Widerstand - Protest Artifact

Julian Aronfeld

Artifact Analysis

            The protest that surrounds Widerstand seems like a very important and timeless display of German resistance. This becomes even more obvious when one looks at the artifacts of protest from the movement itself, and how those artifacts shaped the protest’s goals and identity. There were multiple origins of resistance because there were multiple identities tied to the protest itself, but the most impactful part of the resistance was literature, since military resistance “proved almost useless” (Brysac). Among the most important literature that surrounded the resistance are the White Rose Society’s pamphlets and the Tarnschriften (hidden message) advertisements pamphlets that were in circulation in Germany. Though they both align with the same goals, their functions and overall purposes proved to be very different.

            The White Rose Society was founded by two Communist siblings, Hans and Sophie Scholl, in the Ludwig Maximillian University. Among its ranks were Christians and Jews alike, all Communists who disliked Hitler’s fascist regime and wanted to bring justice to the German people. They began the Society for the express purpose of “gathering intel… distributing dissent” about Hitler and the Third Reich (Brothers). The society became a huge catalyst for swaying German opinion about Hitler when they began the distribution of flyers. The White Rose Flyers were distributed in a way similar to the Federalist Papers of colonial America. They “discreetly handed out flyers, labeled with a White Rose”, each issue containing a new perspective on Hitler’s regime and the German people’s identity (Brysac).

            The leaflets are filled with arguments for the preservation of the German identity, as well as the call to dissent Hitler. The first flyer is a public shaming of Germans, as it refers to the Germans under Hitler as “spineless… shameful… corrupted and spiritually crushed” (WRS #1)[i]. These words were not just meant to hurt the feelings of the Germans who read it for the sake of hurting their feelings. It is meant to compare the Germans of that generation to those of previous, and shame Germans for being sheep “blindly following their seducers into ruin” (WRS LoR)[ii]. Its purpose is to insult the identity of a few Germans in order to preserve the identity of all Germans. White Rose Society argues that Germany has become “a civilized nation allowing itself to be governed without opposition by an irresponsible clique” (WRS #1). The leaflets don’t directly mention or articulate for a Communist identity, as the German identity is the one targeted in their arguments. This is most likely because it will reach a wider range of people, as well as reflecting the goals of the Society, which is to introduce opposing opinion to Hitler for the sake of the German people.

            The White Rose Society leaflets are primarily meant to preserve the German identity and dissent Hitler, but the arguments present in their literature shows a secondary goal; a call to arms. The leaflets distributed by White Rose are artifacts of protest, simply because of this goal. They hope to bring about change in Germany by calling German people to the resistance. This goal reflects the protest as a whole, and articulates the identity of all Germans who want to change Germany, not just the general prideful German identity. The pamphlets literally “Call to all Germans” in order to bring about the necessary permanent change (WRS LoR). This change is meant to be permanent, which is evident by the leaflet’s mention of future generations of Germans and their fates. German’s probably don’t “want [them] and [their] children to suffer the same fate as the Jews”, which is exactly what this leaflet argues will happen if they don’t stand up and make a change (WRS LoR). They make the argument that if Germans don’t listen and let Hitler’s regime go either forgotten, or even worse, accepted, then history is doomed to repeat itself with the German people. This is a very impactful argument, as it highlights the importance of heeding the Society’s warnings, with the consequences befalling not the German people or even the Jews, but their children and all generations to follow.

            Similar to the White Rose Society’s leaflets, yet differing in goals and purpose, were the Tarnschriften[iii]pamphlets that were produced and distributed by the Red Orchestra Communist resistance group. These leaflets were formatted a bit differently the White Rose Society’s, and were arguably more effective. These pamphlets were Nazi intel and resistance jargon disguised as advertisements for products. The advertisements were often circulated in larger, more central cities, where obvious anti-Nazi propaganda would be easily spotted. This needed to be a quick and easy way to distribute dissent; which it was, as the Red Orchestra “cornered the market on…Nazi resistance literature” (Brysac). Most ads began with a general statement about the Nazi’s brutality and evil methods. They would then go on to explain the general statement, and follow it up with some kind of way the people could resist.

These pamphlets reflect an identity for the resistance; the identity of the underground resistance, which is distinguishable from the White Rose’s German preservation. By hiding anti-Nazi propaganda within disguised advertisements, the Red Orchestra was doing something more than the White Rose. They were being overtly deceptive. These ads were designed to be distributed right under the Nazi’s noses, rather than in complete secrecy. This deception was an underlying method for these particular pieces of propaganda. It allowed for a much wider range of audience.

The hidden advertisements also had a differing purpose from White Rose. The Tarnschriften was a vessel for intel and Nazi smear campaign. While White Rose pamphlets were persuasive, Tarnschriften was more descriptive, based more on information than argument. Rather than trying to convince Germans to “disassociate [themselves] with Nazis”, the point here was to inform, like when “Hitlerreglerung in den tagen von 27. bis 30. oktober de jahres aber zehntausend juden polnischer staatsangehorigkeit, darunter viele, die selt jahrzehnten in deutschland ansassig warren, verhaftet”[iv] (WRS #2; Tarnschraften)[v]. It was this kind of message that the producers of Tarnshcraften were trying to get to the German people in order to create a crack in the hierarchy. One big part of Hitler’s regime was the totalitarian attitude, where expressed dissent was punishable by death; even influential Germans. With this method of resistance, “even German actors and writers had access” to particular information about the very Nazi regime that was helping them stay famous (Brysac). The more influential the person, the more potential they had for helping turn the public opinion around. It was persuasive by proxy; not persuasive writing in itself, but had the persuasive effect on people.

The Widerstand literature was a strong indicator of the resistance’s goals. They included different types of resistance with differing purposes, all with the express goal of turning the public’s opinions around. They each represent an important identity for protesters from Nazi Germany, whether they sought to protect German identity or introduced a new one into the resistance. Whatever the case is, White Rose and Red Orchestra are staples in German protest literature, because they represent possibly the most important and memorable protest Germany has ever had.

           

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[i] WRS is the White Rose Society, the # indicates which flyer is being referred to.

[ii] LoR – Leaflet of Resistance; not numbered but titled.

[iii] Tarnschriften – German word, roughly meaning “Hidden Message”

[iv] The pamphlet is in German; a rough translation of this is “Hitler’s regime, on the days between October 27-30, this year (1941), arrested and prosecuted tens of thousands of Jews of Polish nationality under the public’s nose”

[v] This example of Tarcnschraften was disguised as Excentric Shampoo, and is a perfect example of distributed Nazi intel.