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About the Book
In "Benjamin Generation," Joseph Prince explores how believers can experience a double portion of God's blessings by embracing their identity as part of the Benjamin Generation. Through biblical examples and personal stories, Prince encourages readers to live in the fullness of God's grace and walk in victory. This book offers practical insights and revelations to help Christians realize their inheritance as children of God.
Sophie Scholl
Sophia Scholl was a German student, active in the White Rose â a non-violent resistance group to Hitler and the Nazi party. In 1943, she was caught delivering anti-war propaganda and, with her brother Hans Scholl, was executed for high treason. Sophie Scholl has become an important symbol of anti-Nazi resistance in Germany.
Sophie Scholl was born in Forchtenberg, Germany on 9 May 1921. She was the fourth out of six children. Her father Robert was the Burgermeister (Mayor) of Forchtenberg am Kocher, in Baden-WĂźrttemberg.
She was brought up as a Lutheran Christian, and her childhood was relatively happy and carefree. However, in 1933, Hitler came to power and began controlling all aspects of German society. Initially, Sophie was unaffected, but her father and brothers were critical of the Nazi regime and this political criticism filtered through to leave a strong impression on the young Sophie.
At the age of twelve, she joined a pseudo-Nazi organisation, the League of German Girls. Initially, Sophie enjoyed the activities of the group, and she was promoted to Squad Leader. However, after her initial enthusiasm with the activities of the group, Sophie became uneasy about the conflict between her conscience and the creeping Nazi ideology of the organisation. In 1935, Nuremberg Laws were passed which increased the discrimination against Jews, banning them from many public places. Sophie complained when two of her young Jewish friends were barred from joining the League of German Girls. She was also reprimanded for reading from the âBook of Songsâ by the banned Jewish writer Heinrich Heine. Scholl indicated her rebelliousness by replying, that Heine was essential for understanding German literature. These incidents and the bans against Jews led to Sophie taking a much more critical attitude to the Nazi regime. She began choosing friends more carefully â people who were politically sympathetic to her viewpoint.
In 1937, her brothers and some of her friends were arrested for participating in the German Youth Movement. This incident left a strong impression on Sophie and helped to crystallise her opposition to the Nazi regime. In 1942, her father was later sent to prison for making a critical remark about Hitler. He referred to Hitler as âGodâs Scourge.â
Sophie was an avid reader and developed an interest in philosophy and theology. She developed a strong Christian faith which emphasised the underlying dignity of every human being. This religious faith proved an important cornerstone of her opposition to the increasingly all-pervading Nazi ideology of German society. Sophie also developed a talent for art â drawing and painting, and she became acquainted with artistic circles which, in Nazi terms, were labelled degenerate.
In 1940, after the start of the Second World War, she graduated from her Secondary School and became a kindergarten teacher at the Frobel Institute. However, in 1941, she was conscripted into the auxiliary war service working as a nursery teacher in Blumberg. Sophie disliked the military regime of war service and started to become involved in passive resistance to the war effort.
After six months in the National Labour Service, in May 1942, she enrolled in the University of Munich as a student of biology and philosophy. With her brother Hans, she became associated with a group of friends who shared similar artistic and cultural interests but also developed shared political views, which increasingly opposed the Nazi regime they lived in. She came into contact with philosophers such as Theodor Haecker, who posed questions of how individuals should behave under a dictatorship.
The White Rose Movement
The White Rose was an informal group who sought to oppose the war and Nazi regime. It was founded in early 1942 by Hans Scholl, Willia Graf and Christoph Probst. They wrote six anti-Nazi resistance leaflets and distributed them across Munich. Initially, Sophie was not aware of the group, but when she found out her brotherâs activities, she was keen to take part. Sophie participated in distributing leaflets and carrying messages. As a woman, she was less likely to be stopped by the SS.
The leaflets of the White Rose contained messages, such as
âNothing is so unworthy of a nation as allowing itself to be governed without opposition by a clique that has yielded to base instinctâŚWestern civilization must defend itself against fascism and offer passive resistance, before the nationâs last young man has given his blood on some battlefield.â
However, there was a pervasive police state which kept a high degree of surveillance on any resistance activity. After leaflets had been found at the University of Munich, the local Gestapo stepped up its efforts to catch the resistors. Hans, Willi and Alex also began painting anti-Nazi slogans on buildings in Munich.
On 18 February 1943, Sophie and other members of the White Rose were arrested for distributing anti-war leaflets. The leaflets were seen by Jakob Schmidt, a local Nazi party member. Sophie and Hans were interrogated by Nazi officials and, despite trying to protect each other, just four days later were sent to court. The trial was presided over by Roland Freisler, chief justice of the Peopleâs Court of the Greater German Reich. Freisler was an ardent Nazi; with great vigour and a manic intensity, he frequently roared denunciations at the accused.
Despite the hostility and appearing in court with a broken leg after her interrogation. Sophie replied to the court:
âSomebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just donât dare express themselves as we did.â
She also said:
âYou know the war is lost. Why donât you have the courage to face it?â
No defence witnesses were called and, after a very short trial, the judge passed a guilty verdict, with a sentence of death. The sentence was to be carried out early the next morning by guillotine.
Walter Roemer, the chief of the Munich district court, supervised the execution, he later described Sophieâs courage in facing her execution. He reports that Sophieâs last words were:
âHow can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us, thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?â
The guards were impressed with the courage of the resistors and relaxed the rules to allow Hans, Christoph and Sophie to meet before their execution.
After the execution of Sophie, Hans and Christoph, the Gestapo continued their relentless investigation. Other members of the White Rose were caught and executed. Many students from the University of Hamburg were either executed or sent to concentration camps.
