The Last White Rose Falls

March 9, 2023 5:31 PM

The last surviving member of the White Rose resistance movement, which urged Germans to stand up against Nazi tyranny during the second world war, has died, according to the group’s historical foundation.

Traute Lafrenz Page's eventful life ended March 6, 2023. Traute was mother to four children, grandmother to seven and great-grandmother to five. She was a physician; an opponent and prisoner of the Nazi regime; and an anthroposophist who lived and worked with the conviction that humanity has spiritual origins and goals.

posted by Etrigan (36 comments total)

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posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 5:38 PM on March 9, 2023

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posted by gc at 5:47 PM on March 9, 2023

"Somebody, after all, had to make a start." Sophie Scholl
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posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 6:23 PM on March 9, 2023 [3 favorites]

The White Rose: A Stand Against Nazi Germany (YouTube, 10 minutes)
posted by Brian B. at 6:36 PM on March 9, 2023 [2 favorites]

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posted by bryon at 6:36 PM on March 9, 2023

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posted by May Kasahara at 6:52 PM on March 9, 2023

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posted by scruss at 7:05 PM on March 9, 2023

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posted by detachd at 8:01 PM on March 9, 2023

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posted by gkr at 9:04 PM on March 9, 2023

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posted by kitten kaboodle at 9:48 PM on March 9, 2023

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posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:03 PM on March 9, 2023

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posted by riverlife at 12:55 AM on March 10, 2023

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posted by foleypt at 1:13 AM on March 10, 2023

Z"L
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posted by BlueNorther at 3:52 AM on March 10, 2023

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posted by Silvery Fish at 4:10 AM on March 10, 2023

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posted by eclectist at 5:03 AM on March 10, 2023

Subnormality ("a webcomic with too many words") has one about Sophie Scholl and the White Rose which, of all people, includes Traudl Junge, Hitler's personal secretary: The Line

Traudl Junge:

"I must have walked past the commemorative plaque to Sophie Scholl in Franz-Joseph Strauss without noticing it. One day I did, and I was terribly shocked to realize she was executed in 1943, just when I was beginning my job with Hitler. Sophie Scholl had originally been a BDM member herself, a year younger than me, and she saw clearly that she was dealing with a criminal regime. All of a sudden, I had no excuse anymore. It was no excuse to be young. It would have been possible to find things out."

posted by AlSweigart at 5:53 AM on March 10, 2023 [6 favorites]

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posted by ceejaytee at 5:55 AM on March 10, 2023

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posted by dr_dank at 5:57 AM on March 10, 2023

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As a young teenager, when I first heard of the White Rose movement, I suddenly had some historic heros that I preferred over 'comic-book-anything', this is sad - we need this again - now.
posted by rozcakj at 5:58 AM on March 10, 2023 [2 favorites]

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posted by adekllny at 6:13 AM on March 10, 2023

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The courage to stand up to such a regime is hard to imagine.
posted by tommasz at 6:44 AM on March 10, 2023

It's a shame that, in New York City, at least, an antivax group that co-opted the White Rose name put up stickers everywhere during the pandemic.
posted by AJaffe at 8:50 AM on March 10, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ian McEwan created a fictional character who was peripherally associated with the White Rose in his latest novel "Lessons", and that's where I first learned about this group.

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posted by of strange foe at 8:53 AM on March 10, 2023

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posted by Mutant Lobsters from Riverhead at 2:25 PM on March 10, 2023

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posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 4:41 PM on March 10, 2023

It's a shame that, in New York City, at least, an antivax group that co-opted the White Rose name put up stickers everywhere during the pandemic.

Mr Epigrams and I have the domain whiterose dot org. I lived in Yorkshire as a teenager and I love medieval history, so it was kind of a natural fit when we were looking for a domain name in 1998 or so. Sometime in the first few years we had the domain, we were approached by a group wanting to purchase it. They gave us a whole spiel about their group, which was named after the White Rose anti-Nazi group in Germany.

They were an anti-abortion group.

Mr Epigrams and I were still at that time doing clinic defense at Planned Parenthood. We told them to fuck right off.

So nicking the name of the White Rose to dishonor it for shitty political purposes is not a new thing, is what I'm saying.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 9:33 PM on March 10, 2023 [6 favorites]

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posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 2:54 PM on March 12, 2023