">I've auditioned for a role in "Rosenstrasse" with Dreamwell in IC. I'd not planned on doing anything else this year, but after reading the script I'm impressed. I was in Berlin for a summer in high school. I hung out on Kudamm, went up in the Funkturm a gajillion times, and visited many of the best tourist sites - Sophie-Charlotte Schloss, Pfaueninsel, Checkpoint Charlie (this was just before the wall came down), etc. Because I stayed in a German home, I even got to get a bit of personal insight about what it was like to be a child during WWII. That was quite cool.

But I'd never heard of the Rosenstrasse protests. Apparently, toward the end of the war the government was implementing the final stages of it's ethnic cleansing project by arresting Jewish men who had been spared from earlier transport to the death camps by virtue of their marriages to German women. They sent the men to a former Jewish community center on Rosenstrasse for holding before shipping them out. They kept them separated from other Jews to convince their wives that they would be protected and sent on a special work detail. In reality, they were going to suffer the same fate as all other arrested Jews, as evidenced by the fact that at least 25 of them were processed through to Auschwitz.

When their wives learned of the arrests, they began to gather on the Rosenstrasse sidewalks, anxious to see their husbands. They were denied entry, but curiously refused to disperse. Instead, they formed an impromptu protest movement. In shifts, up to 6000 women stood outside the building demanding the release of their men. It became a public relations nightmare for the government. The censored newspapers reported that they were protesting the bombing of their homes by allied forces. The Gestapo set up machine guns to strafe the crowds, thinking to end the protest and deter any future insubordination. Anyone who died could be set up as an insurrectionist and a traitor. But the women only shouted louder, demanding the release of their husbands and calling the Gestapo murderers.

In the end, the government let the men go, even retrieving the handful that had been sent out to Auschwitz. Amazingly, non-violent protest from a crucial group of people had made even Hitler blink.

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I am fascinated by the possibilities that holds. What if it had sparked a general movement? Could it truly have driven even the Nazis from power? I'm too young to remember the civil rights movement here, but from what I understand of the past conditions it utterly changed our nation.

An interesting thought: What would happen if the peace protests that have gone on in the past year had taken place in oppressed nations against recognized genocidal dictatorships? I mean, almost across the board, everyone agrees that Saddam Hussein was a rather nasty guy, as are terrorist groups like Al Quida, etc. While polls seem to show that a majority of US citizens support the war against terrorism, including armed conflict when necessary, there is a substantial minority of citizens who do not support the war, mainly due to a perceived lack of authority. If I recall correctly, several of them traveled to Iraq in an effort to stop the war by being "human shields."

What if instead they'd taken the opportunity to launch a massive movement to oust Saddam before the US could invade?
What if right now, the peace movement would devote half its efforts to decrying the US government's actions in Iraq, but the other half to demand and support the election of a democratic government there? For example, all the disillusioned Deaniacs who invaded Iowa. Instead of just fading away, could they have taken their election know-how to stop the debacle in Iraq?

It's kind of like asking the pro-life movement what support they intend to give pregnant mothers considering abortion. In my own personal philosophy, we should take every movement we support and demand the practical be supported as well as the philosophical. If you don't like war, provide an alternative that works.

Maybe I'm still too practical/optimistic. But it's a thought.

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