User:Azndrumsticks/The White Rose Society

The White Rose Society (die Weiße Rose Gesellschaft) was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in United States, consisting of members within various individual chapter across the United States. Some chapters have been created in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, Switzerland, Germany, and England. The White Rose Society was resurrected on March 15, 2016, to oppose the rise of the new Fascism. It was resurrected as the successor of the original White Rose movement, consisting of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign, lasting from June 1942 until February 1943, that called for active opposition to dictator Adolf Hitler's regime. Since then, it has been resurrected recently to fight against the rise of the new fascism. Due to the technological advances since the original white rose movement, various chapters have been formed on facebook groups, twitter, real-life organizations, online forums, instagram, and other communication methods.

Despite, the White Rose Society resurrection as a result of a recent Anonymous's Operation titled #OpWhiteRose. The White Rose Society makes no assertion on any claims nor affiliation to the Anonymous. It does not attempt to discredit, disavow, or alienate itself.

They are anti-Trump protesters in support of their Latino, Muslim, African American, Women, Veterans, and Native Americans neighbors, recognized by their wearing of a single white rose and the usage of the hashtag, #WhiteRoseRevolt #WhiteRose #DieWeißeRose #WhiteRoseRevolt on protest signs.

Background
White Rose survivor Jürgen Wittenstein described what it was like to live in Hitler's Germany: "The government – or rather, the party – controlled everything: the news media, arms, police, the armed forces, the judiciary system, communications, travel, all levels of education from kindergarten to universities, all cultural and religious institutions. Political indoctrination started at a very early age, and continued by means of the Hitler Youth with the ultimate goal of complete mind control. Children were exhorted in school to denounce even their own parents for derogatory remarks about Hitler or Nazi ideology."

Members and actions


Students from the University of Munich comprised the core of the White Rose: siblings Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, Alex Schmorell, Willi Graf, Christoph Probst, Traute Lafrenz, Katharina Schüddekopf, Lieselotte (Lilo) Berndl, Jürgen Wittenstein, Marie-Luise Jahn, Falk Harnack, Hubert Furtwängler, Wilhelm Geyer, Manfred Eickemeyer, Josef Söhngen, Heinrich Guter, Heinrich Bollinger, Helmut Bauer, Harald Dohrn, Hans Conrad Leipelt, Gisela Schertling, Rudi Alt and Wolfgang Jaeger. Most were in their early twenties. A professor of philosophy and musicology, Kurt Huber, was also associated with their cause. Wilhelm Geyer taught Alexander Schmorell how to make the tin templates used in the graffiti campaign. Eugen Grimminger of Stuttgart funded their operations. Grimminger's secretary Tilly Hahn contributed her own funds to the cause, and acted as go-between for Grimminger and the group in Munich. She frequently carried supplies such as envelopes, paper, and an additional duplicating machine from Stuttgart to Munich. In addition, a group of students in the city of Ulm distributed a number of the group's leaflets. Among this group were Sophie Scholl's childhood friend Susanne Hirzel and her teenage brother and.

Between June 1942 and February 1943, the group prepared and distributed six leaflets, in which they called for the active opposition of the German people to Nazi oppression and tyranny. Huber wrote the final leaflet. A draft of a seventh leaflet, designed by Christoph Probst, was found in the possession of Hans Scholl at the time of his arrest by the Gestapo. While Sophie Scholl got rid of incriminating evidence on her person before being taken into custody, Hans did not do the same with Probst's leaflet draft or cigarette coupons given to him by Geyer, an act that cost Probst his life and nearly undid Geyer. Hans did try to destroy the draft of the last leaflet by ripping it into pieces and stuffing into his mouth to try save Probst from detection but the Gestapo recovered enough to match with written, signed statements from Probst found later in Hans's apartment.

Influences and vision
The White Rose was influenced by the German Youth Movement, of which Christoph Probst was a member. Hans Scholl was a member of the Hitler Youth until 1937, and Sophie was a member of the Bund Deutscher Mädel. Membership of both groups was compulsory for young Germans, although many—such as Willi Graf, Otl Aicher, and Heinz Brenner—refused to join. The ideas of Deutsche Jungenschaft vom 1.11.1929 (dj.1.11.) had strong influence on Hans Scholl and his colleagues. dj.1.11. was a youth group of the German Youth Movement, founded by Eberhard Koebel in 1929. Willi Graf was a member of Neudeutschland, a Catholic youth association, and the Grauer Orden.

The group was motivated by ethical and moral considerations. They came from various religious backgrounds. Willi and Katharina were devout Catholics. Alexander Schmorell was Orthodox, the grandson of a priest and eventually glorified as an Orthodox Christian saint. Traute adhered to the concepts of anthroposophy, while Eugen Grimminger considered himself Buddhist. Christoph Probst was baptized a Catholic shortly before his execution. His father Hermann was nominally a Catholic, but for some time studied Eastern thought and wisdom, the reason why his son Christoph was not baptized as a baby.

In summer 1942, several members of the White Rose had to serve for three months on the Russian front alongside many other male medical students from the University of Munich. There, they observed the horrors of war, saw beatings and other mistreatment of Jews by the Germans, and heard about the persecution of the Jews from reliable sources. Some witnessed atrocities of the war on the battlefield and against civilian populations in the East. Willi Graf saw the Warsaw and Łódź Ghettos and could not get the images of brutality out of his mind. Alexander Schmorell spoke perfect Russian which allowed him to have better contact and understanding from the local Russians and other Slavic populations and their plight. This Russian insight proved invaluable during their time there, and he could convey to his fellow White Rose members what was not understood or even heard by other Germans coming from the Eastern front.

The students returned in November 1942. They rejected fascism and militarism and believed in a federated Europe that adhered to principles of tolerance and justice.

By February 1943, the young friends sensed the implications of the reversal of fortune the Wehrmacht suffered at Stalingrad, which eventually led to Germany's defeat. As the brutality of the regime became more and more apparent, when deportations of Jews began, and the remaining few were forced to wear the yellow Star of David, when German atrocities in occupied Poland and Russia became known, and when the copies of Bishop Galen's sermon condemning the killing of inmates in insane asylums were circulated in secret, detachment gave way to the conviction something had to be done. It was not enough to keep to oneself one's beliefs, and ethical standards, but the time had come to act.

Origin
In 1941 Hans Scholl read a copy of a sermon by an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime, Bishop August von Galen, decrying the euthanasia policies expressed in Action T4 (and extended that same year to the Nazi concentration camps by Action 14f13) which the Nazis maintained would protect the German gene pool. Horrified by the Nazi policies, Sophie obtained permission to reprint the sermon and distribute it at the University of Munich as the group's first leaflet prior to their formal organization.

Under Gestapo interrogation, Hans Scholl gave several explanations for the origin of the name "The White Rose," and suggested he may have chosen it while he was under the emotional influence of a 19th-century poem with the same name by German poet Clemens Brentano. Most scholars, as well as the German public, have taken this answer at face value. Earlier, before these Gestapo transcripts surfaced, Annette Dumbach and Jud Newborn speculated briefly that the origin might have come from a German novel Die Weiße Rose (The White Rose), published in Berlin in 1929 and written by B. Traven, the German author of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Dumbach and Newborn said there was a chance that Hans Scholl and Alex Schmorell had read this. They also wrote that the symbol of the white rose was intended to represent purity and innocence in the face of evil.

In February 2006, however, Dr. Jud Newborn authored an essay entitled, "Solving Mysteries: The Secret of 'The White Rose'," originally intended as an Afterword to his co-authored book. In this essay he argues that Hans Scholl's response to the Gestapo was intentionally misleading in order to protect Josef Söhngen, the anti-Nazi bookseller who had provided the White Rose members with a safe meeting place for the exchange of information and to receive occasional financial contributions. Söhngen kept a stash of banned books hidden in his store. Dr. Newborn also looked into the content of B. Traven's The White Rose, arguing that the novel, banned by the Nazis in 1933, provided evidence of origin of the group's name.

In the same essay, Newborn also revealed information about Hans Scholl's 1937-1938 arrest and trial for participation in a youth movement banned the end of 1936, one he had joined in 1934 when he and other Ulm Hitler Youth members considered membership in this group and the Hitler Youth to be compatible. Hans Scholl was also accused of transgressing Paragraph 175, the anti-homosexuality law, because of a same-sex teen relationship dating back to 1934-1935, when Hans was only 16 years old. Newborn built this argument partially on the work of Eckard Holler, a sociologist specializing in the German Youth Movement, as well as on the Gestapo interrogation transcripts from the 1937-1938 arrest, and with reference to historian George Mosse's discussion of the homoerotic aspects of the German "bündisch" Youth Movement. As Mosse indicated, idealized romantic attachments among male youths was not uncommon in Germany, especially among members of the "bündisch" associations. Newborn argued that this experience led both Hans and Sophie to identify with the victims of the Nazi state, providing an explanation for why Hans and Sophie Scholl made the transformation from avid Hitler Youth leaders to passionate opponents of National Socialism.

Leaflets
Quoting extensively from the Bible, Aristotle and Novalis, as well as Goethe and Schiller, they appealed to what they considered the German intelligentsia, believing that they would be intrinsically opposed to Nazism. These leaflets were left in telephone books in public phone booths, mailed to professors and students, and taken by courier to other universities for distribution. At first, the leaflets were sent out in mailings from cities in Bavaria and Austria, since the members believed that southern Germany would be more receptive to their anti-militarist message.

Isn't it true that every honest German is ashamed of his government these days? Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes– crimes that infinitely outdistance every human measure– reach the light of day?

Since the conquest of Poland, 300,000 Jews have been murdered in this country in the most bestial way… The German people slumber on in dull, stupid sleep and encourage the fascist criminals. Each wants to be exonerated of guilt, each one continues on his way with the most placid, calm conscience. But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty!

Alexander Schmorell, who penned the words the White Rose has become most famous for, became an Orthodox saint after his martyrdom. Most of the more practical material—calls to arms and statistics of murder—came from Alex's pen. Hans Scholl wrote in a characteristically high style, exhorting the German people to action on the grounds of philosophy and reason.

At the end of July 1942, some of the male students in the group were deployed to the Eastern Front for military service (acting as medics) during the academic break. In late autumn, the men returned, and the White Rose resumed its resistance activities. In January 1943, using a hand-operated duplicating machine, the group is thought to have produced between 6,000 and 9,000 copies of their fifth leaflet, "Appeal to all Germans!", which was distributed via courier runs to many cities (where they were mailed). Copies appeared in Stuttgart, Cologne, Vienna, Freiburg, Chemnitz, Hamburg, Innsbruck and Berlin. The fifth leaflet was composed by Hans Scholl with improvements by Huber. These leaflets warned that Hitler was leading Germany into the abyss; with the gathering might of the Allies, defeat was now certain. The reader was urged to "Support the resistance movement!" in the struggle for "freedom of speech, freedom of religion and protection of the individual citizen from the arbitrary action of criminal dictator-states". These were the principles that would form "the foundations of a new Europe".

The leaflets caused a sensation, and the Gestapo began an intensive search for the publishers. On the nights of the 3rd, 8th and 15 February 1943, the slogans "Freedom" and "Down with Hitler" appeared on the walls of the university and other buildings in Munich. Alexander Schmorell, Hans Scholl and Willi Graf had painted them with tar-based paint. (Similar graffiti that appeared in the surrounding area at this time was painted by imitators).

The shattering German defeat at Stalingrad at the beginning of February provided the occasion for the group's sixth leaflet, written by Huber. Headed "Fellow students!" (the now-iconic Kommilitoninnen! Kommilitonen!), it announced that the "day of reckoning" had come for "the most contemptible tyrant our people has ever endured." "The dead of Stalingrad adjure us!"

Shortly after the capture of the members of the White Rose, Leaflet No. 6 was smuggled out of Germany and later copied by the Allies and dropped from aircraft as propaganda over Nazi Germany.

