White Rose exhibit to come to Xavier

In collaboration with the German department, the Center for Interfaith Community Engagement will host the White Rose exhibit, a tribute to members of the White Rose Society, a Nazi-resistance group of college students.

From June 1942 to February 1943, a group of university students in Munich, Germany, called the White Rose Society, secretly printed and distributed anti-war leaflets calling for an overthrow of the Nazi regime.

Many of the pamphlets fell into the hands of the Gestapo, and several members of the White Rose Society were arrested, convicted of treason and executed.

The Lord Mayor Ude of Munich approached the Munich Sister City organization and Xavier's German department about bringing the display to Gallagher Student Center (GSC).

Since the original proposition, Rabbi Abie Ingber, director for the Center for Interfaith Community Engagement has been working primarily with Irene Luken, a professor in the German department, to complete Lord Mayor Ude's request.

"Given our office's mission, my personal background as a child of Holocaust survivors, and our staff member Amy Watterau being an adjunct instructor in German, all the dimensions seemed to come together," Ingber said.

The display houses 47 framed pieces including reproductions of vintage photographs, biographies of the executed students and copies of the resistance leaflets distributed by the society.

The exhibit will kick off with a small ceremony the evening of Sept. 6 in the Clocktower Lounge.

It will be available for public viewing on the second and third floors of GSC until Oct. 7.

While the exhibit has been showcased in many American cities, Xavier is the only venue in southwest Ohio.

"Our students will be faced on a daily basis with historic documents and photos that will speak to a small group of university students who gave their lives for what they believed in," Ingber said. "It is important for us not only to tell their stories, but to take them to heart and challenge ourselves."