Saturday, September 15, 2007
The White Rose Society
By Dorothy Snodgrass
Were it not for that distinctive T-shirt, it’s doubtful I would ever have known about the White Rose Society. But meeting a friend recently, I was attracted by his T-shirt. At the top there was a line of Arabic script, beneath that the phrase, “We Will Not Remain Silent.” I was informed that this motto dated back to 1943, when a small group of students at the University of Munich, sickened by the atrocities of the Nazi’s, especially the persecution of the Jews, formed a resistance movement, which they named “The White Rose Society.”
Spending almost an entire day at the Berkeley Public Library, and assisted by a reference librarian who was equally intrigued by this Society, I unearthed a wealth of materials, the most valuable being the book, “A Noble Treason: The Revolt of Munich Students Against Hitler.” Thanks to the librarian’s computer skills, I was provided with a print-out of all four leaflets written by these students—leaflets calling for German youth to overthrow the regime.
"The name of Germany will be dishonored forever lest German youth finally rise to smash [Hitler’s] tormentors and invoke a new, intellectual and spiritual Europe.” These leaflets were not the rabid ravings of wild-eyed radicals, but rather were beautifully-written, scholarly documents with quotations from Aristotle, Friedrich Schiller, Goethe and Lao Tzu. I was especially taken by the opening sentence in the First Leaflet:
[Read More »]
The parallels to the Iraq slaughter are obvious and the writer asks: "Why are today’s university students not rebelling at the Iraq war and other injustices?" Go. Read the rest of this piece to find out what happens to these 4 students. Thank you, Dorothy Snodgrass. Outstanding piece of work on an exceptional group of students.
Related:
Read the leaflets
White Rose Society Martyrs
Protest of the Youth
By Dorothy Snodgrass
Am I foolish to dream of a White Rose Society in this country to restore our honor and atone for the needless loss of American military and innocent Iraq’s?
Were it not for that distinctive T-shirt, it’s doubtful I would ever have known about the White Rose Society. But meeting a friend recently, I was attracted by his T-shirt. At the top there was a line of Arabic script, beneath that the phrase, “We Will Not Remain Silent.” I was informed that this motto dated back to 1943, when a small group of students at the University of Munich, sickened by the atrocities of the Nazi’s, especially the persecution of the Jews, formed a resistance movement, which they named “The White Rose Society.”
Spending almost an entire day at the Berkeley Public Library, and assisted by a reference librarian who was equally intrigued by this Society, I unearthed a wealth of materials, the most valuable being the book, “A Noble Treason: The Revolt of Munich Students Against Hitler.” Thanks to the librarian’s computer skills, I was provided with a print-out of all four leaflets written by these students—leaflets calling for German youth to overthrow the regime.
"The name of Germany will be dishonored forever lest German youth finally rise to smash [Hitler’s] tormentors and invoke a new, intellectual and spiritual Europe.” These leaflets were not the rabid ravings of wild-eyed radicals, but rather were beautifully-written, scholarly documents with quotations from Aristotle, Friedrich Schiller, Goethe and Lao Tzu. I was especially taken by the opening sentence in the First Leaflet: “Nothing is so unworthy of a civilized nation as allowing itself to be ‘governed’ without opposition by an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base instinct. It is certain that every honest German is ashamed of his government.”Given today’s shameful Iraq war debacle, might we not substitute “honest American” for “honest German"?
[Read More »]
The parallels to the Iraq slaughter are obvious and the writer asks: "Why are today’s university students not rebelling at the Iraq war and other injustices?" Go. Read the rest of this piece to find out what happens to these 4 students. Thank you, Dorothy Snodgrass. Outstanding piece of work on an exceptional group of students.
Related:
Read the leaflets
White Rose Society Martyrs
Protest of the Youth
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