Jürgen Wittenstein: A View from Within the White Rose

German Life May 31, 1997 - (Wittenstein was a member of the White Rose. He now lives in California)

What was it like to live under the Nazi government?People who have never lived under a totalitarian government have difficulty understanding how difficult it was - and how dangerous - to organize opposition to the government. The Nazis in particular were organized right down to the street level and people were encouraged to inform on their parents, relatives, and friends to the Gestapo; in short, anyone who manifested disagreement with the Nazis could be in serious trouble. Under the law of the Third Reich, over 5,000 people were executed for such trivial offenses as making jokes about Hitler or listening to radio broadcasts from Britain.

The Nazis tolerated no opposition and was bent on terrorizing everyone, including its own people. The Nazi government controlled everything: law, radio, newspapers. Communication was practically impossible because you never knew whether the person you were talking to was a spy. Once I was in a movie theater in Munich when someone made a remark about Hitler. Five minutes later he was arrested. He had already been denounced."

Because of danger, the White Rose members worked in complete secrecy. They kept their own families oblivious to their actions so as not to endanger them. The pamphlets were printed under cover of darkness in a basement. Even simply obtaining reams of paper or large quantities of stamps required extreme caution. How did the leaflets get from city to city? Was that dangerous?The White Rose delivered the leaflets from one city to another by train. This was dangerous because the trains were crawling with police and military police. Everyone had to have the correct papers with permission to travel. If you were a soldier in uniform, you had to have marching orders. If you were a civilian between (16-50) and couldn't prove that you had been deferred [your military service was postponed] you were taken away immediately....I was traveling with the driver's license of a cousin of mine whom I resembled and who had been deferred. So if they had checked, they would have thought that it was I who had been deferred."

How did Wittenstein survive, when the others were executed?Wittenstein himself was interrogated by the Gestapo, but since they failed to prove his involvement, he was let go. They left him in peace for a while, but then a friend warned him that they were on his trail once again. He figured his chances of survival were greater if he had himself transferred to the battle front, which was still beyond Gestapo jurisdiction. His instincts proved right. Luckily, he survived the war.

As he talks about these eventful days, Wittenstein still seems pained by the memory. The fear and horror remain all too real for him, even more than 50 years later.

„All we need is a teacher, who can tell stories & a library full of books..“ -Beniko Mason