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

The White Rose: A Lesson in Dissent

Hans and Sophie Scholl were German teenagers in the 1930s. Like other young Germans, they enthusiastically joined the Hitler Youth. They believed that Adolf Hitler was leading Germany and the German people back to greatness.

Their parents were not so enthusiastic. Their father—Robert Scholl—told his children that Hitler and the Nazis were leading Germany down a road of destruction. Later—in 1942—he would serve time in a Nazi prison for telling his secretary: "The war! It is already lost. This Hitler is God’s scourge on mankind, and if the war doesn’t end soon the Russians will be sitting in Berlin."

Gradually, Hans and Sophie began realizing that their father was right. They concluded that, in the name of freedom and the greater good of the German nation, Hitler and the Nazis were enslaving and destroying the German people.

They also knew that open dissent was impossible in Nazi Germany, especially after the start of World War II. Most Germans took the traditional position-that once war breaks out, it is the duty of the citizen to support the troops by supporting the government.

More:

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

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

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Hornberger’s Commentary
Last year noted libertarian author Anthony Gregory wrote an article entitled "A Libertarian in Berkeley" in which he mentioned that an article I wrote entitled “The White Rose: A Lesson in Dissent” is posted on the walls of an eating establishment at Berkeley named Top Dog.

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.

Well, now another Top Dog patron has sent me photos of the walls at Top Dog where my article, along with lots of other good libertarian stuff including an article by Sheldon Richman, is posted. Hot dog!

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