The European Parliament in Brussels is honoring the Munich resistance fighter Sophie Scholl by renaming one of its buildings. “It is a small recognition of what we owe to this European hero,” European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said in Brussels on Wednesday. “The Sophie Scholl Building is a place where ideas are developed and democracy is practiced.”
The European Parliament building now named after her is located at 50 Rue Wiertz in Brussels. The renaming should not only commemorate Scholl’s fight against the National Socialist regime and the victims, it was said, but also serve as an inspiration for future generations.
The honor follows a suggestion from Manfred Weber, CSU politician and chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP), and is intended to recognize Scholl’s courageous commitment to the basic values of democracy and freedom. “I will always be very grateful to Sophie Scholl, who means a lot to me personally, and to her friends. They raised their voices for Europe when almost everyone else was very quiet. They are the true heroes of our democratic Europe today,” said Weber.
Sophie Scholl became a figure of resistance through her participation in the “White Rose”, a Munich student resistance group that spoke out against the oppression of the Nazi regime with leaflets and graffiti. Her execution in 1943, just a few days after her arrest by the Gestapo, symbolizes the fight against totalitarianism to this day.