Opinion: History and current events highlight the need to fight for democracy

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Last week, I had the shocking experience of seeing the White Rose exhibition at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich for the second time in the last 10 years. The White Rose was a group of Munich university students whose members wrote a series of six leaflets in 1942 and 1943 criticizing the Nazi regime and calling for freedom of expression and justice for all people, especially minorities. They also painted anti-Nazi graffiti in public places. The flyer spread far beyond the university and the city of Munich. Group and some of his comrades carried leaflets to other cities, where they were copied and distributed, and one of his copies ended up in the hands of the Allied forces, where they were printed for mass distribution and sent to Allied air forces throughout Germany. Posted by. The “Munich Student Declaration” was signed.

The core group consisted of five students and one university professor. They were supported by a large group of employees. All core group members and others were discovered by Nazi authorities, and many of them and their families were killed or imprisoned until their release. Three members of the core group, including the only woman, Sophie Scholl, were beheaded by guillotine days after their arrest and subsequent show trial. During her trial, Ms. Scholl is said to have told her judge, “Today you hang us, but tomorrow you will all be hanged.” The story of this group is reasonably well known, having been told twice in a feature film and once in a short film. Documentary; There are two biographies of Sophie Scholl. Traute Lafrenze, the last survivor of the larger group, died just a year ago.

The Munich exhibit is located in one of the university’s lecture buildings. In the atrium of the building there are statues honoring members of the group, as well as a commemorative plaque on which he distributed one of the organs and flyers, as well as a monument at the entrance of the building. The exhibit focuses on the group’s claims for freedom and justice, as well as the biographies of the group’s members, their associates, and their families. The four members of the group, all medical students, were drafted into the German youth division and learned about mass murder and persecution while serving on the Eastern Front. This convinced them that something had to be done to expose and defeat the Nazis’ corruption of human values.

I visited this display of white roses just as monuments to Alexei Navalny were being erected across Germany, and hundreds of people, mostly young people, were being arrested in Russia for laying flowers at makeshift memorials. It was tragically poignant to have to watch, and all of this was exactly what Donald Trump had declared. Provocateur Alexander Smirnov, who claimed Russia “should do whatever they want” and fabricated stories about President Joe Biden and his son, was recently revealed to have ties to Russian intelligence. became. The same evil befell those brave enough to challenge other dictatorships, such as the Nazis and Pinochet’s Argentina, and is now being unleashed on those brave enough to call out Vladimir Putin. Those who know the truth but remain silent reveal a serious lack of courage among those who protest in the name of justice. During Sophie Scholl’s trial, she also said, “What we write and say is also believed by many other people. They don’t have the courage to express themselves unlike us.” That’s all.”

It is illogical at best to imagine that those who support or orchestrate the current assault on democracy will be immune from the punitive powers of an anti-democratic leadership if they win. And at worst, it’s stupidly simple. History has shown that their rule is arbitrary and capricious, and those who benefit from them today are subject to their wrath and abuse for crimes, real or fabricated. It’s just as likely. The casualties are clear. As Barbara Hood recently wrote on this page, “The Revenge Tour will find everyone.” Freedom of expression and the mobility of protests are the antithesis of arbitrary authoritarianism and are therefore a thorn in the side of its leaders.

The White Rose leaflet was first addressed to fellow students at the university, but also to all Germans. “We have grown up in conditions where all free expression of opinion has been brutally suppressed,” they write in Pamphlet 6. The Nazi organization “sought to paralyze us in the richest period of our education.” But we will fight against this. “What we value is true science and true intellectual freedom.” It’s about fighting for honor.” No matter where we are, if there are words that fit the fight to save our country’s democracy right now, it’s definitely these.

stephen haycox Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

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