Lessons

by Ian McEwan

‘Entschuldigung. Guten Morgen!’ She was writing an article about the White Rose movement for a famous London magazine. Could anyone help her with some names of people she might approach? She was ready for an unfriendly response. Six key members, Hans and Sophie Scholl, three close student friends and a professor, were sentenced to death and guillotined. Other executions followed. When news of the deaths spread, 2,000 students gathered to shout their approval. Traitors. Communist scum. And now? Too soon, too shameful perhaps for anything beyond an embarrassed silence. Instead, there was a friendly murmur. A couple of typists were standing from their desks and smiling as they came towards her. Three years before, these clerks might have felt obliged to spit at the mention of the White Rose. In the new dispensation, the University of Munich wished to identify itself with the group, take pride in its courage and moral clarity.