If you’re not following German twitter this weekend, quick thread in English about the Corona-shutdown protester who compared herself in a public speech to Sophie Scholl, a 21-yr old Nazi resistance fighter who along w/her brother was beheaded by the Nazis for treason in 1943 1/ https://twitter.com/heikomaas/status/1330460397032366082

Sophie Scholl is a beloved figure in modern Germany. She represents not only non-violent resistance to the Nazis but also the power of youth & the bravery of refusing to give in even when the interrogators might have given her a pass if she had said she was persuaded by her 2/

brother, the other young men in the White Rose resistance. She could (possibly) have saved herself & instead she firmly stated that she had no regrets & did what she did for the good of the nation. One of the pamphlets she helped write was later smuggled out of Germany, 3/

printed in the UK & dropped over Germany by allied planes. She had a lasting effect on what people believe youth can do & the power of small cells of resistance to make a difference, both during fascist regimes & as a enduring lesson for generations https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/sophie-scholl-and-white-rose 4/

after. So this weekend, when an anti-masker/Coronavirus-shutdown protester stood on stage & said she “feels like Sophie Scholl” because she is exactly the same age as Sophie Scholl? it was one of the most absurd & ignorant analogies possible. A security guard threw his vest on 5/

the stage & quit, saying he couldn’t stand by & watch while she minimized/invalidated the Holocaust with that comparison. It was a powerful act of small resistance. The speaker turned her back au’s audibly started to cry, then petulantly threw the 6/: https://twitter.com/patschi1896/status/1330181452835721222

microphone off the stage. Lots of public statements today against that speaker & the comparison she drew, including in the tweet I shared at the beginning of this thread, from Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. Long story short, rampant comparisons by COVID shutdown/mark protesters 7/

to slavery or themselves to Nazi resisters are a clear sign of how unhinged from reality these people are, this ex. shows how global the phenomenon is. Combatting misinformation & conspiracies about the virus or a vaccine is one thing. But fighting metaphors of resistance & 8/

oppression is equally important. Critical to call out these analogies for what they are: absurd, offensive, horrific. No sympathy pass for the blond woman with audible tears on stage after a heroic security guard rightly calls her out for minimizing the Holocaust. /END