History FaceDeathWithDignity / RealLife

%% ZCE * The sinking of ''UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic'' provides a whole wealth of examples.

* Vidkun Quisling, the TropeNamer for TheQuisling faced his execution via firing squad (Norway actually having temporary reinstated the death penalty specifically for him a other high ranking collaborators) calmly and with dignity. His LastRequest being to shake hands with his executioners.

* Vidkun Quisling, the TropeNamer for TheQuisling faced his execution via firing squad calmly and with dignity (Norway actually having temporary reinstated the death penalty specifically for him a other high ranking collaborators). His LastRequest being to shake hands with his executioners.

* Vidkun Quisling, the TropeNamer for TheQuisling faced his execution via firing squad calmly and with dignity (Norway actually having reinstated the death penalty specifically for him a other high ranking collaborators). His LastRequest being to shake hands with his executioners.

* Vidkun Quisling, the TropeNamer for TheQuisling faced his execution via firing squad calmly and with dignity. His LastRequest being to shake hands with his executioners.

*** Upon being sentenced, retired general Emilio de Bono, UsefulNotes/WorldWarI hero and one of the party leaders since the March on Rome, quipped "You get me by very little, I'm seventy-eight".

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_rose White Rose]] was a non-violent/intellectual resistance group in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to dictator UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's regime. The six core members of the group were arrested by the Gestapo and they were executed by decapitation in 1943. Sophie Scholl's last words (aged only 21) were:

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_rose White Rose]] was a non-violent/intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to dictator UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's regime. The six core members of the group were arrested by the Gestapo and they were executed by decapitation in 1943. Sophie Scholl's last words (aged only 21) were:

** Louis XVI, died with dignity. Although witnesses disagree exactly on how he conducted himself and what he said, all agree that he maintained his innocence, and his strength of character, to the end. His executioner (previously Louis’s royal executioner) would later testify he had died "with a composure and a firmness which has surprised us all".

** Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna: Sister of the last Empress Alexandra and widow of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, she had spent the years before the Revolution running a convent and being disconnected from high society. She, along with many relatives and a nun from her convent were arrested, and kept in a school near Alapayevsk. On the day they died, they were thrown into a mineshaft but all survived the initial fall. Elizabeth led the group in singing Orthodox hymns, until all eventually died of asphyxiation due to brush that was set alight and dropped into the mine by their captors.

* The great film critic Creator/RogerEbert decided to face his terminal cancer and his physical decline from it openly and with considerable grace. This included appearing an ''Esquire'' cover story showing with his jaw removed and having the director of the {{Documentary}} about himself, ''Life Itself'', depict in his full undaunted decrepitude. When an interviewer asked if he ever questioned why this was happening to him, Ebert answered with a shrug and "why not?"

* This was one reason UsefulNotes/CharlesI attracted such acclaim after his execution, with the pamphlets that came out almost immediately only increasing the effect. He was mostly unimpressive physically and mentally unexceptional, and he had a perpetual nervous stammer. Until, that is, his trial, where he conducted himself with more assurance and dignity his opponents had expected and lost his stammer, and on his execution day met his fate stoically, even asking for an extra shirt so that people would not mistake his shivering at the cold for fear.

--> The Citadel is irretrievably lost. I am ashamed to face the men of the North. My death is but a trifle, I pledge to follow Nguyễn Tri Phương to the grave. Your Majesty is leagues away, we weep tears of blood for you.

* The great film critic Creator/RogerEbert decided to face his terminal cancer and his physical decline from it openly and with considerable grace. This included appearing an ''Esquire'' cover story showing with his jaw removed and having the director of the {{Documentary}} about himself, ''Life Itself'', depict in his full undaunted decrepitude.

* Some Romanovs died this way during the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/RomanovsAndRevolutions Russian Revolution]]:

** Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna: Sister of the last Empress Alexandra and widow of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, she had spent the years before the Revolution running a convent and being disconnected from high
society. She, along with many relatives and a nun from her convent were arrested, and kept in a school near Alapayevsk. On the day they died, they were thrown into a mineshaft but all survived the initial fall. Elizabeth led the group in singing Orthodox hymns, until all eventually died of asphyxiation due to brush that was set alight and dropped into the mine by their captors.

* Some Romanovs died this way during the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/RomanovsAndRevolutions|Russian Revolution]]:

* Some Romanovs died this way during the Russian Revolution:

** Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna: Sister of the last Empress Alexandra and widow of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, she had spent the years before the Revolution running a convent and being disconnected from high society. She, along with many relatives and a nun from her convent were arrested, and kept in a school near Alapayevsk. On the day they died, they were thrown into a mineshaft but all survived the initial fall. Elizabeth led the group in singing Orthodox hymns, until all eventually died of asphyxiation due to brush that was set alight and dropped into the mine by their captors.

----

** Louis XVI, died with dignity. As he was already on the scaffold he declared he pardoned those responsible for his death, before proclaiming himself innocent and praying his blood wouldn't fall back on France. His executioner himself would later testify he had died "with a composure and a firmness which has surprised us all".

* Sirik Matak, Prime Minister of Cambodia, was executed by the Communists when they took over the country in 1975 after the United States abandoned Indochina in the aftermath of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. At the end, the United States offered to bring Matak to America. He refused. The courtesy and dignity of his refusal make it all the more harrowing, to the point where it doubles as a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the entire United States: