These events did not always have the effect which the Nazis wanted: they had hoped that this would cement an anti-Jewish attitude among the Germans. But, instead, many Germans were appalled by what happened. Those Germans who were not yet part of the resistance were nudged into joining the secret organizations which would undermine Hitler’s war efforts. Those who were already part of the resistance became even more committed to the cause.
One example was the Scholl family. The father, Robert Scholl, the mother, Magdalena Scholl, and their five children lived in the city of Ulm. A sixth child, Thilde, had died in 1926, before the Nazi movement was known or influential.
Robert Scholl had been skeptical of Hitler from the beginning of Hitler’s political career. He clearly explained to his family why Hitler was dangerous. Although initially uncertain, all the members of the Scholl family began to see what Hitler really was, and joined Robert in his opposition to National Socialism.
After the horrors of Kristallnacht, a local Nazi publication described the destruction as deserved, and mocked German families like the Scholls for taking a stand against Hitler. Historians Gordon Thomas and Greg Lewis describe the coverage in the community’s news media:
The regional newspaper, the National Socialist Courier, described the violence as “just vengeance” but was shocked and bewildered to report that some in the area were “sentimental” and not all were in favor of the destruction. “I have heard of a few people whimpering and complaining about operations against the Jews in the past few days,” wrote a columnist.
These Germans took a principled stance: the violence of National Socialism was unacceptable. The repulsiveness of Nazi violence and the insults which the Nazis directed at these Germans strengthened the resolve of these German families to oppose Hitler.
Kristallnacht was one of the events which made it clear exactly what the National Socialists were, and why the Germans must resist them.
The Scholls would have been one of those families that the writer in the Courier would have held in contempt. Over the past few years the children had listened to their father’s anger about the treatment of the Jews and the creation of the concentration camps; they had seen their friends and teachers persecuted. “All of us felt that we had to stand together to shield what we believed and cherished,” Inge Scholl wrote later. “What began among us as doubts and misgivings about the Nazis had turned into indignation and outrage.”But they were at the heart of a state in which they had become the outsiders.
In November 1938, these events pushed Sophie Scholl, one of Robert’s daughters, further into the resistance movement. She’d already been part of anti-Hitler underground, but now she saw herself as fully committed to stopping National Socialism, as historians Gordon Thomas and Greg Lewis write:
Kristallnacht persuaded Sophie that to fight on the side of the Nazis would be evil. She told male friends who were in military service that if there was a war, they should not kill anyone.
Sophie and her brothers, Hans and Werner, discussed philosophy and religion. Their serious reflection on those topics helped them to construct justifications and lines of reasoning which reinforced their anti-Nazi network.
They shared conversations on morality, conscience, and belief, all issues that made them think about Naziism.The spirit of their father was extending through the family, too. Sophie’s younger brother, Werner, had had enough of Nazi indoctrination, and one night he told an openmouthed squad leader that he was resigning from the Hitler Youth. Werner turned on his heel and walked out, his conscience suddenly feeling clearer. For his moment of rebellion he would be denied the chance of going to the university and would instead be drafted straight into the army.
Unperturbed, late one night, he went further, scaling a statue outside the courthouse in Ulm and wrapping a swastika blindfold over the stone lady holding the scales of justice.
Eventually, these Scholl siblings would form one of the most effective branches of the anti-Nazi resistence network. Sophie and Hans formed a secret group, called “The White Rose,” which produced leaflets and fliers encouraging all Germans to resist National Socialism.
Those writings, in turn, inspired underground actions which hobbled the Nazi war effort and which saved the lives of thousands of Jews.
The Scholl parents, and two of their children — Inge and Elisabeth — lived to see the end of National Socialism and to see Germany freed from Nazi oppression.
Sophie and Hans were murdered by the Nazis in 1943, and Werner was missing in action and presumed dead by 1944. Moved to action by their consciences, and galvanized by the events of Kristallnacht, the Scholls made a difference, saving lives and causing the war to end sooner.
