"we will not be silent. We are your bad conscience"
White Rose Leaflet
"Even the most dull-witted German has had his eyes
opened by the terrible bloodbath, which, in the name of the freedom and honour
of the German nation, they have unleashed upon Europe and unleash a new each
day. The German name will remain forever tarnished unless finally the German
youth stands up, pursues both revenge and atonement, smites our tormentors, and
founds a new intellectual Europe. Students! The German people look to us! The
responsibility is ours: just as the power of the spirit broke the Napoleonic
terror in 1813, so too will it break the terror of the National Socialists in
1943."
White Rose Pamphlet
"To say to the Social Democratic workers: "Cast
your leaders aside and join our 'non-party united front" means to add just
one more hollow phrase to a thousand others. We must understand how to tear the
workers away from their leaders in reality. But the reality today is the
struggle against fascism. ... The overwhelming majority of the Social
Democratic workers will fight against the fascists, but – for the present at
least – only together with their organizations. This stage cannot be skipped".
Leon Trotsky-For a Workers' United Front Against Fascism (December
1931)
This book provides the reader with a very thorough and
accessible introduction to the life of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose
movement. The struggle of the Scholl family belies the common myth that there
was no opposition to the Nazi's during the Second World War.
The book fails to address the reason why this opposition was
so small and disparate. The fact that Hitler was able to rise to power and
smash the worker's movement and the most progressive sections of the middle class
was due to the betrayals of Stalinism and Social Democracy who allowed him to
come to power without a shot being fired.
This history was to shape the character of the opposition to
Hitler. After all, the White Rose movement was a non-violent resistance group
comprised of five middle-class students at Munich University. At its heart,
brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl, their fellow students Alexander
Schmorell, Willi Graf, Christoph Probst, and their professor Kurt Huber.
Despite knowing full well that if caught, they faced instant
death, they began distributing leaflets and graffiti. They were caught in 1943
by the Gestapo and, after a brief trial, executed. Sophie Magdalena Scholl was just
21 at the time of her state murder.
It is clear from the history of Scholl and the White Rose
movement that it did not have a fully worked-out political agenda that drove its
activities, and some of its activities against the fascist regime were
dominated by their religious leanings. Scholl was heavily influenced by the theologian
Augustine of Hippo. She described that her "soul was hungry".
Not everything was guided by their religious beliefs. As this
statement from a White rose Pamphlet states, "Our current 'state' is the
dictatorship of evil. We know that already, I hear you object, and we do not
need you to reproach us for it yet again. But, I ask you, if you know that,
then why don't you act? Why do you tolerate these rulers gradually robbing you,
in public and in private, of one right after another, until one day nothing,
absolutely nothing, remains but the machinery of the state, under the command
of criminals and drunkards?"[1]They
had substantial political opposition to the Nazi dictatorship.
As Tanja B. Spitzer writes, "The White Rose was a small
endeavour with large consequences. Together they published and distributed six
pamphlets, first typed on a typewriter, then multiplied via mimeograph. At
first, they only distributed them via mail, sending them to professors,
booksellers, authors, friends and others—going through phone books for
addresses and hand-writing each envelope. In the end, they distributed
thousands, reaching households all over Germany. Acquiring such large amounts
of paper, envelopes, and stamps at a time of strict rationing without raising
suspicion was problematic, but the students managed by engaging a wide-ranging
network of supporters in cities and towns as far north as Hamburg and as far
south as Vienna. These networks were also activated to distribute the
pamphlets, attempting to trick the Gestapo into believing the White Rose had
locations all across the country".[2]
They did provide a clear tactic to anyone who wanted to
oppose the fascists saying "in their fifth pamphlet. "And now every
convinced opponent of National Socialism must ask himself how he can fight
against the present 'state' in the most effective way….We cannot provide each
man with the blueprint for his acts, we can only suggest them in general terms,
and he alone will find the way of achieving this end: Sabotage in armament
plants and war industries, sabotage at all gatherings, rallies, public
ceremonies, and organizations of the National Socialist Party. Obstruction of
the smooth functioning of the war machine….Try to convince all your
acquaintances. Of the senselessness of continuing, of the hopelessness of this
war; of our spiritual and economic enslavement at the hands of the National
Socialists; of the destruction of all moral and religious values; and urge them
to passive resistance!"
While it was very difficult for the group to act amid war
and being hounded by the Nazi's secret police, a major weakness of the group is
that it did not appeal to the one class that could bring down the hated Nazi
dictatorship, and that was the German and international working class. The
defeat of the German revolution because of the betrayal of Stalinism and Social
Democracy had meant the class consciousness working class in Germany had been
thrown back for decades.
It is doubtful that any of the White Rose movement had read
any of the great Russian Marxist Leon Trotsky works, which is a shame because
even a cursory read of his work would have given the group an entirely different
political outlook. As Trotsky writes "When a state turns fascist, it doesn't
only mean that the forms and methods of government are changed in accordance
with the patterns set by Mussolini – the changes in this sphere ultimately play
a minor role – but it means, primarily and above all, that the workers'
organizations are annihilated; that the proletariat is reduced to an amorphous
state; and that a system of administration is created which penetrates deeply
into the masses and which serves to frustrate the independent crystallization
of the proletariat. Therein precisely is the gist of fascism. This was
precisely the situation facing the White Rose group.
To conclude, this 75th-anniversary edition
deserves a wide readership. The story of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose
movement contains an important lesson for the international working class and will
inspire anyone who has a burning hatred of fascism and all forms of racism. As
Sophie Scholl said, "I am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the
best I could do for my nation. I, therefore, do not regret my conduct and will
bear the consequences that result from my conduct."
[1] See the http://whiteroseproject.seh.ox.ac.uk/
[2] https://www.nationalww2museum.org/contributors/tanja-b-spitzer
