The White Rose Memorial Lecture, which Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier held at the Ludwig Maximilian University this week, has a long tradition. The first lecture was held in 1945 by the Catholic religious philosopher and theologian Romano Guardini. His theme: “The scales of existence”.
In 1993, on the 50th anniversary of the execution of the Scholl siblings and their comrades-in-arms, the then Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker (CDU) spoke. This was the beginning of a tradition: every ten years since then, the incumbent Federal President has commemorated the fate of the White Rose members. Before Steinmeier, these were Joachim Gauck, non-party (January 30, 2013) and Johannes Rau, SPD (January 30, 2003). A comparison shows the different focal points of remembrance – and their embedding in contemporary history.
When Richard von Weizsäcker held the memorial lecture on February 15, 1993, representatives of the student body also took part in the celebration for the first time. Dirk Joussen, who spoke as a member of the Student Spokesperson’s Council, publicly criticized the performance of the former Wehrmacht officer Weizsäcker: “We would have preferred it if a Nazi victim had spoken and not a member of the perpetrator side.”
However, Joussen largely equated the conditions in the Federal Republic with those of the Nazi era. He accused the major parties of violating human rights by amending Article 16 of Asylum and called on Weizsäcker not to sign the amendment to the Basic Law. The Federal President only responded to the provocation with one comment: that he owed his presence to an invitation from the students.
Weizsäcker discussed the arson attacks on the houses of refugees
In his lecture, Weizsäcker brought the concept of freedom to the fore – with explanations that were also to be understood against the background of the successful unification of the two German states three years earlier: “But if freedom only serves private well-being, if it is only based on a market of goods and media, which under insufficient moral and social framework conditions favors the pursuit of advantage, if freedom remains a tolerance without sympathy, if it lets the fates of others happen indifferently, in short: if freedom does not lead to solidarity, then it will remain not viable in the long run.”
Weizsäcker referred to the chains of lights that formed after the arson attacks on the homes of refugees to send a signal against xenophobia – in Munich on December 6, 1992 with 400,000 people: “Chains of lights are not yet a political practice, but a necessary political one signs,” says Weizsäcker.
Ten years later, Johannes Rau chose a different approach. From the detailed description of how the assistant Jakob Schmid picked up Sophie and Hans Scholl in the main building of the LMU after the leaflets had been distributed and handed them over to the Gestapo liaison officer Ernst Haeffner with the house manager Albert Scheithammer, and how these key figures were dealt with after the end of the war, he derived thoughts on dealing with National Socialism in general: “Confrontation with the time of the ‘Third Reich’ in the Federal Republic also suffered from the fact that in many places in business and administration, in the judiciary and politics, the same decision-makers were quickly back in place as before 1945. They showed little inclination to deal critically with their own role in the Third Reich.”
Gauck began his speech with Sophie Scholl’s words before the People’s Court
In parts, Rau’s lecture sounded like an accusation: “We have been commemorating the ‘White Rose’ since 1945. But it was only in 1985, after long and agonizing discussions, that the German Bundestag determined that the People’s Court, which also sentenced the members of the ‘White Rose’ right from the start was an “instrument of terror to keep the Nazi regime in power”. It then took another thirteen years before the Bundestag finally declared all judgments of the People’s Court invalid from the start and overturned. That was on 19 August 1998, fifty-three years after the end of National Socialist tyranny. This correct decision was made many decades too late.”
Rau also addressed a finely formulated reproach to the LMU: “It is therefore correct that the University of Munich recently decided to have its history during the National Socialist era researched. Many would have wished for this much earlier – especially here at the university by Sophie and Hans Scholl.”
“Somebody has to start with it after all”: With the words that Sophie Scholl had said to Roland Freisler, the President of the so-called People’s Court, on February 22, 1943, the then Federal President Joachim Gauck began his speech in 2013, for which 5000 interested people wanted to register within one day, of which only 850 could be seated in the Audimax.
“We are particularly vigilant today,” Gauck explained, “who do not want to accept that Germany is a diverse country in which people of different origins and different beliefs have their natural home.” Its direct historical reference: the murders of the NSU.
Climate change is also part of Steinmeier’s speech
Gauck: “Even today, more than a year after the discovery of who is behind these brutal murders, the bewilderment remains – and many questions. Ask not only the authorities, but also the media, the public, maybe ourselves: Why did it seem so plausible to many to look for the perpetrators in the milieu of organized crime? How can the lost trust be restored – including trust in the institutions that are supposed to protect our constitution, our state? And finally, most importantly : How can we not only protect our constitution and our values, but above all the people?”
Frank-Walter Steinmeier also spoke again about the series of murders by the NSU during his lecture. In addition, about right-wing populists and identitarian extremists who are gaining ground, about hate and hate speech, about “local politicians, mayors, members of local councils” who are hostile, attacked, forced to give up, and some are even threatened with death. And he spoke at length about the “epoch break” that he sees for Germany with the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. “What we need is a democracy that can defend itself!” – that was one of the many exclamations he formulated.
Compared to its predecessors, it was a commemorative lecture that played strongly in the present and related the legacy of the White Rose to current political events in an unusually direct way, for example with its appeal to the students: “Commit yourself to ensuring that your children and grandchildren will find a planet worth living in! In order to stop climate change, our country needs you, your ideas, your drive, your creativity. It needs your willingness and your courage for a really far-reaching restructuring. It needs, no, we also need your impatience !”