This woman lectures to 25 men and women of the Bundeswehr at a time. I thought she was fantastic. The previous group included a Belgian woman in her 50s or 60s who was quite upset with the docent’s not mentioning the connection between the American OSS, the D-Day landings, and the Attentat. The docent attempted to tell her that indeed she had mentioned the Americans, that it was also difficult to include everything. The Belgian barely let her get a word in edgewise. The docent seemed perhaps relieved when I engaged the Belgian in conversation. I found out she was outraged – she used that word – by a display near the Frauenkirche which talked about the bombing of Dresden. I tried to discuss the presence or absence of military targets with her, the use of the city to slow down the Soviet advance as well as the German movement, but she was someone who had The Truth and was no more open to hearing me than she had been interested in hearing the docent.
When the lecturer said Bendlerblock, Moscow, Majdanek, when a placard’s text mentions conspirators executed at Plötzensee these are no longer words from a textbook’s index for me. I’ve images. I walked the Majdanek hillside alone in the dark after closing. I know these places. This is what I wanted.
I can’t begin to contrast the difference between German discussion of war, imagery, memory, politics, here with the US equivalents. I find that internally I’m making such observations less and less.
Sixth White Rose leaflet, which Hans and Sophie Scholl distributed February 1943. Helmuth von Moltke got this to England, where it was printed and airdropped over Germany. Seeing an actual copy is quite moving.
Hans Scholl was born 101 years ago today.
Pershing IA
