Detail of White Rose Memorial http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2007/08/21.html
The White Rose Society flowered originally in the late 1930's as a voice of opposition to Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich. The fourth leaflet of the White Rose says, "We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace".... The very same message that the progressive Internet Press is delivering to the Cheney/Bush administration today: Allen L Roland
As the Cheney/Bush administration draws closer to a preemptive air strike ( either by the U.S. or Israel ) on Iran ~ there is an erie parallel with Germany in the 1930's where apathy also reigned but small splinter resistance groups, like the White Rose Society and the Progressive Internet Press today, kept reminding the people of the truth and moral consequences of the government's nationalistic actions and what courage and patriotism really means . " They were asking Germans to embrace a different and higher concept of patriotism ~ one that involves a devotion to a set of moral principles and values rather than blind allegiance to one’s government in time of war. It was a type of patriotism that involved opposition to one’s own government, especially in time of war, when government is engaged in conduct that violates moral principles and values. "Jacob Hornberger draws on this in his excellent lengthy essay WHY THE GERMANS SUPPORTED HITLER and in particular how could ordinary German citizens support people who were so obviously monstrous in nature? http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18061.htm
Excerpt: Patriotism and courage
All this, obviously, places Hans and Sophie Scholl and the other members of the White Rose in a remarkable light, one that even many Americans might find discomforting. After all, it’s easy for an American to look at Nazi Germany from the perspective of an outsider and one who has the benefit of historical knowledge, especially about the Holocaust. The interesting question, however, is, What would Americans have done if they had been German citizens during World War II? Would they have opposed their government, as the members of the White Rose did, or would they have supported their government, especially knowing that the troops were fighting and dying on the battlefield?In one of their leaflets, the members of the White Rose wrote, “We are your bad conscience.” They were asking Germans to rise above the old, degenerate concept of patriotism that entailed blindly supporting one’s government in time of war. They were asking German soldiers to rise above the old, degenerate concept of blind obedience to orders. They were asking Germans to confront openly the rumors of what German officials were doing to the Jews in the concentration camps. They were asking German citizens, both civilian and military, to make an independent judgment on both the Hitler regime and the war, to judge both the government and the war as immoral and illegitimate, and to take the necessary steps to put a stop to both.
They were asking Germans to embrace a different and higher concept of patriotism ~ one that involves a devotion to a set of moral principles and values rather than blind allegiance to one’s government in time of war. It was a type of patriotism that involved opposition to one’s own government, especially in time of war, when government is engaged in conduct that violates moral principles and values.
The story of the White Rose is one of the most remarkable stories of courage in history. At the trial, Christoph Probst asked Freisler to spare his life, an understandable request given that his wife had recently given birth to their third child. Neither Sophie nor her brother Hans flinched. Sophie bluntly told Friesler that the war was lost and that German soldiers were being sacrificed for nothing, a statement that, from the looks on the faces of the military brass attending the trial in the film, momentarily hit home. She said that one day Freisler and his ilk would be sitting in the dock being judged by others for their crimes. She bluntly told him, “Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don’t dare express themselves as we did.”
Freisler quickly issued the preordained verdict ~ Guilty ~ and sentenced the defendants to death, a sentence that was carried out at the guillotine three days after they had been arrested. After all, as Freisler declared, Hans and Sophie Scholl and their friend Christoph Probst had opposed their government during time of war. In Freisler’s mind ~ indeed, in the minds of many Germans ~ what better evidence of treason than that?
Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. Send him email.
Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2007/08/21.html
