime's machinery itself[21](https://decentfilms.com/reviews/sophiescholl). A newly restored 4K version has been made available for theatrical and festival engagements[5](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/sophiescholl).\n\n## References\n\n1. [Sophie Scholl - The Final Days, Kino Lorber Theatrical](https://kinolorber.com/film/sophiescholl)\n2. [Sophie Scholl – The Final Days press kit, Zeitgeist Films](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/userFiles/uploads/films/136/sophiescholl-presskit.pdf)\n3. [Sophie Scholl – The Final Days, European Film Academy](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/sophie-scholl-the-final-days/)\n4. [The Juries and the Awards, 55th Berlin International Film Festival (2005)](https://www.berlinale.de/media/download/preise-jurys/55_ifb_awards_2005.pdf)\n5. [Sophie Scholl - The Final Days, Zeitgeist Films](https://zeitgeistfilms.com/film/sophiescholl)\n6. [Sophie Scholl: The Final Days review, Variety via ProQuest](https://www.proquest.com/docview/236294253/A7FBCD36E2AB4B9DPQ/2)\n7. [Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/50529/en/aboutstructure/)\n8. [Sophie Scholl: The Final Days film review, Spirituality & Practice](https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/14993/sophie-scholl-the-final-days)\n9. [The White Rose Opposition Movement, Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/white-rose)\n10. [Film catalogue: Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage, Goethe-Institut](https://www.goethe.de/de/kul/flm/arc/fdb.cfm?filmdbId=1808120135530100001)\n11. [Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage, epd Film](https://www.epd-film.de/filme/sophie-scholl-die-letzten-tage)\n12. [Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage, Deutscher Filmpreis](https://www.deutscher-filmpreis.de/film/sophie-scholl-die-letzten-tage/)\n13. [Sophie Scholl, la résistance au nazisme au nom de l'Évangile, Le Monde des Religions](https://www.lemonde.fr/le-monde-des-religions/article/2025/05/11/sophie-scholl-la-resistance-au-nazisme-au-nom-de-l-evangile_6604901_6038514.html)\n14. [Sophie Scholl: The Final Days review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2005/oct/28/5)\n15. ['Scholl': Riveting Resistance, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2006/03/24/scholl-riveting-resistance/34a58449-0356-446f-ab1b-25cb75195163/)\n16. [Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sophie_scholl_die_letzten_tage)\n17. [Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426578/awards/)\n18. [Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage, filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/film/sophie-scholl-die-letzten-tage_abb07572ee2a4e5c86a9af1e621e37ce)\n19. [Grace under pressure (review), RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sophie-scholl-the-final-days-2006)\n20. [Verfügbarkeit: Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage, filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/node/78031/availability)\n21. [Sophie Scholl – The Final Days (2005) review, Decent Films](https://decentfilms.com/reviews/sophiescholl)\n22. [Memories of Good and Evil in Sophie Scholl — Die letzten Tage, in Representing the \"Good German\" in Literature and Culture after 1945, Boydell & Brewer, 2013](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/representing-the-good-german-in-literature-and-culture-after-1945/memories-of-good-and-evil-in-sophie-scholl-die-letzten-tage/485B07B5259CF218A8F7A237A06728BF)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › Historical dramas and epics › Titles M to Z › Titles Sc to Z*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/sophie-scholl-the-final-days", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/sophie-scholl-the-final-days.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Sophie Scholl – The Final Days\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/sophie-scholl-the-final-days. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Sophie Scholl – The Final Days](https://www.edgepedia.org/sophie-scholl-the-final-days)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/sophie-scholl-the-final-days](https://www.edgepedia.org/sophie-scholl-the-final-days). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Sophie Scholl – The Final Days\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/sophie-scholl-the-final-days. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Sophie Scholl – The Final Days is a 2005 German drama by Marc Rothemund starring Julia Jentsch, dramatizing the White Rose member's arrest, Gestapo interrogation, trial, and 1943 execution; Oscar-nominated, with two Silver Bears." }