Legacy of Sophie Scholl
In a poll to find the greatest German, Sophie and her brother were voted to be fourth. Amongst the young generation, under 40, they were the most popular. On February 22, 2003, a bust of Sophie Scholl was unveiled by the government of Bavaria in the Walhalla temple. In 2005, a movie about Sophie Schollâs last days was made featuring Julia Jentsch (Sophie Scholl: The Final Days)
Motivations of Sophie Scholl
Several factors inspired Sophie Scholl to take part in this highly dangerous resistance. Firstly, her family shared a dislike of the Nazi regime. Both her brothers and father had been arrested for making critical comments. Her father said to the family:
âWhat I want for you is to live in uprightness and freedom of spirit, no matter how difficult that proves to be,â (link)
She lived in a family environment which encouraged opposition to Hitler.
Sophie had a strong Christian faith and was motivated after hearing speeches by anti-Nazi pastors. She read two volumes of Cardinal John Henry Newmanâs sermons which made a strong impression on Sophie, especially his sermon on the âtheology of conscience.â During her interrogation, she referred to this ideology as a defence.
âI am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the best that I could do for my nation. I, therefore, do not regret my conduct and will bear the consequences that result from my conduct.â
Official examination transcripts (February 1943); Bundesarchiv Berlin, ZC 13267, Bd. 3
Her boyfriend Fritz Hartnagel was on the Eastern Front; he reported to Sophie the dreadful conditions of war, the German failure at Stalingrad and also witnessing war crimes undertaken by German and SS forces.
Reports of mass killings of Jews were also widely shared amongst members of the White Rose. This features in the second White Rose pamphlet.
âSince the conquest of Poland 300,000 Jews have been murdered, a crime against human dignityâŚGermans encourage fascist criminals if no chord within them cries out at the sight of such deeds. An end in terror is preferable to terror without end.â
Sophie Scholl and other members of the White Rose remain a potent symbol of how people can take a courageous action to resist, even the most brutal totalitarian regime.
Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. âBiography of Sophie Schollâ, Oxford, UK â www.biographyonline.net. Published 12th Aug 2014. Last updated 8th March 2017.
slain in the shadow of the almighty
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty . I will say to the Lord, âMy refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.â (Psalm 91:1â2) On January 8, 1956, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Flemming, and Roger Youderian were speared to death on a sandbar called âPalm Beachâ in the Curaray River of Ecuador. They were trying to reach the Huaorani Indians for the first time in history with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Elisabeth Elliot memorialized the story in her book Shadow of the Almighty . That title comes from Psalm 91:1: âHe who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty .â Not an Accident This is where Jim Elliot was slain â in the shadow of the Almighty. Elisabeth had not forgotten the heartbreaking facts when she chose that title two years after her husbandâs death. When he was killed, they had been married three years and had a ten-month-old daughter. âGodâs refuge for his people is not from suffering and death, but final and ultimate defeat.â The title was not a slip â not any more than the death of the five missionaries was a slip. But the world saw it differently. Around the world, the death of these young men was called a tragic nightmare. Elisabeth believed the world was missing something. She wrote, âThe world did not recognize the truth of the second clause in Jim Elliotâs credo: âHe is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose .ââ She called her book Shadow of the Almighty  because she was utterly convinced that the refuge of the people of God is not a refuge from suffering and death, but a refuge from final and ultimate defeat. âWhoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save itâ (Luke 9:24) â because the Lord is God Almighty . God did not exercise his omnipotence to deliver Jesus from the cross. Nor will he exercise it to deliver you and me from tribulation. âIf they persecuted me, they will also persecute youâ (John 15:20). If we have the faith and single-mindedness and courage of those five missionaries, we might find ourselves saying with the apostle Paul, âFor your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.â No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:36â39) Security in His Strength Has it ever hit home to you what it means to say, âMy God, who loves me and gave himself for me, is almighty â? It means that if you take your place âin the shadow of the Almighty,â you will be protected by omnipotence. There is infinite and unending security in the almightiness of God â no matter what happens in this life. âThere is infinite, unending security in the almightiness of God â no matter what happens in this life.â The omnipotence of God means eternal, unshakable refuge in the everlasting glory of God, no matter what happens on this earth. And that confidence is the power of radical obedience to the call of God â even the call to die. Is there anything more freeing, more thrilling, or more strengthening than the truth that God Almighty  is your refuge â all day, every day, in all the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of life? Nothing but what he ordains for your good befalls you. God Intervened Research into the circumstances surrounding the martyrdom of the five missionaries has revealed the hand of God in unexpected ways. In the September 1996 issue of Christianity Today , Steve Saint, son of Nate Saint, who was martyred along with Elliott, McCully, Flemming, and Youderian, wrote an article about new discoveries made about the tribal intrigue behind the slayings. He wrote one of the most amazing sentences on the sovereignty of the Almighty that I have ever read â especially coming from the son of a slain missionary: As [the killers] described their recollections, it occurred to me how incredibly unlikely it was that the Palm Beach killing took place at all; it is an anomaly that I cannot explain outside of divine intervention . (italics added) In other words, there is only one explanation for why these five young men died and left a legacy that has inspired thousands. God intervened. This is the kind of sovereignty we mean when we say, âNothing but what he ordains for your good befalls you.â âIn the darkest moments of our pain, God is hiding his weapons behind enemy lines.â Which also means that no one, absolutely no one, can frustrate the designs of God to fulfill his missionary plans for the nations. In the darkest moments of our pain, God is hiding his weapons behind enemy lines. Everything that happens in history will serve this purpose as expressed in Psalm 86:9, All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. If we believed this, if we really let this truth of Godâs omnipotence get hold of us â that we live perfectly secure in the shadow of the Almighty  â what a difference it would make in our personal lives and in our families and churches. How humble and powerful we would become for the saving purposes of God.