Two years ago, a young woman took the stage at a conspiracy rally in Hanover and introduced herself as “Jana from Kassel”. “I feel like Sophie Scholl because I’ve been active in the resistance for months, giving speeches, going to demos, handing out flyers and registering meetings since yesterday,” the 22-year-old called into the microphone and received applause for it. Their historically absurd comparison was later shared widely on social and traditional media – as was the reaction of a steward who was outraged by such “bullshit”.
Now that Jana from Kassel was the most famous, but by no means the only one who referred to the White Rose resistance group during the protests against the Corona measures. The scene also met several times for marches at the grave of honor of Christoph Probst and the Scholl siblings in the cemetery at Perlacher Forst, whereupon the municipal cemeteries launched the “Denkraum” project in spring 2021. Together with the White Rose Foundation, the cultural department, the NS documentation center and the vocational school for wood carving, “a place to linger and reflect” was to be created opposite the grave of honor. Now this “thinking space” has been completed and presented to the public.
“We wanted to intervene here,” said Heino Jahn, head of the municipal cemeteries, referring to the meetings of conspiracy supporters at the Scholl siblings’ grave of honor the winter before last. And because at that time a grave happened to be free across from the memorial site and the cemetery was able to buy the one next to it, the idea arose to build a thought space on this area. In order to collect suggestions for its design, a competition was launched in which the students of the master class of wood sculptors could apply. A total of nine designs were submitted, from which the concept by Fridolin Bär and Matthias Karré ultimately prevailed as the winner.
The concept came from Fridolin Bär (right) and Matthias Karré from the wood carving master class.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Your “Memorial” is intended to be a “place of reflection and information”. “But we also want to arouse curiosity and invite visitors to go inside,” said Fridolin Bär at the opening of the Denkraum. This consists of a U-shaped seating area made from old tombstones. A deepening in the middle allows a change of perspective, explained Matthias Karré, “so that one mentally goes to another level”. For further information about the student resistance group at the time of the Nazi dictatorship, there is a QR code on the stone steps that leads to the website of the White Rose Foundation. “This should also reflect what flyers could look like today,” said Matthias Karré. There is also a granite bowl in the center of the thought room, in which gifts or letters can be placed.
In fact, according to Heino Jahn, numerous school classes visit the grave of honor of Christoph Probst and the Scholl siblings. “And many students feel the need to put something down there – and stay there.” The new mental space now gives them the opportunity to do this. In addition, it should also serve as a reminder not to instrumentalize the name of the resistance group. “The members of the White Rose were used to work against democracy – and not for it,” said Mirjam Zadoff, head of the NS Documentation Center, about the multiple abuses of Sophie Scholl in particular by the protest movement. And the third mayor, Verena Dietl (SPD), emphasized: “The goals for which the White Rose fought, namely against war, against oppression and against violence, are more relevant today than ever.”