Sophie Scholl and Hans Scholl were arrested at the University of Munich after distributing the sixth White Rose leaflet.
On 18 February 1943, Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans were arrested by the Gestapo at the University of Munich after distributing the sixth White Rose leaflet. The leaflet called on Germans to resist Nazi crimes, and the arrest followed the dramatic act of scattering copies in the university atrium, where they were noticed and reported.
This event was historically significant because it marked the end of Sophie Scholl’s active resistance and the public exposure of the White Rose network’s courage. The White Rose was a student-led, non-violent resistance group that used leaflets to denounce dictatorship, war, and persecution at immense personal risk. In the climate of Nazi terror, even passive dissent could mean imprisonment or death, and Scholl’s arrest shows the extraordinary danger faced by young anti-Nazi resisters.
The arrest became one of the most famous moments in German resistance history because it demonstrates how moral opposition could emerge from ordinary university life. Scholl’s willingness to act publicly, despite surveillance and repression, helped make her a lasting symbol of principled defiance against tyranny.