Read an Excerpt

"Since December; 1979, millions have marched for peace in the streets of Europe...In their desperate search for role models, the finest members of the younger generation forage into the darkest part of Germany history. We know that we were militaristic, more so than any other European nation. We set a record for racism through our annihilation of six million Jewish people. We devastated Europe. But is that all there is to remember? Were there not, in addition to the forces of militarism, imperialism, and racism, also the forces of resistance?...
"We read history in order not to have to repeat it. When I think about Germany and the brief time in which White Rose bloomed, I feel choked with shame that there were not more 'white roses' in the bleakest hour of my country's history. But shame is, as Karl Marx once said, a revolutionary emotion. The Scholls knew that."
- from the Introduction by Dorothee Sölle