The story of the White Rose inevitably makes people with a military mindset very uncomfortable

The White Rose: A Lesson in Dissent

http://www.fff.org/freedom/0196a.asp

Now, it just so happens that of all the articles I have written for the past 17 years, “The White Rose” is my favorite. It details the efforts of Hans and Sophie Scholl, who were brother and sister, to oppose their own government - the Nazi government - in the midst of World War II. The essay was later reprinted in a book of readings for high school students on the Holocaust. While in Munich a few years ago, I cycled to the University of Munich, where the Scholl siblings were students when the Gestapo caught them, and visited the nice plaza containing brick inlays of the White Rose pamphlets and a museum in honor of the White Rose.

Last week I wrote about those Americans with a military mindset - that is, those who believe that patriotism is synonymous with unconditional support of the federal government at least with respect to war. The story of the White Rose inevitably makes people with a military mindset very uncomfortable. The next time you encounter such a person, ask him what his opinion is with respect to German patriotism during World War II. That is, ask him who, in his opinion, were the patriots - those Germans who dutifully supported their government in the midst of World War II or those who opposed their government, such as the Scholl siblings and their friends, and who argued that the war was immoral, and who even called on the German citizenry to rise up in the midst of war and overthrow their government.

The Scholl siblings and their friends were quickly tried by a German kangaroo court without even the semblance of due process of law and quickly executed for treason.

For more information about Hans and Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, see:

http://www.jlrweb.com/whiterose/index.html

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERschollS.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose

http://www.fff.org/blog/index.asp