Alexander Schmorell's The White Rose

In the short story “the White Heron” (1886), Sarah Jewett portrays a young little girl, Sylvia, bear the temptation of money and affection from the young man with mental struggle, and resolutely determined to protect the fairy of nature – a white heron. Through describing Sylvia’s authentic emotions and using of vivid theme colors and exquisite word choice, Jewett delivers the story like showing a lifelike 19-century country-life drama in front of the readers.

“Keep Memory Alive” is an award acceptance speech delivered by Elie Wiesel. The speaker recalled the events and personal experiences during the unfortunate and penetrating event known as the Holocaust. Wiesel gave an example of a little young boy asking his father: “Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?” (Wiesel, 544). That young boy turns out to be Wiesel. Wiesel proceeds to emphasize his belief that everyone should remember the significant events in history and learn to speak up when necessary. Therefore, it is important to commemorate history in order to prevent society from becoming ignorant and often times, repeating identical mistakes as our ancestors did.

The world is cruel and harsh; what does it take to prove that you and your experiences are capable of persuasion. In this world, you’d want as many allies as possible, and building emotional bridges with others is a definite way of proving that you matter to others. It’s a matter of philosophy; human nature emphasizes on individual existence; therefore rhetoric is effective to measure one’s importance. Elie Wiesel, a man of age, is a jewish holocaust survivor who has a story to tell and a story to be heard. Does the man have what it takes to prove himself worthy of a rhetoric leader? Elie Wiesel’s speech, The Perils of Indifference, Mr. Wiesel takes advantage of rhetorical questions and the appeals of pathos and logos to persuade and inform the audience about their inner indifference towards the havoc happening around the world.

Within Germany, a country torn between the rise of a totalitarian party that determined a superior race, Nazism, and the survival of the oppressed, young Germans face a test between a sense of self and society. Individuality would be suppressed within this new type of society, and being different would be the deadliest obstruction to life. The violations of the rights to life, religion, and speech are relived through the stories of the German youth that lived through this haunting time, whose name would be tarnished in their struggle to survive. In their fight, their morals would be challenged and influenced until the Nazi regime ended, and the violation of human dignity would leave them wondering if life was worth living after all. The Nazi Party grew under its leader, Adolf Hitler, which struggled not to use violence against those that disagreed with their views, starting with armed groups known as the Strum Abteilung, who pledged to be ready to sacrifice their life in the aims of the Nazi Party and absolute loyalty to their leader. Their cruel intolerance began by their strong nationalism and their hatred of democracy and communism, and they gained power through the economic depressions around the world, controlling the media by instilling fear and propaganda that influenced a strong belief in their leaders. This belief in the leaders would soon seem to override Church influence when the official body of the Church failed to do anything significant

The White Rose was an organization in World War II that did not have the luxury of speaking out in public against the Third Reich. People who even spoke one bad word had some sort of punishment. These acts of treason could lead to death. This is what happened to some of the members of the White Rose (pg

As the citizens of Germany endorsed Hitler’s new cutting-edge ideas, they gained enthusiasm and determination to regain their power. Germany came to the conclusion that war was the only solution to their problem when Hitler wrote, “No nation can remove this hand from its throat except by the sword” (Document A). These words reveal that Hitler’s thoughts and opinions affected those around him. By saying this, he suggested that he understood what Germany wanted and knew that they wouldn’t get it unless they followed his methods. People who read what Hitler wrote were hugely impacted by it, so much so that they began to think with their emotions instead of their heads.

People are motivated to make a difference when they believe a change must be made and each person has their own motivation to make a change. They realize that they no longer like what is happening in the world, or even in their life, and they decide it must be changed. In A Noble Treason by Richard Hanser, Hans Scholl wants to make a difference and go up against Hitler by writing leaflets under the alias White Rose. Hans Scholl grew up in a family where his parents let him make his own choices and let him believe in whatever he wanted. They never pressured him into their choices and own beliefs. His father did not support Hitler and his beliefs, even though at the time, in Hans Scholl’s life Hitler was an incredibly prominent hero. Hans Scholl joined the Hitler Youth and fought for everything he believed was right. Hans soon realized he and Hitler did not see eye to eye on many things. Hans valued his individuality and Hitler took it from him. Hitler took away all creativity he personally found ugly and forced upon everyone what he thought was beauty. The leaflets Hans Scholl had written was his way of making a difference by bringing forward what the people of Germany may not have noticed was the reality of Hitler's actions. Hans Scholl’s motivation to make a difference was the fact that Hitler put limitations on everything, the more Hans Scholl wanted to learn, the more he was unable to do so, and this caused him to feel that he no longer had his freedom to be an individual.

