The Girl Who Stopped the Train

(The Story of Sophie Scholl)

Album: Second Cut

In a city wrapped in silence, where the truth was banned by fear
She passed the paper forward, though the hangman stood near
Not a soldier, not a saint, just a voice against the grain
And in her final whisper... she stopped the train

They marched in line, they wore the same
Their eyes looked forward, hearts in chains
No room for doubt, no room for pain
Just steel and smoke and numbered names

She walked those halls with steady tread
A student's books, a rebel's thread
A single flyer, words like flame
Lit sparks no guns could ever tame

She stood alone in the pouring rain
No flag behind her, no one to blame
They called it treason, she called it sane
A single voice…
The girl who stopped the train

Her brother's hand, her final note
A truth they feared, a line she wrote
She spoke the words they dared not say
And gave her life that winter day

They tried to break her with a lie
She met their eyes and asked them why
And in that room where death was crowned
A brighter kind of truth was found

She stood alone in the pouring rain
No sword to draw, no war to gain
But still she rose and bore the strain
A quiet force...
The girl who stopped the train

"I am still so full of hope."
"The sun still shines."
"What does my death matter, if through us thousands are awakened?"

Now flowers bloom where she was slain
A name they carved won't die in vain
And somewhere deep in every vein
Lives on the spark…
Of the girl who stopped the train

No medals pinned, no marching band
But history took her quiet stand
And every voice that won't refrain
Carries her name...

The girl who stopped the train

(The Story of Sophie Scholl)

As I was pulling the album together, some songs shifted into a different order than when they were written. This one came shortly after The Quiet Kind and, like that track, began as something completely different than what it became.

Initially, I set out to write about political leaders—the narcissism it often takes to rise to power, and the mindset (seen in certain individuals today) that allows someone to be so convinced of their own position that they become blind to, or can justify, the harm their policies cause. I was trying to explore the mind of a dictator—but the song just wasn’t taking shape in a way I could be proud of.

So I pivoted. Instead of writing from the perspective of the oppressor, I shifted to the voice of an ordinary person pushing back against totalitarian rule. Drawing inspiration from Iron Maiden’s historically themed songs, I started reading about Nazi Germany and the resistance movements there. That’s when I discovered Sophie Scholl—a university student who bravely resisted Hitler’s regime by distributing anti-Nazi leaflets. She was executed by guillotine for her actions, but by then her message had spread widely, even to the point that the Allies dropped her words as propaganda over Germany.

The Girl Who Stopped the Train tells Sophie’s story—a reminder that courage can exist in the quietest, most ordinary places, and that even a single voice can help change the course of history.