Robert Scholl (13 April 1891 – 25 October 1973) was a

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

ian politician and father of Hans and

Sophie Scholl Sophia Magdalena Scholl (9 May 1921 – 22 February 1943) was a German student and anti-Nazi political activist, active in the White Rose non-violent German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany. Raised in a politically engag ...

. Robert Scholl was a critic of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

before, during and after the Nazi regime, and was twice sent to prison for his criticism of Nazism. He was mayor of Ingersheim 1917–1920, mayor of

Forchtenberg Forchtenberg is a town in the district of Hohenlohekreis, northern Baden-Württemberg. It lies on the side of a partly fortified hill overlooking the Kocher valley where the Kupfer (river), Kupfer river flows into the Kocher. The name Forchtenberg ...

1920–1930 and

lord mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

1945–1948, and co-founded the

All-German People's Party The All-German People's Party (, GVP) was a minor political party in West Germany active between 1952 and 1957. It was a Christian, pacifist, centre-left party that opposed the re-armament of West Germany because it believed that the remilitari ...

in 1952.

Personal life

Scholl was born in the

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

town of

Mainhardt Mainhardt is a municipality in the district of Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the ...

on 13 April 1891. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he met his future wife Magdalena Müller (1881–1958) when he was serving in the same hospital as her. The couple married shortly afterward and moved to Ingersheim an der Jagst. In 1920, they moved again to

. Robert and Magdalena Scholl had six children:

Inge Inge is a given name in various Germanic language, Germanic language-speaking cultures. In Swedish and Norwegian, it is mostly used as a masculine, but less often also as a feminine name, sometimes as a short form of Ingeborg, while in Danish, Est ...

(1917–1998), Hans (1918–1943), Elisabeth (1920–2020),

Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

(1921–1943),

Werner Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Rai ...

(1922–1944), and Thilde (1925–1926), four of whom they outlived. In 1930, the family moved to

Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a Cities of Germany, city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg (district), Lu ...

and in 1932 to

, where Scholl founded a tax and accounting service company.

Political life

Scholl became mayor of Ingersheim an der

Jagst The Jagst () is a right tributary of the Neckar in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The source of this 190 km long river is in the hills east of Ellwangen, close to the Bavarian border. The Jagst winds through the towns of Ellwangen, Cra ...

(now part of

Crailsheim Crailsheim () is a town in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg. Incorporated in 1338, it lies east of Schwäbisch Hall and southwest of Ansbach in the Schwäbisch Hall (district), Schwäbisch Hall district. The city's mai ...

) in 1917 and in 1920, mayor of

, a position he held until 1930. Scholl was a critic of the

that came to power shortly thereafter. His children, like most during this era, were initially active in the Nazi youth organisations and their father was initially unable to dissuade them. However, his children quickly saw through the Hitler Youth facade, and eventually founded the

White Rose The White Rose (, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students and one professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Munich ...

, a political activism group supporting resistance to the Nazi party. In 1942, he was sentenced to four months in prison for calling

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

the "scourge of God". The situation for the family gradually worsened. On 27 February 1943, five days after the execution of his children Hans and Sophie as members of the

, Scholl was sentenced to 18 months in prison for listening to enemy radio broadcasts. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served as mayor of Ulm from June 1945 until 1948 and was a member of the preliminary parliament of

Württemberg-Baden Württemberg-Baden was a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was created in 1945 by the United States occupation forces, after the previous states of Baden and Württemberg had been split up between the US and French occupation zones. ...

. In 1952, he co-founded the

with

Gustav Heinemann Gustav Walter Heinemann (; 23 July 1899 – 7 July 1976) was a German politician who was President of West Germany from 1969 to 1974. He served as mayor of Essen from 1946 to 1949, West German Minister of the Interior from 1949 to 1950, and Mini ...

and other like-minded politicians.

In film

Robert Scholl was portrayed by

Jörg Hube Jörg Hube (22 November 1943 – 19 June 2009) was a German actor and director. He died of cancer. He was buried at the Winthir Cemetery in Munich. His estate has been cared for since 2011 at the Munich literary archive Monacensia, which als ...

in the film ''

Sophie Scholl – The Final Days ''Sophie Scholl – The Final Days'' () is a 2005 German historical drama film directed by Marc Rothemund and written by Fred Breinersdorfer. It is about the last days in the life of Sophie Scholl, a 21-year-old member of the anti-Nazi non-viole ...

'' (2005).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scholl, Robert 1891 births 1973 deaths People from Schwäbisch Hall (district) All-German People's Party politicians Politicians from Baden-Württemberg Protestants in the German Resistance Hans and Sophie Scholl People convicted of speech crimes Prisoners and detainees of Germany