WHITE ROSE
“WHITE ROSE” AS A SYMBOL OF RESISTANCE
It is very difficult to defend human rights in countries with dictatorial regimes. Being inside a totalitarian system, people face repression, arrest, torture and threats to their lives. But sometimes it happens that someone does participate in acts of civil disobedience and protest against brutal regimes. As a rule, such people are symbols of courage and an example for followers in their country and others.
The anti-fascist resistance group “White Rose”, which operated in Germany in 1942-1943, became a moral guide for members of the anti-war project “Future” in Russia today. This happened not only because people from these two groups are united by their beliefs and desire to fight tyranny. The fact is that these people are very close in spirit; they are endowed with such human qualities as conscience, compassion, and a sense of justice. The texts of anti-fascist leaflets, written by students and teachers of the University of Munich more than 80 years ago, today again turned out to be relevant for Russian citizens. I am proud that my drawings are printed next to the texts of “White Rose”.
Rudy Krymsky, artist.
HISTORY OF “WHITE ROSE”
In the summer of 1942, residents of Munich found leaflets in their mailboxes, the authors of which called on Germans to resist Hitler's regime. Later, leaflets with the signature “White Rose” (Deutsch, WEIßE ROSE) began to appear in other cities in Germany and Austria. The underground resistance group "White Rose" was formed by students at the University of Munich. The core of the group consisted of five students who were from 21 to 25 years old: medical student Hans Scholl and his sister Sophie Scholl, a native of Orenburg Alexander Schmorell, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf and Kurt Huber, professor of philosophy and musicology. The name of the group was chosen based on the novel “White Rose” by the famous anti-war writer B. Traven. When the Nazis came to power, Traven's radical writings were considered so hostile that his entire work was thrown into the fire. However, his novels were widely read by members of youth groups in Germany.
The group initially wrote, printed and distributed its leaflets in Munich. Members of the resistance group were in other cities in Germany, where they also distributed anti-fascist leaflets. In total, White Rose prepared six leaflets, which were reproduced and distributed with a total circulation of about 15,000 copies. They exposed the crimes of the Nazis, condemned the persecution and mass murder of Jews, and called for resistance to Hitler's dictatorial regime.
On February 18, 1943, Sophie Scholl made the fatal mistake of throwing 80 leaflets from the stairs in the courtyard of the University of Munich during a lecture. A guard saw this and called the Gestapo. Her brother Hans had a draft of the seventh leaflet with him, which he did not have time to destroy. Soon all the main participants in the underground organization were arrested and sentenced to immediate death. Some of their accomplices in Munich and other cities were arrested and sentenced to imprisonment.
One of the surviving members of the White Rose, Jürgen Wittenstein, described what it was like for ordinary Germans to live in Nazi Germany: “The government - or rather the party - controlled everything: the media, weapons, police, armed forces, the judiciary, communications, travel, all levels of education from kindergarten to universities, all cultural and religious institutions. Political indoctrination began at a very early age and continued through the Hitler Youth with the ultimate goal of complete mind control. At school, children were encouraged to condemn even their parents for making derogatory remarks about Hitler or Nazi ideology.”
“WHITE ROSE” TEXTS FOR leaflets
We reproduce the texts of the first White Rose leaflets with some additions (changes). These changes are indicated in brackets and were made by members of the "Future" Project in order to adapt the texts for Russian citizens.
Text from the 1st White Rose leaflet (the test is the basis for the "Future" Project leaflet):
Isn't it true that every honest German (Russian) these days is ashamed of his government? Who among us has any idea of the extent of the shame that will befall us and our children when one day the scales fall from our eyes and the most terrible crimes - crimes infinitely beyond all human measures - are revealed to the light of day?
Text from the 2nd White Rose leaflet (the test is the basis for the "Future" Project leaflet):
Since the conquest of Poland (Ukraine), 300,000 Jews (Ukrainians) have been killed in this country in the most brutal manner... The German (Russian) people sleep in a dull, stupid sleep and encourage fascist criminals. Everyone wants to be free from guilt, everyone continues on their path with the calmest conscience. But this cannot be justified; you're guilty, guilty, guilty!
Text from the 3rd White Rose leaflet (the test is the basis for the "Future" Project leaflet):
Why do you allow these people in power, step by step, openly and secretly, to rob you of one area of your rights after another, until one day there is nothing, nothing at all left but a mechanized state system presided over by criminals and drunkards? Is your spirit already so broken by abuse that you forget that it is your right - or rather your moral duty - to destroy this system?
A copy of the last sixth leaflet was smuggled through Scandinavia to Great Britain. At the end of 1943, British bombers dropped hundreds of thousands of its copies over Germany, which were called “German Leaflet. Manifesto of Munich Students.”
The anti-fascist resistance group “WHITE ROSE” is the moral guide for the team of the Art Project “FUTURE”. The texts of their leaflets, calling to resist Hitler's totalitarian regime and expose his crimes, are still relevant in Russia today.