Capture and trial


On 18 February 1943, coincidentally the same day that Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels called on the German people to embrace total war in his Sportpalast speech, the Scholls brought a suitcase full of leaflets to the university. They hurriedly dropped stacks of copies in the empty corridors for students to find when they flooded out of lecture rooms. Leaving before the class break, the Scholls noticed that some copies remained in the suitcase and decided it would be a pity not to distribute them. They returned to the atrium and climbed the staircase to the top floor, and Sophie flung the last remaining leaflets into the air. This spontaneous action was observed by a maintenance man Jakub Schmied. The police were called and Hans and Sophie Scholl were taken into Gestapo custody. Sophie and Hans were interrogated by Gestapo interrogator Robert Mohr, who initially thought Sophie was innocent. However, after Hans confessed, Sophie assumed full responsibility in an attempt to protect other members of the White Rose. Despite this, the other active members were soon arrested, and the group and everyone associated with them were brought in for interrogation.

The Scholls and Probst were the first to stand trial before the Volksgericht—the People's Court that tried political offenses against the Nazi German state—on 22 February 1943. They were found guilty of treason and Roland Freisler, head judge of the court, sentenced them to death. The three were executed the same day by guillotine at Stadelheim Prison. All three were noted for the courage with which they faced their deaths, particularly Sophie, who remained firm despite intense interrogation. (Reports that she arrived at the trial with a broken leg from torture were false.) She said to Freisler during the trial, "You know as well as we do that the war is lost. Why are you so cowardly that you won't admit it?" When Hans was executed, he said "Let freedom live" as the blade fell.

The second White Rose trial took place on 19 April 1943. Only eleven had been indicted before this trial. At the last minute, the prosecutor added Traute Lafrenz (who was considered so dangerous that she was to have had a trial all to herself), Gisela Schertling and Katharina Schüddekopf. Others tried were Hans Hirzel, Susanne Hirzel, Franz Josef Müller, Heinrich Guter, Eugen Grimminger, Heinrich Bollinger, Helmut Bauer and Falk Harnack. None had an attorney. One was assigned after the women appeared in court with their friends. Prior to their deaths, several members of the White Rose believed that their execution would stir university students and other anti-war citizens into activism against Hitler and the war.

Huber had counted on the good services of his friend, attorney Justizrat Roder, a high-ranking Nazi. Roder had not bothered to visit Huber before the trial and had not read Huber's leaflet. Another attorney had carried out all the pre-trial paperwork. When Roder realized how damning the evidence was against Huber, he resigned. The junior attorney took over.

Grimminger initially was to receive the death sentence for funding their operations, but escaped with a sentence of ten years in a penitentiary.

The third White Rose trial was to have taken place on 20 April 1943 (Hitler's birthday), because Freisler anticipated death sentences for Wilhelm Geyer, Harald Dohrn, Josef Söhngen and Manfred Eickemeyer. He did not want too many death sentences at a single trial, and had scheduled those four for the next day. However, the evidence against them was lost, and the trial was postponed until 13 July 1943.

At that trial, Gisela Schertling—who had betrayed most of the friends, even fringe members like Gerhard Feuerle—changed her mind and recanted her testimony against all of them. Since Freisler did not preside over the third trial, the judge acquitted all but Söhngen (who got only six months in prison) for lack of evidence.

Alexander Schmorell and Kurt Huber were beheaded on 13 July 1943, and Willi Graf on 12 October 1943. Huber's widow was sent a bill for 600 marks (twice her husband's monthly salary) for "wear of the guillotine." Friends and colleagues of the White Rose, who had helped in the preparation and distribution of leaflets and in collecting money for the widow and young children of Probst, were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to ten years.

After her release for the sentence handed down on 19 April, Traute Lafrenz was rearrested. She spent the last year of the war in prison. Trials kept being postponed and moved to different locations because of Allied air raids. Her trial was finally set for April 1945, after which she probably would have been executed. Three days before the trial, however, the Allies liberated the town where she was held prisoner, thereby saving her life.

The White Rose had the last word. Their last leaflet was smuggled to the Allies, who edited it and air-dropped millions of copies over Germany. The members of the White Rose, especially Sophie, became icons of the new post-war Germany.

Commemoration
With the fall of Nazi Germany, the White Rose came to represent opposition to tyranny in the German psyche and was lauded for acting without interest in personal power or self-aggrandizement. Their story became so well known that the composer Carl Orff claimed (falsely by some accounts) to his Allied interrogators that he was a founding member of the White Rose and was released. He was personally acquainted with Huber, but there is no evidence that Orff was ever involved in the movement.

