Writer’s Choice

Film offers lessons in effective resistance

Smack in the middle of World War II, a group of German college students took it upon themselves to stop Hitler and reclaim their country.

Their plan of attack involved strategically distributing pamphlets, calling upon ordinary citizens to resist the Nazi regime.

The story “The White Rose” is well known in Europe, much less so here. White Rose members Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and others in the movement used hand-operated duplicating machines and mailed the tracts from various cities in southern Germany. They chose their recipients from the telephone directory.

In February 1943, Sophie and Hans climbed the marble staircase to the second floor of the main building on the University of Munich campus. They showered leaflets into its inner courtyard just as classes were changing.

Also in the building at that particular moment was Jakob Schmidt, a doorman and Nazi Party member. He called police, who quickly arrested the two Scholls. What happened next is the subject of “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days,” a new film by Marc Rothemund to be screened under the auspices of UW–Madison on Tuesday, Nov. 15.

Rothemund began his cinematic career by winning the Bavarian Film Prize for his first feature in 1998, “Love Scenes from Planet Earth.” His second film, “Just the Two of Us,” proved one of 1999’s most successful releases. “Duo — The Lover” won the VFF TV Movie Award in 2003.

Rothemund will be present for a roundtable discussion before the film. Joining him will be UW–Madison faculty Marc Silberman, German and film studies; Michael Bernard-Donals, English and Jewish studies; Myra Marx Ferree, sociology and women’s studies; and Simone Schweber, curriculum and instruction and Jewish studies.

Ferree says that although there have been times in American history when civil resistance was more widespread and applauded, that is not the case today. She says that “The White Rose” can show contemporary Americans how a state is able to frame questionable policy to the state’s advantage.

“Objections to policies like the torture of noncitizens in Abu Ghraib often are presented as being anti-soldier and anti-American,” she says. “They ask how you can be against a war in which your brothers and sisters are fighting. Reflecting on what some of the German college students in World War II were willing to risk can be very thought-provoking.”

When prevented from entering the courtroom where Sophie and Hans Scholl were being tried, their father, Robert, shouted, “One day they will go down in history!” And so they have. Today virtually every German knows their story. Memorials to them have been erected throughout Munich, and streets have been named for them in many German cities.

Panelist Simone Schweber, who has written a book on Holocaust education in American public schools, says that the story of “The White Rose” movement has an important message for young people today.

“It’s exceedingly important for college students — and younger students — to learn about the possibilities for resistance to unjust state policies and to recognize such possibilities as being within their rights and obligations as citizens,” she says.

Fellow panelist Marc Silberman agrees:

“If you think that the world can be changed, it is probably crucial for contemporary citizens to know about resistance movements to learn from them the most effective means of resisting whatever they feel oppresses them,” he says. “Some would claim that education itself is a form of resistance — I would hope that students and all audiences learn to ask some questions better, and better questions more frequently.”

“Sophie Scholl: The Final Days” will be shown at 7 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre, 216 State St. Director Rothemund will be present for questions after the screening. He also will take part in the panel discussion, “Civil Courage: Resistance Remembered” at 3 p.m. at the Pyle Center.

Both the screening and the discussion are free and open to the public, and no tickets are required. The UW–Madison Center for German and European Studies (CGES) is sponsoring the event. For information, contact the CGES at 265-8032, cges@intl-institute.wisc.edu.