“Long Live Freedom!” Resistance by Young Germans to National Socialism

Sarratt Art Gallery photography exhibition

January 21 through February 29, 2020

Co-sponsored with Tennessee Holocaust Commission

Many young Germans were drawn in by the ideas and propaganda machine of the Nazi Party. Only a minority were courageous enough to risk their lives and resist the regime. Few members of the German youth resistance are as well-known as Hans Scholl who, together with his sister Sophie, led the group “White Rose” and whose famous last words, “Long live freedom!” gave this exhibition its name. But there were other young activists from a wide variety of social and political backgrounds: Some were part of well- organized larger movements; some joined forces in small, like-minded groups; others tried to fight back through individual acts of resistance. This 2011 exhibit, by the Research Institute for the Study of German  Resistance in Frankfurt, Germany, tells the stories of their diverse motives and approaches, and honors those whose acts of civil disobedience set a brave example by taking a stand against the inhumanity of the Nazi regime.

Gallery Talk by Thomas Altmeyer