Wednesday, March 01, 2023

Discovering the Courage of the White Rose


                                                        Sophie and Hans Scholl Arrest Photos

Forgive me library, for I have sinned. Yesterday I rather sheepishly returned the overdue copy of Ian McEwan's latest novel, Lessons. McEwan is an exceptional writer and over the years I've enjoyed several of his books including Atonement, The Children's Act (both made into films) and Solar, a satirical story with climate change as an important theme.  Lessons takes us through the life of the central character, Roland, who is a clever, talented man who nonetheless gloms his way through each stage of his existence.

McEwan is in his mid-seventies now and still an insightful writer. Perhaps its a reality of advancing age that he does some glomming and musing of his own, travelling into eddies of the stream of his story with explorations and screeds on subjects such as religion and euthanasia. It seems that Roland may be Ian at times. 

One of the sub-plots is the discovery by Roland of the involvement of his aging German father-in-law in an anti-Nazi movement of World War 2 called White Rose. These were courageous young people, mostly students, who protested the Nazis by distributing leaflets and creating public graffiti which decried Hitler's destructive regime and calling for peace. As you might imagine, this resulted in arrests by the Gestapo, and then the trial of three of the organizers including a brother and sister, Hans and Sophie Scholl. The three were found guilty and executed, by guillotine, going to their deaths bravely. 

I had never heard of this White Rose movement but I was intrigued. When I did some digging I discovered that many of the participants had Christian convictions regarding peace and the evil of military aggression. As it happened, I was finishing the novel when I saw a tweet about the anniversary of the murder of these three idealistic young people on February 22, 1943 -- 80 years to the day. I've been a Christian of personal conviction since my teen years yet I can't imagine this level of courage in my faith at any stage of life. They deserve to be remembered and I'm grateful to Ian McEwan for including this vignette in Lessons. 

Here is an excerpt from a letter Sophie wrote to a friend two days before her arrest. Her innocent appreciation for the music, for creation, and her joy are so poignant.

 I've just been playing the Trout Quintet on the phonograph. Listening to the Andantino makes me want to be a trout myself. 

You can’t help rejoicing and laughing, however moved or sad at heart you feel, when you see the springtime clouds in the sky, the budding branches, stirred by the wind, in the bright young sunlight. I’m so much looking forward to the spring again.

In that piece of Schubert’s you can positively feel and smell the breezes and scents and hear the birds and the whole of creation shouting for joy. And when the piano repeats the theme like cool, clear, sparkling water – oh, it’s sheer enchantment.


                                                    White Rose Leaflet Memorial, Munich, Germany

 


 


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