THE WHITE ROSE ANTI-NAZI RESISTANCE:
Using stirring theme music, 80 powerful images and suspenseful storytelling, Dr. Newborn recounts how Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans – former fanatical Hitler Youth leaders, the latter arrested for a teen gay relationship – transformed to become the greatest heroes of the German anti-Nazi resistance. “We will not be silent,” their wartime leaflets declared. “We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!” On February 18, 1943, they mounted a gallery high above the University of Munich’s vast atrium and tossed down hundreds of leaflets down upon the heads of astonished students. It was the only public protest by Germans against Nazism ever to be staged. But Dr. Newborn’s program does not remain in the past. Relating the White Rose story to today’s most compelling current events and global issues – from America’s crisis of democracy and the rise of anti-Semitism to the Mid-East conflict, China. LGBT rights, murderous attacks on environmental activists, the Ukraine War and more – he presents an array of inspiring “White Rosers” today, abroad and at home, who risk themselves for freedom and our shared humanity.
PRESENTED BY DR. JUD NEWBORN
Jud Newborn (born in 1952), is a New York-based author, lecturer, cultural anthropologist and curator. A pioneer in the creation of Holocaust museums, he helped build New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, serving as its Founding Historian and curator. He is known for his co-authored book, Sophie Scholl and the White Rose (Oneworld Publications, 2006), an account of the history of the White Rose, a group formed in part by German Christian students—some former Hitler Youth fanatics—who were part of the German anti-Nazi resistance.
Newborn is also a wide-ranging lecturer who has spoken throughout North America and worldwide. He is known for dramatic multimedia programs that set unsung aspects of the Holocaust, among other subjects, within the context of such compelling, contemporary issues as the rise of extremism, oppression, fanaticism and genocide, in order to inspire audiences to join in the fight for freedom and “our shared humanity.”
Jud Newborn was educated at New York University, Cambridge University and the University of Chicago, which awarded him his doctorate with Distinction in 1994 for his dissertation, “Work Makes Free”: The Hidden Cultural Meanings of the Holocaust; (Work Makes Free: English translation of Nazi forced labor camp slogan Arbeit Macht Frei).
