The White Rose

While I admit that I have skipped around to different chapters this reading, I have to say that “Enemies of the State” has been the most interesting of what we’ve read so far – information-wise.

First of all, the anti-Nazi nature of Berlin was demonstrated in full within its various resistance movements . From silently refusing  to use the “heil Hitler” greeting, to actual underground communist resistance groups, to Operation Valkyrie, it cannot be denied that Berlin was a hotbed of Nazi resistance that was not matched elsewhere in Germany. Moorhouse thoroughly proves this point.

Because the book only focuses on Berlin, however, we did not get to read about resistance groups outside of that city. While Moorhouse is correct to say that Berlin was clearly the most anti-Nazi out of all German cities, it was not the only place where resistance groups took root. Munich (or München), for example, was home to “The White Rose,” an anti-violence, intellectual Nazi resistance group. Most members were students that attended Munich University, and it seems to be one of the most revered and remembered anti-Nazi organizations in Germany. Here is an example from their first leaflet, which is shockingly accurate in predicting post-war attitudes toward the Third Reich:

“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?” [x]

The White Rose attempted to spread their anti-Nazi and anti-Hitler sentiments throughout Bavaria and southern Germany between 1942 and 1943, until the members were eventually discovered and executed. Their sixth leaflet (which concerned the German defeat at Stalingrad) was smuggled out of Germany and into the Britain by Helmuth James Graf von Moltke. Allied planes later dropped the final leaflet all over Germany. Today, Munich University honors the actions of The White Rose members with a small monument.