Note their names
Fourth leaflet of the White Rose: "Do not forget even the little scoundrels of this regime. Note their names, so that no one escapes!"
The fourth Leaflet of the White Rose is probably my least favorite. Written by Hans Scholl alone, it’s a jumble of thoughts, with little or no structure to his words. Reading it for the 100th time, I remember thinking that they were exhausted, and that he genuinely needed Alexander Schmorell’s input and review of his texts.
This was also the leaflet that provided Traute Lafrenz with her Aha! moment. She had given Hans the quote from Ecclesiastes, and he’d used it - as she had hoped he would - only his text identified it as Proverbs. Almost eighty years later, she recalled reading that leaflet and thinking, No, it is Ecclesiastes! It bugged her that he couldn’t get something that simple correct.
The fourth leaflet also memorializes Hans Scholl’s über-religious bent, depending on whom he was trying to impress at the time. This leaflet was written and distributed shortly after Theodor Haecker’s very pious reading in mid-July 1942. Hans’ text reflects Haecker’s theology. It’s almost as if, for that moment, Hans Scholl wished for a theocracy after the war, something that most certainly did not resonate with most friends in the circle. And indeed, shortly thereafter, not with Hans Scholl himself.
And yet.
The fourth leaflet ends with strong words, words that we remember. Words that have been imprinted on countless t-shirts by well-meaning young adults who do not think about what they mean. Words that we do not think about nearly often enough.
The fourth leaflet goes to the very heart of my discontent with so much White Rose “history”-writing. It matters who gave orders on Kristallnacht. It matters who joined the NSDAP. It matters who looked the other way as Jewish neighbors were forced to sell worldly possessions for ten Pfennig on the Reichsmark. Gaps matter. Anonymous misdeeds matter. There is no inner emigration. People either supported the National Socialist cause, or they risked their lives by resisting.
Our denazification process after the war ignored the principles set forth in this leaflet. As one galling example: The first five directors of the Goethe Institut had all been high-ranking Nazis during the war. Through 1972 or so. Other German nonprofits dedicated to contemporary history, that is, Holocaust education, similarly retained men (I don’t think there were any women) who had sold their soul to Adolf Hitler, and postwar were permitted to reinvent themselves under denazification.
Same thing happened in Iraq. De-Baathification did not remove the horrors of the Baath regime. Power vacuum. Going back in time, many who had renounced their American citizenship and pledged allegiance to the Confederacy were allowed to return to power in 1865.
As you read the ending of the fourth leaflet, think about how things should be done differently. We clearly have not learned this lesson, but at the same time, “power vacuums” are to be feared and avoided if possible. What IS the best way to proceed in the wake of the Confederacy, National Socialism, Baath regime? And all the others that still exist to this day?
You don’t have to post your response here, but it may help others think out loud if you do. At minimum, talk about it with your friends: How should we balance fear of power vacuum with ridding a society of fascists?
I don’t have the answer. Do you?
We expressly state that the White Rose is not a hireling of a foreign power. Though we are aware that the might of National Socialism must be broken militarily, we seek to achieve a revival of the deeply wounded German spirit from within. However, this rebirth must be preceded by a clear confession of all the guilt the German nation has incurred and by a ruthless battle against Hitler and his too-numerous helpers’ helpers, Party members, Quislings, et al. The chasm between the better part of the nation and everything connected with National Socialism must be brutally forced open. There is no punishment on this earth that is adequate for the deeds of Hitler and his followers. Out of love for the generations to come, we must make an example [of them] after the conclusion of the war so that no one will ever have the slightest desire to attempt something similar. Do not forget even the little scoundrels of this regime. Note their names, so that no one escapes! After all these atrocities, they should not be able to change sides at the last minute and thereby pretend as though nothing had happened! [Emphasis mine.]
For your reassurance we will add that the addresses of the readers of the White Rose have not been documented in writing anywhere. The addresses were chosen at random from address books.
We will not keep silent. We are your guilty conscience. The White Rose will not let you alone!
Please duplicate and pass it on!
Identities of persons in the photo: Philip Bouhler, Karl Freiherr Michel von Tüßling, Robert Ley with his wife Inge; Munich, July 1939.
Bouhler is the guy on the left with the silver braids draped from his uniform. He was Reichsleiter and head of Hitler’s chancellery.
Tüßling is standing between Bouhler and Ley. Rank? SS-Hauptsturmführer. Also personal assistant to Bouhler.
Ley is the man in the white uniform. He had a 5-digit Party number, indicating one of the earliest adherents to National Socialism. His wife (purple suit) suicided three years after this picture was taken, following one of Ley’s drunken rants. Among the most corrupt of the NSDAP politicians, Ley quashed trade unions, replacing them with an NSDAP “equivalent” - from which he embezzled a fortune. His story is worth reading, if only to underscore how little we know about the main characters of the Third Reich who perpetrated so much evil, much less about the “little scoundrels” who enabled their crimes against humanity.
Translation © 2002-2003 Denise Elaine Heap. This post © 2024 Denise Elaine Heap. Please contact us for permission to quote. To pre-order digital version of White Rose History, Volume II, click here. Pre-publication price is $48; after that date, price will increase to $54.