On February 5, 2012, Alexander Schmorell was canonized as a New Martyr by the Orthodox Church.

The square where the central hall of Munich University is located has been named "Geschwister-Scholl-Platz" after Hans and Sophie Scholl; the square opposite to it is "Professor-Huber-Platz". Two large fountains are in front of the university, one on either side of Ludwigstraße. The fountain in front of the university is dedicated to Hans and Sophie Scholl. The other, across the street, is dedicated to Professor Huber. Many schools, streets, and other places across Germany are named in memory of the members of the White Rose.

One of Germany's leading literary prizes is called the "Geschwister Scholl" prize (the "Scholl Siblings" prize). Likewise, the asteroid 7571 Weisse Rose is named after the group.

The White Rose has also received artistic treatments, including the acclaimed opera Weiße Rose by Udo Zimmermann, In memoriam: die weisse Rose by Hans Werner Henze and Kommilitonen!, an opera by Peter Maxwell Davies.

Principles of the White Rose Society
The White Rose Society is an idea whose time has come. While we have scores of chapters across the United States, and even forming in other countries, there are no formal hierarchical positions of leadership within the White Rose Movement. Each individual chapter is self-initiated and autonomous, so long as the words and deeds of those working in the name of the chapter are consistent with the overarching theme and mission of the White Rose Society. As such, it is necessary that we delineate some of these principles. These should never be thought of as a list of "rules", but rather ideas that may help you form a composite image of the underlying single ethic that guides all of our actions.

Many of you may understand that the White Rose Society is decentralized, an “organization” that is self-initiated and ruled by none. But what you might not understand is what it means to claim the name “White Rose Society” or what the White Rose Revolt means. The White Rose Society is a name that cannot be claimed by all. And yet, since we are decentralized, any may claim our name… provided they abide by the One Ethic that we fight for. Human traffickers, pedophiles, murderers, cults and regimes throughout the world could never march under the banner of the White Rose Society while committing acts of injustice and oppression. This should be obvious to all.

We are united based upon one single principal and an ethic of justice – freedom for all to do as they please, as long as no others are harmed in the process. In short, your rights end where another’s rights begin. One cannot fight for freedom and at the same time support those who seek to impose a brutal government upon others. We have united – as Muslims, Christians, Jews and people with no religion and every religion – to fight against injustice wherever we find it. We make no distinction between injustices and oppressions. We do not chose one injustice to support while we oppose another at the same time. Again, this is because we fight for one Single Ethic that guides all of our actions. Because there is no official White Rose Central Committee, because there is no Ministry of Experts or the like to determine what is said or done in our name, that could lead to some who do not have any business claiming our name telling the world that they are acting on our behalf. If you are ever in doubt and ask, “Is this really the White Rose Society?” you need only ask yourself “does the action abide by the Single Ethic that the White Rose Society follows? That being an ethic of freedom for all to do as they please as long as no others are harmed – an ethic of justice for all, and resistance to oppression wherever it manifests.” If it does, then you can be sure, that it is a true White Rose Society action. If it does not, you can be sure that it is not, and that it might even be an operation created by our enemies: those who have chosen oppression over freedom and injustice over justice.

We are not a right or left movement, but are instead composed of people from all ends of the political spectrum. We do not bar people from the White Rose Revolt because they like one presidential candidate or another, even if they are flawed individuals, so long as they do not openly promote the fascist police state proposed by Donald Trump. With the exception of our united opposition to this would-be dictator, as a group, we do not openly oppose or promote one party or candidate over the other. These are individual preferences and decisions that must be made by each of us. As an organization, this is simply beyond the scope of our aims. Personal grievances or opposition to other candidates and politicians can be found on an individual level - but as an organization we have united from all ends of the political spectrum to oppose the unprecedented threat of fascism at the doorsteps of the White House.

