#lisa remppis

[garadinervi]

Sophie Scholl, [to Lisa Remppis], Krauchenwies, April 13, 1941; in At the Heart of the White Rose. Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl, (1984), Edited by Inge Jens, Translated from German by J. Maxwell Brownjohn, Preface by Richard Gilman, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, NY, 1987, pp. 130-131

[the-white-rose-six]

Sophie Magdalene Scholl, martyr of the White Rose, enjoying the outdoors. Sophie was often rhapsodic about nature; she once wrote to her friend Lisa Remppis that she sometimes “simply yearned to be a piece of tree bark.” Some of the most beautiful portions of her diaries and letters are about her adventures hiking, on cycling tours, or wandering in the woods.

“We lay in the grass with the pale green birch twigs overhead silhouetted against a sky coated with white cobwebs, and the beauty of it scarcely left room for the war and our other worries. Campions suffused the grass beside the stream with red, and the dandelions were splendidly big and lush.” (From a May 16, 1940, letter to her boyfriends Lieutenant Fritz Hartnagel)

“The larches still have their needles, though they’re quite yellow now. It was a marvelous sight when the wind tore into them and bent their twigs and branches sideways. We [her sister Inge and herself] leaned against the wind, tousle-headed as witches, and  the leaves whirled past overhead as though obliquely hurled from above by some mighty hand. And the little leaves on the ground went tumbling along too, whole hordes of them, as if they had to go faster still.” (From a November 4, 1940, letter to her boyfriend Lieutenant Fritz Hartnagel)

“...just as you were able to pick snowdrops in [your park]  some months back, so I now find innumerable cowslips in mine. And in my park the clumps of trees looked so lovely in the evening light that I walked home backward so as to prolong the sight of them. Clouds were floating high above like the slender white feathers of some strange birds and the spring sky and the lower-lying clouds were tinged all over with orange by the setting sun.” (From an April 20, 1941, diary entry of an unsent letter to her boyfriend Lieutenant Fritz Hartnagel)

On February 22, 1943, Sophie would be beheaded for her participation in the White Rose, which printed and distributed anti-Nazi leaflets throughout Munich and the whole of Germany. Her last words are unknown.

(Photographs are from “At the Heart of the White Rose” and “The Short Life of Sophie Scholl;” quotes are from “At the Heart of the White Rose.”)

Remember the German resistance!

[garadinervi]

Sophie Scholl, [to Lisa Remppis], Krauchenwies, April 13, 1941; in At the Heart of the White Rose. Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl, (1984), Edited by Inge Jens, Translated from German by J. Maxwell Brownjohn, Preface by Richard Gilman, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, NY, 1987, pp. 138-139

[garadinervi]

Sophie Scholl to Lisa Remppis, München, February 17, 1943; in Hans Scholl und Sophie Scholl. Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, Edited by Inge Jens, Typography and layout by Otl Aicher, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1984, p. 238 [plus At the heart of the White Rose. Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl, (1984), Edited by Inge Jens, Translated from German by J. Maxwell Brownjohn, Preface by Richard Gilman, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, NY, 1987, p. 280]

[garadinervi]

Schubert: Piano Quinte in A, Op. 114 ("Trout Quintet"), The Schubert Ensemble, Recorded live at the Wigmore Hall in London, March 21, 2018. Simon Blendis, violin; Douglas Paterson, viola; Jane Salmon, cello; Peter Buckoke, double bass; William Howard, piano

«Dear Lisa, I've just been playing the Trout Quintet on the phonograph. Listening to the andantino makes me want to be a trout myself. You can't help rejoicing and laughing, however moved or sad at heart you feel, when you see the springtime clouds in the sky and the budding branches sway, stirred by the wind, in the bright young sunlight. I'm so much looking forward to the spring again. In that piece of Schubert's you can positively feel and smell the breezes and scents and hear the birds and the whole of creation cry out for joy. And when the piano repeats the theme like cool, clear, sparkling water – oh, it's sheer enchantment. Let me hear from you soon. Lots of love, Sophie» – Sophie Scholl to To Lisa Remppis, München, February 17, 1943 [At the heart of the White Rose. Letters and Diaries of Hans and Sophie Scholl, (1984), Edited by Inge Jens, Translated from German by J. Maxwell Brownjohn, Preface by Richard Gilman, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, NY, 1987, p. 280]