Throughout these acts of indifference, there are acts of resistance trying to end indifference for the greater good. In between WWI and WWII, “many were beaten and killed for speaking out against Nazism.” (A Teacher's). Although these consequences were in effect, many groups of people would rise against them and provide food for the people living in the ghettos, publish underground newspapers that spoke out against the Nazis, and provide illegal radio broadcasts of the events occurring. With these efforts of resistance occurring, many individuals stood out while helping others such as Dr. Janusz Korczak; In particular, when his orphanage was having children taken away to concentration camps, he decided to go along with them instead of staying behind and leaving the children to fend for themselves. Instead of being indifferent, Korczak decides to risk his life in order to help these children during their struggle. Wiesel claims “Society was composed of three simple categories: the killers, the victims, and the bystanders.” (par14). How did people during these “darkest of times” serve these roles and how could they have been changed? Wiesel

In The White Scourge, Neil Foley gives detailed facts about the construction and reconstruction of whiteness and the connection of this whiteness to power, mainly on cotton culture in central Texas. Foley 's book analyzes “whiteness” through detailed analysis of race, class, and gender. What was most intriguing about this book is its comparison of whiteness on various racial groups and classes, for and how each struggled in comparison to the other in order to thrive and exist with one another. In this book, Foley shows a racial system that continues to produce both poverty material wise and poverty of where you stand racially. It is also very interesting that the system exploits not only Mexicans and Blacks, but also the poor whites who competed with them for work.

Elie Wiesel, a well known survivor of the Holocaust once said, “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest” (“Elie Wiesel”). The Holocaust was an organized murdering of 6 million jews by the German Nazis and his followers. Sacrifical of fire is the meaning of the Holocaust. The White Rose is the most famous civilian resistance movement. A medical student at the University of Munich, his sister Sophie, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf, and Alexander Schmorell founded the “White Rose” movement, in 1942. Some of the members paid a terrible price for their standing against the Naiz Germans. When seeing injustice, based upon the example of The White Rose Resistance group, we

The book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, tells the story of a slave girl named Linda Brent who fought many mental and physical battles throughout her life in order to oppose the system of slavery. This autobiography was written by Harriet Jacobs, known in the book as Linda Brent, and uses a multitude of psuedonyms in order to conceal the identity of those within the book. Harriet Jacobs had succeeded in putting forth a new, unconventional slave narrative that depicted the emotional and mental anguish slave women were subjected to on a daily basis. Through sexual victimization by their masters and the ever-present maternal fear of losing their children to the slave trade, slavery was a far more terrible fate for women than for men. Throughout her twenty-seven year life of being a slave, Harriet Jacobs attempted to defy the idea and social structure of slavery at every turn.

Crime is often found in every society. Why? Crime/deviance can be an indication that an area needs attention. Also, it can bring about solidarity or confinement in a community. The “Devil in the White City” shows, that where there is good, there is also evil. Daniel Burnham portrayed the good. He brought dignity and positivity to Chicago, by building the World’s Fair at a point in time when the United States was in an economic depression. Crime was not Burnham’s thing. He used his knowledge to make Chicago a better place, and also had tremendous respect for authority. The World’s Fair brought in thousands of tourists, and revenue into the country. Holmes on the other hand, was the total opposite to Burnham. He was the devil himself. Holmes used his intelligence to charm, manipulate, and kill people for fun. With the presence of the World’s Fair, Holmes used it as a way to lure people into his maze, the castle that he built to kill them. He believed that he was born a serial killer, and everything that he does was for his benefit and no one else around him. Holmes loved the idea of committing crimes and getting away with it. Rules nor regulation, didn’t apply to Holmes because of his mental state.

The Heavy Burden of Solitude William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" and Eudora Welty's "A Worn Path" are short stories that at a first glance have nothing common with each other. The story "A Rose for Emily" starts with the death of the main character, then goes back to describing her life. Faulkner changes the sequence of events to keep the suspense until the end and put accents for greater impact on the reader and for the transmissions of thought. In "A Worn Path" a reader again should wait until the end to see why an old black woman takes a dangerous journey through the forest to the town at Christmas times. The narrator gives a hint: probably she wants to see the Santa Claus, she wants a miracle.

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once said, “Never shall I forget the little faces of children, whose bodies turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.” The effect of cataclysm has never been more evident than that of the Holocaust. The genocide of six million Jews is a tragedy that will never be forgotten. Recollecting on these catastrophic events may emend views on the world and its virtues; however, humanity will prove that there is still good in the Earth. “If I Sleep for an Hour, 30 People Will Die.” is an article about an underrated war hero who saved thousands of children by forging documents. Learning from personal experience of the importance of possessing the right papers, Adolfo Kaminsky spent his life forging these documents

I am most surprised by their age. At this time the Volk was everywhere. It was loved by many and of all ages. The Volk was an impressive love for the land and the entirety of a proud Germany. With how loved this ideology was, it is not hard to understand why so many Germans chose to support this. The youth was also largely supportive of this movement with organizations such as ‘Hitler’s Youth’. With so much influence in the world around them, it is also easier to understand why Hans and Sophie both joined ‘Hitler’s Youth’. What is so astonishing to me is that while the rest of the German youth is pouring themselves into these organizations and so blindly supporting what they do not fully understand, the White Rose is fighting. Instead of