We do not initiate violence in any circumstance. We do not pick fights, but we also do not allow violence to be perpetrated against the innocent. True peacefulness means that we are non-violent with those who are non-violent, and we avoid violence whenever possible. It does not, however, mean that if we see someone being abused that we will not step in and stop that abuse. Imagine someone who would stand back and allow a woman to be beaten by an abusive spouse, or a child to be abducted, abused and killed - all because they imagined themselves to be "non-violent." That is not non-violence. In fact, it is allowing violence to continue - it is pro-violence. Instead, true non-violence - true peacefulness - is stopping violence with the minimal amount of force necessary. If you see someone being attacked, you stop them, but you do not escalate force beyond what is necessary, at any time. The Dalai Lama recently spoke about the morality of self-defense - emphasizing that non-violence means that only the minimal use of violence can be justified if it must be engaged in to stop a violent act. Thus, if someone is attacking you or another protester, there is a moral obligation to stop them, but that does not justify escalating force beyond what they have initiated. True non-violence means decreasing the amount of violence in the world. If inaction allows a status quo of violence to continue, then that inaction is no longer non-violent, but is instead an act of complicity and tacit acceptance of violence. We are not bullies, but we will also not be bullied.

We must act. The White Rose Revolt is a movement, and that means we must be on the MOVE! While we coordinate and network on the Internet, our actions are primarily carried out in the streets and at rallies. White Rose Society chapters should be active. They should print out flyers and circulate them at protests, rallies, shows, on light posts, or bulletin boards. They should make stickers, apparel, individual chapter websites and social media pages. They should hand out white roses at rallies and should wear them to represent our numbers at protests.

Quotations

 * If everyone waits until the other man makes a start, the messengers of avenging Nemesis will come steadily closer. (From Leaflet 1, urging immediate initiative by the reader. Nemesis of course punished those who had fallen to the temptation of hubris.)
 * Why do German people behave so apathetically in the face of all these abominable crimes, crimes so unworthy of the human race? ... The German people slumber on in their dull, stupid sleep and encourage these fascist criminals....[The German] must evidence not only sympathy; no, much more: a sense of complicity in guilt....For through his apathetic behaviour he gives these evil men the opportunity to act as they do.... he himself is to blame for the fact that it came about at all! Each man wants to be exonerated ....But he cannot be exonerated; he is guilty, guilty, guilty!... now that we have recognized [the Nazis] for what they are, it must be the sole and first duty, the holiest duty of every German to destroy these beasts. (From Leaflet 2)
 * ...why do you allow these men who are in power to rob you step by step, openly and in secret, of one domain of your rights after another, until one day nothing, nothing at all will be left but a mechanised state system presided over by criminals and drunks? Is your spirit already so crushed by abuse that you forget it is your right - or rather, your moral duty - to eliminate this system? (From Leaflet 3)
 * ...every convinced opponent of National Socialism must ask himself how he can fight against the present "state" in the most effective way, how he can strike it the most telling blows. Through passive resistance, without a doubt. (From Leaflet 3)
 * We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace! (Leaflet 4's concluding phrase, which became the motto of the White Rose resistance.) "We will not be silent" has been put on T-shirts in many languages (among them Arabic, Spanish, French, Hebrew, and Persian) in protest against the U.S. war in Iraq. This shirt, in the English-Arabic version, led, in 2006, to the Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar's being prevented from boarding a Jet Blue airplane from New York to his home in San Francisco, until he changed his shirt.
 * Last words of Sophie Scholl: …your heads will fall as well. There is, however, some dispute over whether Sophie or Hans actually said this; other sources claim that Sophie's final words were God, you are my refuge into eternity. The film Sophie Scholl, The Last Days shows her last words as being The sun still shines (however, these are probably fictitious).
 * Last words of Hans Scholl: Es lebe die Freiheit! (Long live freedom!).
 * Now my death will be easy and joyful. These were the words of Christoph Probst after a Catholic priest conditionally (sub conditione) baptized him and had heard his first Confession.
 * Hitler and his regime must fall so that Germany may live. This is from an unpublished leaflet written by Christoph Probst.
 * When you have decided, act. Another quote from Christoph Probst's unpublished leaflet.
 * I always made it a point to carry several extra copies of the leaflets with me whenever I was walking through the city – specifically for that purpose. Whenever I saw an opportune moment, I took it. Another Sophie Scholl quote.
 * I knew what I took upon myself and I was prepared to lose my life by so doing. From the interrogation of Hans Scholl.