Reference no: EM133246458

The First Pamphlet

Nothing is so unworthy of a civilized nation as allowing itself to be "governed" without opposition by an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base instinct. It is certain that today every honest German is ashamed of his government. Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil has fallen from our eyes and the most horrible of crimes - crimes that infinitely outdistance every human measure - reach the light of day?

If the German people are already so corrupted and spiritually crushed that they do not raise a hand, frivolously trusting in a questionable faith in lawful order in history; if they surrender man's highest principle, that which raises him above all other God's creatures, his free will; if they abandon the will to take decisive action and turn the wheel of history and thus subject it to their own rational decision; if they are so devoid of all individuality, have already gone so far along the road toward turning into a spiritless and cowardly mass - then, yes, they deserve their downfall.

Goethe speaks of the Germans as a tragic people, like the Jews and the Greeks, but today it would appear rather that they are a spineless, will-less herd of hangers-on, who now - the marrow sucked out of their bones, robbed of their center of stability - are waiting to be hounded to their destruction. So it seems - but it is not so. Rather, by means of a gradual, treacherous, systematic abuse, the system has put every man into a spiritual prison. Only now, finding himself lying in fetters, has he become aware of his fate.

Only a few recognized the threat of ruin, and the reward for their heroic warning was death. We will have more to say about the fate of these persons. If everyone waits until the other man makes a start, the messengers of avenging Nemesis will come steadily closer; then even the last victim will have been cast senselessly into the maw of the insatiable demon.

Therefore every individual, conscious of his responsibility as a member of Christian and Western civilization, must defend himself against the scourges of mankind, against fascism and any similar system of totalitarianism. Offer passive resistance - resistance - wherever you may be, forestall the spread of this atheistic war machine before it is too late, before the last cities, like Cologne, have been reduced to rubble, and before the nation's last young man has given his blood on some battlefield for the hubris of a sub-human. Do not forget that every people deserves the regime it is willing to endure.

White Rose Reading Activity

After reading the passage, answer questions.

Question 1. Write the main point or topic for each of the first three paragraphs.

Question 2. What specific words and/or symbols are used to impart meaning? Include at least two per paragraph.

Question 3. Choose one quote from each paragraph that represents the importance of the main point.

Question 4. Choose one quote to integrate into a sentence as a group.

Question 5. How does the historical context align with what is stated?

Question 6. What is the speaker's purpose for including that quote?

Question 7. In what "place," literal and/or figurative, are the authors living that gives them motivation.

Question 8. What tone do the perspective and purpose create?

Question 9. What "identity" does the beginning of the leaflet demonstrate about the authors?

Question 10. According to the authors of the White Rose Pamphlets, what were Germans xperiencing under the Nazi regime?

Question 11. What goal are the authors of the White Rose aiming to accomplish?

Question 12. In paragraph 3, the German author Goethe is quoted. As Goethe is the equivalent of Shakespeare to Germany, what is important about using him as an allusion in this piece of writing?

Question 13. After reading the whole leaflet, does the "identity" of the authors change or develop? Or is it the same as your answer to number 8?