The White Rose Movement: an Exhibition at WJU

In conjunction with Classrooms without Borders, WJU is hosting an exhibition dedicated to the student resistance movement, the White Rose, which challenged the Nazi regime and called upon other Germans to resist National Socialism.

The exhibition is displayed in the Art Gallery (attached to Kirby Hall) and will remain there until November 14. It is open from 12-4 and by appointment. A special invitation is extended to all Wheeling-area middle and high school teachers who would like to visit it with their students.

Through the use of text and images, the exhibition details the growth of the White Rose movement, a group of students from the University of Munich, who struggled against the Nazi state and its demands that German society fight a genocidal war of aggression. While the movement ultimately failed and its main protagonists were either executed or arrested by the German state, it nonetheless demonstrated that even during a period of real violence and brutality, individuals possessing traditional notions of morality, ethics, and true heroism could emerge and challenge a criminal state.

The exhibition opened on November 2. Approximately 55 people attended the opening reception and listened to Associate Professor of History Jeff Rutherford give a talk on the White Rose movement and its place in the history of the German resistance to Nazism. For more information on the White Rose movement and the White Rose Foundation, please visit its website.