Last week, I wrote about the inspiring bravery of Sophie Scholl, who resisted the Nazi regime in 1943. I wish she would have known how much her heroism, and that of her brother Hans, and the other members of the White Rose, still inspires 80 years later.
But I'm also grateful that she will never know that the dark days of fascism are still not over, 80 years after the Nazis beheaded her under a guillotine.
Simple solutions never worked in politics, and they never will. But they are increasingly becoming more popular. And that includes the popularity of a strong leader. It's noteworthy that the pattern is often that the rest of the world doesn't understand why that particular man (yes, it's nearly always a man) and his quick-fix solutions can be so popular.
For instance, Americans didn't pay enough attention to the rise of Hitler in the 1930s. It was hard to take him seriously, which wasn't helped by his resemblance to Charlie Chaplin, the brilliant lookalike actor born just five days before Hitler.
The Great Dictator
When the Second World War started, the charming tramp meme (long before we would call this a meme) of Chaplin had already been used by cartoonists in the US when referring to Hitler. So it made the next step logical: the production of the classic satire movie The Great Dictator in 1939/1940.
After the war, a former guard of Hitler said that the dictator had private screenings of Chaplin movies at home long after he had outlawed his films. So it's an intriguing thought that the great dictator may have privately watched The Great Dictator.
A TV documentary on the making of the film, The Tramp and the Dictator, claims that Chaplin arranged for the movie to be sent to Hitler, and an eyewitness has testified to having seen it. However, Hitler's architect and friend Albert Speer denied that the leader had ever seen it. And then there is another account that claims he saw the movie twice. Whatever the truth is, we will never know his response to the film.
The pattern of not being impressed abroad by great dictators that enjoy some popularity at home has never changed. Look around you in today's world, and there are ample examples.
Resisting against injustice
More importantly, there are still examples of people who stand up against injustice. These brave men and women are crucial because they serve as beacons of hope and inspiration for others to take action against oppression and injustice.
I admire them for their honesty, determination, and their bravery. So often, they risk their own safety, freedom, and even their lives to challenge systems of power and fight for justice. Their stories remind us of the power of individual activism and the importance of resisting unjust systems or advocating for marginalized communities.
That is why I wrote about Sophie Scholl. She is a rare but powerful example of a German who dared to speak out against the Nazi regime during World War II. Her bravery and commitment to standing up against oppression and injustice have inspired countless individuals worldwide.
Fighting a violent regime with just words is impressive because the weapons of choice are in such sharp contrast. Written words versus the book burners and pamphlets versus the regime's violence and its executions of dissidents.
The Reichstag set on fire: Marinus van der Lubbe
Today, 27 February, it is 90 years ago that the Reichstag was set on fire. The fire was exploited by the Nazi leadership to allege that Communists were organizing a violent rebellion. They called for urgent legislation that eliminated constitutional safeguards. The next day, the Reichstag Fire Decree was implemented, paving the path for the Nazi dictatorship.
Like the pamphlets of the White Rose nearly precisely ten years later, in 1943, the burning of the Reichstag led to another beheading by the Nazis and by the guillotine of a young activist. This time it was the Dutchman Marinus Van der Lubbe, who was guillotined in a Leipzig prison yard just three days before his 25th birthday.
They were both young, resisted the Nazis, were willing to take enormous personal risks to stop them, and both had their short lives ended in the same violent way.
Still, there is a risk in mentioning both of these young people in one article. While I have a high admiration for Sophie Scholl, the role of Marinus van der Lubbe is much less clear. Did he do it? Why? Did he act alone? Was he used by the Nazis? There is a lot of disagreement among historians. But in 2007, the Attorney General of Germany posthumously pardoned Van der Lubbe.
I have another reason than just the coincidence of the 80 and 90 years commemorations of these tragedies; I once met someone who had been at school with Marinus van der Lubbe. She was, like him (and like me many years later), also born in Leiden. When I spoke to her in my student days, she was a retired cleaning lady in her early seventies. So naturally, I hoped to hear more about him and asked her to tell me about him.
But the only line she ever said about him was "ach, het was maar een lulletje", which translates to something like: "oh, he was just a little prick."
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Notes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dictator
I think European leaders and the USA with Biden have learned their lessons. Today most of them are supporting Zelinsky and the people of Ukraine against not a powerful fascist dictator but rather a disturbed and violent psychopath. I watched a documentary about resistance work on the ground in Ukraine providing intelligence to Ukrainian armed forces by regular Ukrainian people, a taxi driver, a sales man and a bar tender, two men and a woman. In Iran women have started and are leading a brave revolution and resistance against the Iranian regime. Again violent psychopaths, using religion as an excuse, emboldened by traditional and biological weapons. That’s what psychopaths do, they love the word fascist, socialist and communist. It’s their only mean to hook people besides terror. During WWII fascists and nazists raped women who had parted with “communists”, and communists partisans raped women who had helped fascists. It sounds to me that both these violent groups have a desperate need for power, just like Russians raped women in Ukraine. Psychopaths’ behavior doesn’t change, their choice of weapon may as technology advances. They will always use politics and religion as an excuse. I think the sooner we stop addressing our issues as fascism and or communism or socialism, the sooner we are able to concentrate on what matters, freedom and our planet. But that’s just my opinion. I suspect Hitler loved the movie because psychopaths are usually narcissists, just like Putin and his obsession of recreating an empire.
😪
Thank you, Alex