History: July through September 2001

September 13, 2001
There is nothing else to write except for deepest grief at the events of this week. On Monday, facing a week full of bright prospects, we could never have imagined how changed our world would be today, how very different we have all become in so short a space.

May our innocence lost turn to wisdom gained.

September 6, 2001
Interesting news out of Germany... Hans Hirzel has left the Republikaner party. Reasons are unclear at present. Just a development worth noting.

Armin Ziegler sent me his biography of Eugen Grimminger. More for the database, but more important, more puzzle pieces to complete the White Rose picture. It grows increasingly fascinating the greater its complexity.

August 24, 2001
More of Otl's work is "in the database" now. Nearly finished, after a long hiatus from his writing. So many why's, not many answers. It is chilling to realize that they were very much aware of the odds against them. 30, maybe 50 individuals at most, in the face of 60 million Germans who either followed Hitler blindly and loudly, or would not say no to those who did. Chilling, and an indictment.

30, maybe 50, against 60 million. How much more alone could one be?

August 17, 2001
This White Rose "puzzle" is so intricate, so beautiful. Asked Armin Ziegler a simple question this week: Was Tilly Hahn related to the educator Kurt Hahn?

She was not... but she represents one of those White Rose jewels who has been ignored far too long. She gave Hans Scholl and Alex Schmorell the 500 Marks that Eugen Grimminger was arrested for. Out of her own pocket. Long depicted as his pretty secretary, Tilly instead handled customer accounts ~ and shared Grimminger's views of the Nazis completely.

It's a shame that the falsehood of the legend has hidden the charm of the real story. High time people like Tilly Hahn received the recognition, and honor, they deserve.

August 10, 2001
There's movement in the White Rose work again. I won't talk out loud about some of it. Suffice it to say, I alternate between breathless and agony. Listening to people who can make a difference... And it's exciting to be talking to Leslie Friedman, a fellow Fulbrighter who shares my strange sense of humor, regarding art direction for a potential White Rose movie.

August 2, 2001
When a person thinks about becoming a writer (or at least when I did), there's this romantic vision of sitting at a computer and pouring meaningful words onto a blank page. I remember the early days, writing whenever inspiration struck... usually late at night. It was simply fun, that theater of and for one.

I still love to write, but have discovered in the interim that it's a business like anything else. The routine may "interfere" with the creative, but it enables it as well. Would not trade this business for any other! Keeping routine and creativity in balance is, however, a dance on egg shells.

July 20, 2001
Ran across some people this week who willingly distort truth just to win an argument. Had nothing to do with the White Rose. The topic, in fact, was media bias. Instead of honestly discussing the matter, they invented specious supports to their claim, including but not limited to the mind-boggling assertion that writing "Rep. Condit" was a deliberate attempt to make people think Condit is Republican.

Yes, there really are people like that. Finding them outside the realm of the White Rose made me feel a little better. I was beginning to believe all those types had migrated to this topic.

Still enjoying the ongoing correspondence with Armin Ziegler. Questions are good. He forces me to nitpick and think hard.

July 13, 2001
It's been one of those weeks where, if you touch it, it breaks. I'm sure that no one reading this has ever had a week like that. (Yeah right.) Guess these days make me appreciate other times when creativity comes easy, when everything rhymes, and mistakes are unehard of, I mean unheard of.

In the meantime, I've been reading the new John Adams biography. Astounding, isn't it, how many stories we once knew are quickly forgotten. He lived a scant 200 years ago. What have we forgotten from time even more immemorial?

July 5, 2001
On this day after we celebrate our declaration of independence, it is sobering to realize that not everywhere and not in every time have people enjoyed so much luxury of freedom as we do here in these United States.

A recent discussion about what drove the students in the White Rose to sacrifice their lives pointed this up clearly. They were of one mind on one topic only, namely, that human and civil rights were worth dying for. They could never have agreed on religion or politics. But they understood what we take for granted, that this precious freedom is for every one of us, not just for the privileged few.