In 1940, after the start of World War Two, Sophie graduated from her Secondary School and became a kindergarten teacher at the Froebel Institute. In 1941 she was conscripted into the auxiliary war service working as a nursery teacher in Blumberg. Sophie had a strong dislike for the military regime of war service and started to become part of passive resistance to the war effort. After spending six months in the National Labour Service in May 1942 she enrolled in the University of Munich as a student of biology and philosophy. Along with her brother Hans, she became associated with a group of friends who shared similar artistic and cultural interests as her and eventually shared political views, completely against the Nazi regime that they lived in. With this group Sophie came into contact with people from all walks of life, including philosopher Theodor Haecker who posed questions of how individuals should behave under a dictatorship.
"The essence of modern dictatorship is the combination of one-dimensional, flat thinking with power and terror." - Theodor Haecker