The White Rose and the Red Kapos: Controversy and Glorification in Memorializing Resistance Groups
After Adolf Hitler’s election as chancellor, infringements on freedom of speech and press in Germany started becoming more and more commonplace, until any dissent become illegal and punishable by death. On the background of this violent, repressive regime, a few distinct types of resistance occurred, defined and limited by the motivations, resources and positions of its members. Resistance in the German Reich in particular took a number of forms; two notable examples are the “Red Orchestra” and the “White Rose,” two resistance groups formed in Germany. The “Red Orchestra”-a Gestapo code name derived from the system of referring to members of different …show more content…
André Höfel and a group of other Red Kapos try to hide the child from the SS officers while figuring out the best course of action. In the meantime, American troops are advancing and it’s becoming clearer that Germany will lose the war, which provokes tension between the SS officers and manifests into a crack-down on the previously over-looked group of Communist resisters. Having smuggled in guns and other weapons, the resistance members are waiting for the right moment to act, while also struggling to hide the child. Following their refusal to reveal the whereabouts of the child, Höfel and Kropinski are tortured and imprisoned; the brutal scenes of torture depicted, as well as the portrayal of their heroic silence (and in fact, every captured member of the resistance keeps silent in the face of torture, with the exception of August Rose) serves to highlight the sacrifices and suffering the Kapos had to endure in the name of their resisting. When analyzing this movie’s portrayal of the red Kapos it is imperative to acknowledge that it is a production of East Germany, which prided itself on the upstanding Communists that resisted the regime throughout-and so, the account is fictionalized, skipping over the controversy and complexities of the role the Kapos played not only in improving the lives of prisoners, but their complicity in the suffering as well. The movie’s graphic, harsh imagery underscores the rough conditions of the camp and the bleak environment that spawned the
After Adolf Hitler’s election as chancellor, infringements on freedom of speech and press in Germany started becoming more and more commonplace, until any dissent become illegal and punishable by death. On the background of this violent, repressive regime, a few distinct types of resistance occurred, defined and limited by the motivations, resources and positions of its members. Resistance in the German Reich in particular took a number of forms; two notable examples are the “Red Orchestra” and the “White Rose,” two resistance groups formed in Germany. The “Red Orchestra”-a Gestapo code name derived from the system of referring to members of different …show more content…
André Höfel and a group of other Red Kapos try to hide the child from the SS officers while figuring out the best course of action. In the meantime, American troops are advancing and it’s becoming clearer that Germany will lose the war, which provokes tension between the SS officers and manifests into a crack-down on the previously over-looked group of Communist resisters. Having smuggled in guns and other weapons, the resistance members are waiting for the right moment to act, while also struggling to hide the child. Following their refusal to reveal the whereabouts of the child, Höfel and Kropinski are tortured and imprisoned; the brutal scenes of torture depicted, as well as the portrayal of their heroic silence (and in fact, every captured member of the resistance keeps silent in the face of torture, with the exception of August Rose) serves to highlight the sacrifices and suffering the Kapos had to endure in the name of their resisting. When analyzing this movie’s portrayal of the red Kapos it is imperative to acknowledge that it is a production of East Germany, which prided itself on the upstanding Communists that resisted the regime throughout-and so, the account is fictionalized, skipping over the controversy and complexities of the role the Kapos played not only in improving the lives of prisoners, but their complicity in the suffering as well. The movie’s graphic, harsh imagery underscores the rough conditions of the camp and the bleak environment that spawned the