COMMEMORATING THE SACRIFICE FOR FREEDOM

MALLANE DRESSEL
PRIDE STAFF WRITER

Feb. 22, marks the 68 anniversary of the execution of the White Rose resistance group’s founding members.

The group, comprised of German students and professors, came together in hopes of restoring the personal freedoms that Hitler’s regime smothered during World War II. Their non-violent resistance included distributing pamphlets they wrote advocating tolerance and justice. Holocaustresearchproject.org states that in 1943, the young White Rose members were swiftly tried and executed for treason under the Peoples Court in Berlin.

CSUSM remembers their commitment to liberty with a White Rose memorial on the north side of the Arts building. Since it was planted in 2003, the white rosebush encourages passersby to continue the White Rose legacy of solidarity. Students may water it from the bucket located at the base of the plaque.

One of the group’s only surviving members, Dr. George Wittenstein, selected a quote from the German philosopher Johan Gottlieb Fitche for the memorial’s plaque. It reads, “And you should act as though all things German depended solely upon you and upon your actions and as though the responsibility were yours and yours alone.”

Photos courtesy of Mallane Dressel