“The symbol of eternal youth”
Whether lifted in prayer or lifted in supplication to one’s friends and neighbors, it is recognized as genuine pleading for wrongs to be made right, for everyone on the face of the globe to live free.
Yesterday, late in the evening, I spied a white rose. It is said that white flowers are for the dead – but death, love, and youth are all one and the same. (The dead, insofar as they really live inside of us, live transformed as the image of shining youth.) Therefore it is precisely the white rose with its fragrance and its fragile purity that is the symbol of eternal youth. I thought of that this very moment. I love to give people white flowers (and all Christians make the sign of the cross when they see one). I am sending a white rose petal to you with a kiss. F.
That was the message on the postcard Fritz Rook mailed to Lilo Ramdohr. A message seen by Alexander Schmorell and shared with the rest of the friends we now call the White Rose.
Our logo takes that imagery and combines it with the act of lifting one’s hands on behalf of liberty and justice for fellow human beings. Whether lifted in prayer, or lifted in supplication to one’s friends and neighbors, it is recognized as genuine pleading for wrongs to be made right, for everyone on the face of the globe to live free.
Weiss-Blau – white and blue – commemorates the joint heritage of Bavaria and Judaism. Blue-white celebrates two great societies that long lived in peace, until during twelve years of insanity, the German blue-white inflicted intolerable pain and misery on the Jewish blue-white, pain and misery that has not yet healed.
It is our earnest hope that one day, both Weiss-Blau communities can once again work together in full harmony on behalf of liberty and justice for all.
Center for White Rose Studies supports and recommends the work of the following organizations that also focus on German-Jewish reconciliation and atonement.
Aktion Sühnezeichen: Friedensdienste. Born in the mid-1950s out of weak Lutheran response to accepting responsibility for that denomination’s culpability in the Shoah, AS-F was established by Lutheran pastors who had signed the Bonhoeffer-Niemöller Confession, and who did not think the Lutheran “apology” postwar was strong enough. Although the name of this organization is usually rendered Operation Reconciliation: Service for Peace, “Sühnezeichen” means sign of atonement, stronger than reconciliation. Same word as t’shuvah.
Dola Ben-Yehuda Wittmann, daughter of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, author of the first modern Hebrew dictionary, was active with the Israeli branch of AS-F. Her German-Catholic husband Max Wittmann carried on his father-in-law’s work in Israel after Eliezer’s death.
Center for the Study of Law and Genocide (Loyola Law School, Los Angeles). CSLG (from their Web site) “focus[es] on remedies and victims of genocide and mass atrocities. It couples intellectual research and practical advocacy with the aim of helping victims achieve justice.” Stan Goldman is Director, and this has become his passion.
Mark Schonwetter Holocaust Education Foundation. This organization, founded by Holocaust survivors and their children, funds educational grants to provide learning materials and books, supports field trips and programming, and brings Holocaust survivor speakers into schools and classrooms nationwide.
Stiftung Zurückgeben. A German organization, founded by women who inherited stolen Jewish art from their parents. When they could not locate the rightful owners, they endowed a foundation to support Jewish female entrepreneurs – in Germany.
Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts). Not only does Clark support a well-rounded interdisciplinary program, but they also involve students in their work. We always run into “Clark” people at conferences and seminars, and they steadfastly impress us with the seriousness of their scholarship. Theyre also transparent in the way they handle their finances - a big plus for us.
Verlag der Jugendbewegung. Primary focus of this group: Documenting bündische life in Germany, both before and after Hitler. Included here because they write about Jewish-bündische youth groups, recognizing the normalcy of such clubs among Jewish-Germans.
If you know of other groups that should be included on our Work We Follow page, please contact me!
© 2012, 2024 Denise Elaine Heap. Please contact us for permission to quote. To order digital version of White Rose History, Volume II, click here. Digital version of White Rose History, Volume I is available here.
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