HUDSON — The White Rose, led by students including Hans and Sophie Scholl, was an anti-Nazi group during World War II. Its members spread leaflets denouncing the Hitler regime in 1943.
Almost four generations later, a contemporary group called The White Rose that aligns itself with anti-vaccination and anti-masking factions, has appeared in Columbia County.
A sticker purporting to be from The White Rose was found this week in Hudson.
Hate Watch Report, an online tool used for receiving and reporting news of hate or extremist groups has received several reports of similar stickers to the one found on a parking meter on Warren Street in Hudson earlier this week.
Human rights and international aide professional Patrick Connors said the group spreads disinformation about COVID-19.
“We know that The White Rose is comparing people opposing vaccination and masking — public health measures to save lives — to people opposing the horrors of the Nazi regime,” Connors said. “It’s a grotesque comparison to be making. Their basic premise makes a mockery basically of the Holocaust and Nazi rule killing millions of people.”
The new White Rose derives its name from an original group of non-violent resisters in Nazi Germany. The original White Rose led an anonymous leaflet and graffiti movement which called for opposition to the Third Reich.
Members of the group and their supporters were arrested and many were imprisoned or sentenced to death.
“We continue to see that in Columbia County, as nationwide, the overwhelming majority of COVID hospitalizations and deaths are among unvaccinated people,” Connors said. “So people in Columbia County spreading misinformation from The White Rose discouraging others from getting vaccinated may actually be contributing to cases of severe illness and even death locally.”
Disinformation about COVID-19 could discourage people from doing things like masking or getting vaccinated, which can be dangerous at this time, Connors said.
“We had the highest numbers of cases ever in Columbia County this week,” Connors said. “We have a heightened need for vaccinations, masking and social distancing and at the same time we have people spreading disinformation about those things, so that’s worrisome.”
People should get their information from reliable science-based and research-based sources, Connors said. He encouraged people to get COVID information from credible sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New York State Department of Health or the Columbia County Department of Health.
“Those are all good sources of information that are out there, and they’re much more reliable,” Connors said.
The local anti-vax group ‘Do We Need This?’ has posted a sticker from The White Rose on its website, Connors said.
“That’s really the only clear tie locally,” Connors said. “Everything else, the sticker, is anonymous. We do also know some of the Do We Need This organizers have frequently posted pictures of the original members of The White Rose comparing themselves to those people who were fighting the Nazis.”