Egyptian White Rose المصرية ارتفعت الأبيض
The story of White Rose resistance continues to inspire young people today. Ask Kareem Amer, who drew on their words for his informed dissent. In Egypt.
This post is from 2011. Updates in italics.
February 22, a 22-year-old college student stood before a corrupt judge. His crimes: Advocating the separation of “church” and state and installation of a secular government, and “defamation” of a dictator with blood on his hands.
His transgressions included public statements regarding lack of academic freedom, criticizing professors who “stand against anyone who thinks freely.” He nicknamed his university a University of Terrorism. University administrators retaliated by testifying that he endangered national security – leveling a charge of treason against him for his writings.
Perhaps his statement that these same professors would “end up in the dustbin of history” stirred them to action…
As the anything-but-impartial judge sentenced him to prison for sedition and insults of the dictator, the prosecutor applauded the harsh sentence. “If we leave the likes of him without punishment, it will be like a fire that consumes everything.”
While a few groups here and there protested on behalf of the student, the student’s own father mocked their efforts. He believed that his son should be given three days to repent, and if he refused to do so, he should be killed.
New information about Hans Scholl, Christoph Probst? No. This is the case of Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman كريم عامر, better known as Kareem Amer. He lives in Alexandria, Egypt. Law student.
His favorite movies include Titanic, Shakespeare in Love, and I Am Not Scared. His interests: Reading novels, writing poetry, traveling, and making friends. He likes Flickr, online dating (he is twentysomething, after all), and history.
The date may have been February 22, but the year was 2007.
Many journalists and pundits like to compare the recent events in Egypt to the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Wende. Maybe the domino effect that we are witnessing, as “revolution” spreads across the Middle East, looks a bit like the landscape in former East Germany, Hungary, Poland, then-Czechoslovakia, and even Romania.
But Egypt and its aftermath show us what could have happened had the voice of the White Rose not been silenced between February 22 and October 12, 1943. What could have transpired in Germany had millions of fellow citizens taken to the streets, protesting government actions that denied liberty and justice to the minority populations, demanding an end to mass murders and violations of basic human rights.
As “Egypt” is demonstrating, it would have been messy. Competing interests would have jeopardized the nascent democracy. In Egypt, it may be Copts, Muslim Brotherhood, secularists like Kareem, and the military duking it out for supremacy; in Germany, it would have been the National Socialists outside Hitler’s inner circle, the Communists, the democrats, the federalists, the SPD, and the military vying for power. Then as now, there would have been no guarantee that the revolution would have been successful.
The predicament facing Egyptian democrats underscores the debate that tore the White Rose apart: Which is more important? Toppling the despot and then worrying about what happens next, even if it means allying yourself with people whose politics you detest? Finding a smaller group of like-minded people and hoping against hope that your ideas will win out in the end?
Considering the comparison, I like to contemplate two what-ifs:
What if Alex, Hans, Sophie, Christl, Willi, and their friends had had access to the Internet? If they could have tweeted and blogged about the concentration camps? If their “300,000 Jews have been murdered!” could have been heard across Germany and around the world? If they could have sent out their leaflets (especially the last two) to a mass market instead of such a limited edition? What if?
And, what if the leaders of the Valkyrie or July 20, 1944 resistance had resembled George Washington and Thomas Jefferson? If they had thought not in terms of Germany’s potential military losses, but rather in terms of liberty and justice? If they had united the country behind a revolution based on right versus wrong, relying on idealists like White Rose, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Johannes Maassen, and Pater Delp to craft a constitution that would have fused diverse ideologies and infused an uprising with the integrity of ideas? Flawed men and women, yes, but with an eye to justice.
The first set of what-ifs shall always remain theoretical, a parlor game, the stuff of Stammtisch or Hillel meetings. We can see the difference technology makes in changing the world. Channeling Rod Serling to envision those same differences in Munich in 1942 and 1943 does not change history. It’s simply fun, a wistful glimpse at how a noble sacrifice could have been nobler still.
The second set of what-ifs? Far more consequential and relevant to events of our day. We cannot transform Stauffenberg, Beck, Goerdeler, Tresckow, and their co-conspirators into Washingtons and Jeffersons.
But we can hope for, and work for, election of wise leaders in Egypt – in the United States – who will cultivate divergent opinions and blend those voices into a harmonious government that reflects the true will of the people.
These are the things we should discuss with our peers, our friends, our students, our teachers, our children, our parents. These are the things that would have made a difference in February 1943 in Germany, in February 2007 in Egypt, in February 2011 and in August 2023 in these United States.
These are the things that matter. And they matter even more in 2023.
Postscript: We found out about Kareem and his blog quite by accident. Noticed one day that someone had downloaded every bit of material from our White Rose Web site, including artwork and graphics. Our primary graphic - the February 22, 1943 memorial “stone” - even served as primary graphic on that site.
Initially, we were annoyed by the “theft” of intellectual property – until we read Kareem’s story on his blog and realized his very real connection to the White Rose. Not only had he paraphrased their leaflets with his “dustbin of history” comment, but injustice was meted out to him on the anniversary of the first White Rose trial and executions.
Kareem survived, having been released from prison shortly before the protests erupted (I like to think there’s a connection!). But his courage cost him dearly. Reports of beatings while in prison, loss of the right to study at university, being disowned by his family: Doing the right thing has hardly been a path to riches and fame.
We wish him much success as he continues, in his own words, “to defend the rights of Muslim and Arabic women against all forms of discrimination and to stop violent crimes committed on a daily basis in these countries.”
Kareem, may you find other democrats who share your convictions, and who will join you in your goal of opening up a law firm dedicated to human rights.
And in 2023, may we all stand a little straighter, talk a bit more honestly, and do what we must to ensure that the defenseless are defended.
© 2011, 2023 Denise Heap. Please contact us for permission to quote.
White Rose has gone viral !