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Authors A-B
 | Aicher, Otl. Innenseiten des Kriegs [Inside the War].
Frankfurt: S. Fischer Verlag GmbH, 1985. Be prepared to hate this
important little book. Aicher's unrelenting use of "bauhaus", with its
artificial affectation of lower case, is enough to drive a sane scholar crazy.
You rely on those capital letters to differentiate between nouns and verbs in
German. With Aicher, that crutch is gone. |
And he goes on and on ~ and on! ~ about the philosophical and theological
implications of every tiny event. He seems incapable of stating that the sky
is blue. That four-word declaration could require four chapters in Aicher's
world.
But be prepared to laugh and cry and suck in your breath if you can wade
past the external annoyances. Aicher tells some of the best tales about the
White Rose that have ever been recorded. His memories fill in the crucial gaps
regarding who took which side in the debates the friends often engaged in.
Best of all, Aicher does not sanitize the story for sensitive readers. What
was ugly then stays ugly now. He refuses to whitewash gaping character flaws,
even if found in people he held dear. For that alone, this book is worth a
serious read.
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Bald, Detlef.
Die Weisse Rose: Von der Front in den Widerstand [The White Rose: From the
Front to Resistance].
Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, 2003.
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Detlef Bald has two
things to say in this modest book. First, that the assignment on the Russian
front from July—October 1942 was
the deciding
factor in the decision to resist. And second, that he’s the only person who’s
ever made this momentous assertion.
Not only is his
premise wrong — nearly every person who has ever written about the White Rose
has talked about what a crucial time the Russian front was for White Rose
development — but his scholarship is faulty.
A shame, actually,
because he could have made a tremendous contribution to White Rose
scholarship. His background is in military history. He knows how to trace
troop movements, what strategies were being employed. Best of all, he is
completely at home in military archives. Simply put, he knew what to ask for
when tracking the arduous journey from Munich to the Russian front and back
again. (Continued)
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Shareen Blair Brysac. Resisting Hitler: Mildred Harnack and the Red
Orchestra. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
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If
Shareen Blair Brysac had tackled the topic of the White Rose in 2000, we would
not have had to write our White Rose histories. Her account of Mildred Fish
Harnack’s involvement in the so-called Red Orchestra resistance is detailed,
leaving few stones unturned.
She paints a
portrait of Mildred as she was, the person behind the philosophy. In stark
contrast to most White Rose “scholarship”, we see Mildred’s foibles, her feet of
clay. And not surprisingly, . . . (continued)
| Breinersdorfer, Fred, Ed. Sophie Scholl ~ Die letzten Tage (Das Buch
zum Film). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 2005. One
positive thing can be said for this book: Fred Breinersdorfer had the courage
to publish his uncensored screenplay. And his historical consultant Ulrich
Chaussy did a great job of researching "place" for the movie. |
But the kudos essentially stop there. (Continued)
| Brenner, Heinz A. Dagegen [Opposed].
Leutkirch, Germany: Rud. Roth & Cie. KG, 1992. This is a very small book,
only 116 pages long. But what pages! |
Brenner was classmate and friend to Hans Hirzel and Franz Josef Mueller.
Had he not been on active duty in 1942-43, he would have participated in the
resistance in Ulm. Because Heinz Brenner is the usually-unnamed hero behind
the "secret mail" that so intrigued Hans Scholl. Brenner concocted the scheme
to distribute the sermons of Bishop Galen on the subject of euthanasia.
This little book traces the origins of his scandalous ideas to their
implementation. (Contrary to usual White Rose legend, neither Hans Scholl nor
Franz Josef Mueller was involved in the Galen sermon caper.) What sets it
apart from the usual White Rose blather? Brenner provides copies of the actual
handwritten notes and scrapbook items that were exchanged between him and his
friends. I found myself repeatedly amazed at the audacity these teenagers
exhibited.
This would make an excellent discussion book for high school students and
undergraduates. (German only.)
Authors C-L
Authors M-R
Authors S-Z
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