The brave youth

[Lusekofte]

They wore their hair long because the Hitler Youth wore theirs short. They wore traditional German attire, refusing the dreaded brown shirts. They irritated the Nazis in countless small ways, pouring sugar into gas tanks and stealing bicycles. They simply weren’t buying what the National Socialists were selling; the vision of a totalitarian Utopia was not for them. They were German teens who stood against the greatest evil of the 20th century. They left school at age 14 to avoid mandatory participation in the Hitler Youth. At age 18, they would be forced into compulsory military service, but in those 3 years, they STOOD. They scribbled graffiti, protected Jews, delivered explosives to resisters. Who were these incredible kids? They gave themselves a name - the Edelweiss Pirates. Many would pay a price of course. At the least, their heads were shaved. At worst, they were beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and on the morning of November 10, 1944 in Cologne, six of the them we’re publicly hanged without trial. And remember, these were kids, the high school students of today. One can anticipate bravery among grown men and women, but this? Heroism is indeed found in the most unexpected places. I salute you.

[unlikely_spider]

It is easy for any of us, in retrospect, to say that we would have stood up to the Nazi regime. But in reality, when you're actually in the midst of your whole world seemingly turning in that dark direction, actually taking action that is opposite your entire social construct takes strength that is likely unimaginable for most of us today. Pure bravery.

[Duce_de_Zoop]

The last two years of the war are especially heartbreaking for how people, inspired by the successes in North Africa, Italy and Russia, rose up or began resisting Nazi rule and were ultimately killed for it. The Slovak National Uprising, White Rose, the July 20th plotters, so many cases of extreme bravery and selflessness that ended in brutal repression.

[Lusekofte]

It is so important to remember these young people.

 

She was 11 when the Nazis came to power, and like most German kids, she was enthralled with the youthful camaraderie they offered. She joined the BDM, the League of German Girls, and steadily advanced in its ranks. Her older brother, Hans, however, and several of her siblings were members of the White Rose, a non-Nazi youth group. Although initially allowed, such alternative groups were eventually banned in 1936, and her siblings were arrested for continuing their activities. Their arrests awakened in Sophie a recognition of injustice that in time would transform her into an intrepid anti-Nazi resistance fighter. By June of 1942, Germany was in its third year of war, and Sophie and Hans found themselves together at the University of Munich. Hans, a medical student, was already involved in the White Rose anti-Nazi movement, and as soon as Sophie discovered his secret, she insisted on joining him. Over the next 7 months they, and a handful of fellow students, would produce six widely distributed pamphlets of a heroic nature we can hardly imagine today… “Our current ‘state’ is the dictatorship of evil…I ask you, if you know that, then why don’t you act?” “The German name will remain forever tarnished unless finally the German youth stands up… Students! The German people look to us! The responsibility is ours…” Sophie, Hans, and Christoph Probst were caught distributing pamphlets and arrested on February 18, 1943. In the half-day trial that followed, Sophie made this statement. “I am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the best that I could do for my nation.” Sophie and her co-defendants were found guilty and beheaded by guillotine four days later. Their three friends, Willi Graf, Alexander Schmorell, and Kurt Huber were arrested days later and put to death. Sophie Scholl was 21 years old.

[Nocke]

Thanks for these posts.

Here is my personal hero, read that biography. 

Being imprisoned for general opposition to military and nazism, he volunteered out of prison for the eastern front, but only to switch sides as soon as possible and keep fighting against nazism, making it to hero of the soviet union, before the germans caught and killed him.

In my point of view the only morally acceptable answer to the situation - although I highly doubt I would have been able to do that.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Schmenkel

 

[Lusekofte]

I actually read that Germany had quite a huge resistance number. Much higher than commonly known. 

Not bad thinking of the effective segregation of other political parties and communities. 

Edited November 17, 2021 by LuseKofte