Not unlike other tyrant’s obsession with gaining property,
wealth and yes nations, President Trump seems bent on conquering other nations’
property, (oil) and lands. Wanting Venezuela’s oil, Greenland’s natural
security borders, Canada’s expansiveness is hardly acceptable reasons for
invading other lands. But with Venezuela it is beginning and may continue. That
wanting and obsession includes demanding extreme loyalty and obedience which
involves using what can only be called a private presidential army, ICE, to brutally
remove people from the streets of Democratic cities, sending even American
citizens to dreadful deportation camps.
Trying to face, before sleeping, all that is happening in
our country I thought of a group and a person I have written about before,
Sophie Scholl. She and her brother Hans were part of a small resistance group,
The White Rose, that began in Munich during the Hitler regime. It began with
those attending the university and although support for the group spread it
remained small. These young people, mostly in their twenties, wrote pamphlets,
sending them at first through the mail to mostly other students and professors,
also simply leaving them in various places where they would hopefully be seen
by others and read. Their biggest concern was that other citizens either did
not know what was happening because of Hitler or they did not care, ignoring
the suffering of so many. Of course, many lies were told by the regime and for
some it was easier to believe the lies than to face the truth.
Members of The White Rose purposed a kind of resistance called
passive resistance. I will write about this and what it was toward the end of
this posting; in most cases it would be sufficient for concerned Americans. The
pamphlets are all on line; six of them, I will link to them.[1]
They are interesting for those interested in using cultural understandings to
reach those who seem indifferent to the troubles and sufferings of a people.
Such German literary figures as Goethe and Novalis are quoted. And because the
group was Christian, mostly Catholic but also Lutheran has been mentioned, the
scriptures are quoted in their writings. For instance, “So I returned, and
considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the
tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of
their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Wherefore I
praised the dead which are already dead than the living which are yet alive.
Ecclesiastes 4”
One section of pamphlet 4 offers a Christian perspective on
the evil of their day, perhaps of ours:
“Every word
that comes from Hitler's mouth is a lie. When he says peace, he means war, and
when he blasphemously uses the name of the Almighty, he means the power of
evil, the fallen angel, Satan. His mouth is the foul-smelling maw of Hell, and
his might is at bottom accursed. True, we must conduct a struggle against the
National Socialist terrorist state with rational means; but whoever today still
doubts the reality, the existence of demonic powers, has failed by a wide
margin to understand the metaphysical background of this war. Behind the
concrete, the visible events, behind all objective, logical considerations, we
find the irrational element: The struggle against the demon, against the
servants of the Antichrist.
Everywhere
and at all times demons have been lurking in the dark, waiting for the moment
when man is weak; when of his own volition he leaves his place in the order of
Creation as founded for him by God in freedom; when he yields to the force of
evil, separates himself from the powers of a higher order; and after
voluntarily taking the first step, he is driven on to the next and the next at
a furiously accelerating rate. Everywhere and at all times of greatest trial
men have appeared, prophets and saints who cherished their freedom, who
preached the One God and who His help brought the people to a reversal of their
downward course. Man is free, to be sure, but without the true God he is defenseless
against the principle of evil. He is like rudderless ship, at the mercy of the
storm, an infant without his mother, a cloud dissolving into thin air.”
I believe
this fits well the evil of any age and any dictatorship.
And writing
of evil, after dumping from the balcony, a large number of pamphlets at the
Munich university they were purposely locked in and denounced by the janitor.
Three were arrested, tried and later guillotined, beheaded. Others were later arrested.
The
director of the movie, Sophie Scholl (2003) Marc Rothemund, wrote
this about Sophie:
“I admire
her courage. She turned down the ‘golden bridge’ offered to her by the interrogation
officer Robert Mohr—thus practically signing her own death sentence, I find
this approach to death quire startling; how does such a life-affirming,
positive-minded young woman like Sophie Scholl come to terms with the fact that
her life is being taken away from her? How does she find meaning in her death? And
of course, as an atheist, I ask myself: Is it easier to face death as a
believer?”
The White
Roses’ understanding of passive resistance is clearly meant for a nation
attacking other nations and committing genocide on peoples, particularly Jews, but
also imprisoning and killing Romas, LGBTs, and Christians who opposed the
regime. One suggestion is sabotaging weapon factories. That is not what I have
in mind as I write this. But the acts of writing and for our period filming and
posting acts of violence by ICE are important. This is certainly passive resistance.
The use of
whistles to warn others is excellent. The White Rose suggested also sabotaging
Nazi rallies, and refusing to give to charities that were going into government
coffers. In the book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim
Alberta he writes of attending a Reawaken American Tour which although it no
longer operates had for several years pulled in MAGA, QAnon and various other
strange speakers to promote Trump and many of the speakers still influence the
far right. Alberta, a reporter for the Atlantic and a Christian, who was
gathering information for his book challenged various Christians who were
promoting the horrific political positions pushed by the leaders of the Tour.
This is challenging the American First rallies. Challenging in fact the philosophical
and religious basis of Trump’s administration since most speakers were and are
friends and family of Trump. Other reporters and columnists have continued to
question and challenge the horrific actions of ICE toward both United States
citizens and permanent immigrants.
It should
be noted that although it seemed that the White Rose group did not arouse their
communities to more truthful opinions of what was happening, nor did their understanding
of passive resistance seem to win out, they did become known by the allies
fighting for freedom. One article, on The
World War II Museum site in New Orleans states:
“While their deaths were only barely mentioned in German
newspapers, they received attention abroad. In April, The New York
Times wrote about student opposition in Munich. In June 1943, Thomas
Mann, in a BBC broadcast aimed at Germans, spoke of the White Rose’s actions.
The text of the sixth leaflet was smuggled into the United Kingdom where they
were reprinted and dropped over Germany by Allied planes in July of the same
year.”
Three other actions of passive resistance I will add, prayer
for those being harassed and deported, caring for community, and speaking truth
in faithfulness.
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