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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"But I can almost guarantee you know a Jakob Schmid." (Good German story)
Link to tweet
Tweet text: Most people who know the name Sophie Scholl know she was a 21 year old German student activist who was executed by the Nazis for distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets on her college campus. But people dont talk about what happened leading up to her execution, or what happened after.
Unrolled thread here: (with pictures)
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1308989753291874314.html
Most people who know the name Sophie Scholl know she was a 21 year old German student activist who was executed by the Nazis for distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets on her college campus. But people dont talk about what happened leading up to her execution, or what happened after.
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Sophie and her brother Hans were caught by a university janitor named Jakob Schmid as they distributed pamphlets in a courtyard. He grabbed them, declared them under arrest, and turned them over to the Gestapo.
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Four days of interrogations later, they were in front of Nazi judge Roland Freisler (one of Hitlers favorites, his hanging judge flown in from Berlin) for a show trial that Hans and Sophies parents werent allowed in the courtroom for.
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Hans, Sophie, and their friend Christoph Probst were all found guilty of treason, sentenced to death, and beheaded a few hours later.
No one talks about this janitor, Jakob Schmid. He got a cash reward and a promotion for turning in Sophie and Hans. The University of Munich threw him a celebration. Hundreds of students attended and cheered for him. He thanked them with a Nazi salute.
After the war, Jakob Schmid was arrested and put on a trial of his own. He said he only turned the Scholls in because distributing pamphlets was against university policy - it wasnt because of the content of the pamphlets.
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When you think of Nazis, you probably think of uniformed officers. But the Nazis were a political party of everyday people. So also think of a janitor tsk-tsking that someone wasnt protesting the right way. A student at rally applauding him. A judge towing the party line.
We like to tell ourselves Nazi Germany was so horrific it could never be repeated. Maybe you dont personally know someone who would have flipped the switch on the gas chambers. But I can almost guarantee you know a Jakob Schmid.
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"But I can almost guarantee you know a Jakob Schmid." (Good German story) (Original Post)
Nevilledog
Sep 2020
OP
iemitsu
(3,888 posts)1. So true.
We all know and interact with Jacob Schmid's.
matt819
(10,749 posts)2. We are a nation
With 60 million Jakob Schmids. Does anyone doubt that the trumpists would do precisely that? The Karens are doing it right now. Those two gun-toting lawyers and the killer in Kenosha. And cops who kill African-Americans. We are there. And theres a very small and closing window to step back from the precipice.
Solly Mack
(90,798 posts)3. K&R