This article appeared in the March 28, 2008 Jewish Advocate.

Since 2004, German Consul General Dr. Wolfgang K. Vorwerk has been a steadfast supporter and loyal friend to local Holocaust and Jewish community leaders, and a regular presence at area German-Jewish Dialogue groups. On March 18, he spoke on German resistance to the Nazis at a downtown forum that included his counterpart, Consul General of Israel Nadav Tamir, JCRC Executive Director Nancy Kaufman, Solomon Schecter Board member Irving Kempner, American Jewish Committe officials and Brandeis German-Jewish Dialogue members Julian and Regine Rosenthal.

“Dr. Vorwerk was the first Consul General to speak at the annual Yom HaShoah commemoration, and he will again this May 4,” said Holocaust survivor and attendee Rosian Zerner, who said that Vorwerk had funded the resurrection of the music of Holocaust victim Edwin Geist, playwright Marc Smith’s work about the Kreisau resistance circle, and other survivor efforts.

At the talk, part of the AJC’s program of ongoing diplomatic engagement, Vorwerk said the mission of diplomats is not to interpret history, which they could not change. He noted that Hitler gained broad popular support during those 12 years. “It is difficult for the generations after the war to say, but I cannot say that Germans were not Nazis during that time,” he said. "What Hitler achieved was possible not only by means of terror, but he had broad public support."

At numbers 13-14 Stauffenbergstrasse in Berlin, the German Resistance Memorial Center pays tribute to the street’s namesake, Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a central figure in a 1944 Hitler assassination attempt who was ultimately executed in the Center’s Bendler Block courtyard. Vorwerk showed photos of Stauffenberg (soon to be portrayed by actor Tom Cruise in an upcoming movie) and resisters General Ludwig Beck (1880-1944), Ulrich von Hassel (1881-1944), Bishop Clemens August Count of Galen (1881-1944), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1944), University of Munich students Sophie Scholl (1921-1943) and Hans Scholl (1918-1943), and Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz (1904-1973).

Vorwerk projected a 1970 photo of former German Chancellor Willy Brandt dropping to his knees before the monument of the Warsaw Ghetto. “With this gesture, Brandt showed to the world that we know we have tarnished not only the history of our country, but the history of mankind, and that we take moral and political responsibility for the past,” he said.

“Our guilt it is like innocence: it is individual, not collective," he continued. "It is not in our DNA, because to say this would give the Nazis perpetrators an excuse." He noted that while many nations are not free from blame for war and violence, “the Holocaust, the Shoah, is unique, unparalleled in history.”

“We Germans talk about resistance, not to comfort those who did not resist or us who struggle with the legacy our forefathers left us,” said Vorwerk, whose son attends Northeastern University. “We must speak of civil courage, civil disobedience, and the power and strength it takes to stand up,” he said. This is part of our Holocaust and democracy education. We have to teach them to act by example," he said.

Vorwerk recently met with Soviet dissenter Andrei Sakharov’s widow Elena Bonner, and Freya von Moltke, the wife of Kreisau Circle co-founder Count Helmuth James von Moltke (1907-1945). (Freya, who lives in Vermont, was represented at the talk by her sister, Veronica von Moltke.)

“The German Parliament adopted a law in 1968,“ said Vorwerk, voicing a lasting legacy of the resisters. “Article 20 of the basic law of the German constitution asserts the right of resistance if there is no other remedy.”

AJC Executive Director Larry Lowenthal said that details of these moral heroes and their inspiring acts are rightfully surfacing. “It is a needed addition to the horror of the Nazi atrocities,“ he said. “The human psyche needs to know that at a time of unspeakable evil, points of light pierced the darkness.”

“Even as a diplomat, I cannot say 'I serve my country' with the same empathy, and as unconditionally as an American can,” said Vorwerk, “because we created the experience not only of what man is capable of doing, but what the Nazi regime was capable of doing.”

Attendees nonetheless praised his fortitude. “Consul Vorwerk has been an example of intellectual, moral and historical truthfulness, and we believe he would have been such in any era,” said AJC immediate Past President Jim Kaufman.

Nazi resisters subject of downtown forum

By Susie Davidson

Since 2004, German Consul General Dr. Wolfgang K. Vorwerk has been a sincere supporter and a loyal friend to local Holocaust and Jewish community leaders, and a presence at local German-Jewish Dialogue groups. This Tuesday, he spoke on German resistance to the Nazis at a downtown forum.

“Dr. Vorwerk was the first Consul General to speak at the annual Yom HaShoah commemoration, and will again this May 4,” said Holocaust survivor and attendee Rosian Zerner, who cited survivor concerns he has supported such as the resurrection of the music of Holocaust victim Edwin Geist, and playwright Marc Smith’s work about the Kreisau resistance circle.

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At the talk, part of the American Jewish Committee’s program of ongoing diplomatic engagement, Vorwerk said the mission of diplomats is not to give interpretations of history, which they could not change. He noted that Hitler gained broad popular support during those 12 years. “It is difficult for the generations after the war to say, but I cannot say that Germans were not Nazis during that time,” he said.

At numbers 13-14 Stauffenbergstrasse in Berlin, the German Resistance Memorial Center pays tribute to the street’s namesake, Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, a central figure in a 1944 Hitler assassination attempt who was executed in the Center’s Bendler Block courtyard. Vorwerk showed photos of Stauffenberg (soon to be portrayed by actor Tom Cruise in an upcoming movie) and resisters General Ludwig Beck (1880-1944), Ulrich von Hassel (1881-1944), Bishop Clemens August Count of Galen (1881-1944), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1944), University of Munich students Sophie Scholl (1921-1943) and Hans Scholl (1918-1943), and Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz (1904-1973).

He showed a 1970 photo of former German Chancellor Willy Brandt dropping to his knees before the monument of the Warsaw Ghetto. “With this gesture, Brandt showed to the world that we know we have tarnished not only the history of our country, but the history of mankind.”

Vorwerk said it is “not in our DNA, because to say this would give the Nazis an excuse,” but said that while many nations are not free of the violence of war, “the Holocaust, the Shoah, is unique.” He said Germans must act by example. “That is the whole answer, and the only thing we can do, because we can’t modify history.”

“Germans talk about resistance to teach our children, not to comfort those who did not resist or even acknowledge, or who struggle with the legacy our forefathers left us,” said Vorwerk, whose son attends Northeastern University. “We speak of civil courage, civil disobedience, and the power and strength it takes to stand up,” he said.

Vorwerk was greatly affected when he met Soviet dissenter Andrei Sakharov’s widow Elena Bonner, and Freya von Moltke, the wife of Kreisau Circle co-founder Count Helmuth James von Moltke (1907-1945). (Freya, who lives in Vermont, was represented at the talk by her sister, Veronica von Moltke.)

“The German parliament adopted a law in 1968,“ said Vorwerk, voicing a lasting legacy of the resistors. “Article 20 of the basic law of the German constitution asserts the right of resistance if there is no other remedy.”

AJC Executive Director and attendee Larry Lowenthal said that details of these moral heroes and their inspiring acts are rightfully surfacing. “It is a needed addition to the horror of the Nazi atrocities,“ he said. “The human psyche needs to know that at a time of unspeakable evil, points of light pierced the darkness.”

“As a diplomat, I cannot serve our country as unconditionally as others can,” said Vorwerk, “because we created the experience not only of what man is capable of doing, but what governments are capable of doing.“

Attendees nonetheless praised his fortitude. “Consul Vorwerk has been an example of intellectual, moral and historical truthfulness, and we believe he would have been such in any era,” said AJC immediate Past President Jim Kaufman.