Millions of women took part in combat roles during World War II. Some were killed in battle, while others were captured as prisoners of war. Captured women were interrogated and tortured for information, and many were executed by Nazi German forces. What follows are the last words of six women who resisted until the end.
Sophie Magdalena Scholl resisted Hitler and the Nazis. She, her brother Hans Scholl, and their friend Christoph Probst were found guilty of treason and condemned to death. On 22 February 1943, all three were beheaded by guillotine on the same day at Munich-Stadelheim Prison. Prison officials were impressed by the condemned prisoners' bravery and allowed them to smoke cigarettes together before the executions. Sophie Scholl's last words were reported as either "God, my refuge into eternity" or "The sun still shines." She was 21 years old.
Lepa Radić was a Yugoslav partisan. She was captured by SS troops and tortured for several days to obtain information about her fellow members and leaders, but she refused to give any. She was sentenced to death. As they placed the noose around her neck, she cried out to the crowd, "Long live the Communist Party and partisans. Fight, people, for your freedom. Do not surrender to the evildoers. I will be killed, but there are those who will avenge me."
At the scaffold, the Nazi commander offered to spare Lepa Radić's life in exchange for the names of her leaders and members. She refused with the words, "I am not a traitor of my people. Those whom you are asking about will reveal themselves when they have succeeded in wiping out all you evildoers to the last man." On 8 February 1943, she was publicly executed by hanging. She was 17 years old.
Maria Restituta Kafka was an Austrian nurse. She was arrested by the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, and sentenced to death by the guillotine for conspiracy to commit treason. As she approached the guillotine, her last words were, "I have lived for Christ. I want to die for Christ." She was beheaded in Vienna on 30 March 1943. She was 48 years old.
Hannah Szenes was a Hungarian Jewish paratrooper. She was arrested by Hungarian military forces and interrogated and brutally tortured, but she refused to give any information. On 7 November 1944, she was executed by firing squad by Nazi German soldiers. She kept diary entries until the last day. One read, "In the month of July, I shall be 23. I played a number in a game. The dice have rolled. I have lost." Another read, "I love the warm sunlight."
Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was a Soviet partisan. She was captured by the German army and interrogated and tortured to obtain information about her fellow members and leaders, but she refused to give any. She was sentenced to death. Her last words to the Germans were, "Comrades, why are you so sad? I'm not afraid to die. I am happy to die for my people. You are going to hang me, but I am not the only one. There are more than 200 million of us. You can't hang us all. They will avenge me. Germans, surrender before it is too late. Victory is ours."
Before her execution, with the rope on her neck, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya said, "Farewell, comrades. Fight. Do not be afraid. Stalin is with us. Stalin will come." Her speech before her execution angered many German officers and soldiers. On 29 November 1941, she was publicly hanged by the Nazi Germans at the age of 18.
Eleni Gela Karayani was a Greek resistance leader. She and other captured resistance members were executed by firing squad on the morning of 8 September 1944. Before her execution, she shouted, "Let the Nazis see that the Greeks know how to die for their homeland."