Contemplating 'Freedom' | Teen Ink

Contemplating 'Freedom'

June 29, 2013
By Lia-Ann SILVER, Jesup, Iowa
Lia-Ann SILVER, Jesup, Iowa
8 articles 5 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
An end in terror is preferable to terror without end - Sophie Scholl


A Tale that Mirrors that of Sophie Scholl (1921-1943)

Aubree looked to the left, then to the right, walking down the halls of the University of Elmwood. If anyone saw her, no one would dare think anything bad of perfect Aubree Hudson, sister of the famed Oliver Hudson, a medical student who still was top of his class. But she was rebellious. Her and her brother were leaders of the Steel Violet Resistance, which was located in her hometown of Elmwood.

“Hey there Bree,” Krystal James yelled down the corridor. Krystal was just another brain-dead follower of Leader Marks, the dictator who had seized control of the United States government in 2015. Now, five years later, he has transformed the entire country to be his slaves.

“Hey there Krys. How’s life back home at Remington?” Bree asked her. Krys was from the Midwest, the territory that had once been the neighbor states of Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. She had risked her life against the harsh tornados and being caught by the Markers to get to Elmwood, the most prestigious medical school on the continent, let alone in the United States.

“Oh, it’s fine. Most of the unworthy ones are gone, so it’s just the Master Race left,” Krys bubbled, flipping her blond hair in the process. Krys was the perfect example of Leader Marks’ “Master Race”. She was of Swedish heritage, with beautiful straight blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. She was a German Catholic and had been raised to believe that Jews were humans who have willingly allowed themselves to become Satan’s followers.

“That’s good,” Bree faked smiling, while inside she was wondering why anyone would simply assume that Jews were filth and not find out for themselves. “Anyways, bye Krys.”

“Bye Bree! See you soon!” Krys smiled, perfect white teeth showing.

Bree continued walking the halls of Elmwood, which had been her home for so long. She had gone to school before her brother, and had just received a job as a kindergarten teacher. Ollie went to fight in the war, then deserted to study medical procedures. Speaking of Ollie, where is he? Bree asked herself.

“Bree! You’re alive!” a voice boomed from behind. Turning quickly, her face was smashed into a huge human. It could only be one person.

“Hi Ollie. Yes I’m alive. I haven’t been caught yet, you fool,” Bree mumbled, sound muted by her brother’s hug.

“Oh my gosh! You had us so worried!” Ollie’s friend and teacher Professor Creighton “F” Friedrich. He was most famous for distinguishing the ones who tried from the freeloaders, who he referred to as the “Fs”. Sophie herself was called an “F” until he realized how hard she really worked for the grades that she got.

“Hey there F,” Sophie said. “I’m sorry I’m late. Krystal ran into me and I had to get her off my back.”

F shook his head. “That Krystal. She’s been brainwashed beyond hope for repair. At least you and your brother had your dear father to convince you that Hitler was vermin and should be disposed of.”

“Well here’s the lucky girl. Bree Hudson, had you been any later I would have pounded your face in,” Ollie’s acquaintance Dimitri shouted, coming out of F’s classroom.

“You will not smash my little sister’s face in,” Ollie whispered, voice low and dangerous.

“Yes, sure. That’s probably what Sophie Scholl's older brother said to the officials when they were beheaded. Now look: everyone is dead.”

Ollie turned away, attempting to breath slow but instead being fast, shallow, scary. Bree grabbed his hand, and whispered sweet things to calm him down.

“Listen, Ollie, you’re fine. Ignore him; he’s just jealous that you have so much feeling, so much emotions. He is dead inside. Dead!”

Ollie smiled. “You’re right Bree. Oh, and do you have those leaflets done?”

“Yep! Shall we go educate the public?”

“Sure.”

That was the beginning of the saddest day in the Steel Violet Resistance’s history, and it would only go downhill from there.

?

Bree, Dimitri, and Oliver walked down the oh-so-familiar corridors back to F’s room. All of them carried two briefcases, every single one stuffed to the brim with what appeared to be legal documents.

“Ollie, you packed them too full!” Bree whispered to her elder brother.

“Oh, Bree, can you not carry them? Do you need someone else to?” Dimitri smirked, attempting to provoke the anger of the Hudson family. But instead, Ollie breathed in and out, looking at Bree so that she realized that he was trying to be as calm as possible and that she should make her own decisions.

“No, Dimitri. I just am worried that one of these will fall out and people will associate us with them.”

Dimitri looked at Bree, and she smiled, a bittersweet sight to his eyes. But instead, Bree was contemplating Dimitri himself.

Why does he hate us so? Why does he try to kill this society using our combined anger? Bree continued asking herself until the answer flashed through her mind, escaping into the deep caverns of her brain. Catapulting herself deeper and deeper into her conscience, she finally was able to read it. He hates us because we were Hitler’s future. We were the hope of the Hitler Youth. We could have ruled the world using Ollie’s genius and my leadership ability.

“But we didn’t,” Bree whispered to herself, a faint wisp of an answer as she heaved the briefcases onto the table in F’s room.

“You didn’t what, Bree?” Dimitri asked, a grim expression on his face.

“We didn’t help Leader Marks. We left before we could hurt people. We didn’t kill six million people deemed ‘unworthy’. We didn’t kill Jews, or Gypsies, or even those annoying Jehovah’s Witnesses. We got out before we were brainwashed into being slaves for him. We didn’t kill anybody!” Bree shouted with her eyes closed, fearful of the tears that may or may not be suddenly appearing in her eyes. When she opened them, no tears came out. Instead, she just saw Ollie and Dimitri’s faces, wide with shock and fear. Turning around, she saw Krys standing in the doorway of F’s room, dialing someone -probably the Markers- on her cell phone. Seconds later, they had surrounded the University, and Ollie, Bree, and Dimitri knew it was all over. The Steel Violet Resistance had been destroyed.

In the end, however, it would all turn out fine for the United States. After the three resistors were caught, more and more were found out for real or imaginary connections to treason. However, two years later, Leader Marks was almost killed by friends of the Steel Violet Resistance, so he knew that it was almost the end of his time. He committed suicide three days later.

Bree, Dimitri, and Ollie were tried for appearances, but they knew that they would die. After holding their ground for so long, it all came off with their heads on February 22nd. Even though they did not stop the government themselves, they were credited for being the most powerful reason that people started to stand up for themselves and overthrow the Markers. They were extraordinary, stubborn, and leaders, and that helped both them and the country that they were trying to save, which, in the end, they did.


The author's comments:
I wrote this for my holocaust project as a simplified version of Sophie Scholl's final days on this earth. Sophie was the leader of the White Rose Resistance Movement, and even though she didn't found it like her brother, she instead had enough faith in her cause that she sacrificed her life for it.

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