Resistance

GERMAR RUDOLF, RESISTANCE IS OBLIGATORYdivergent opinions – including those they abhor – actually increasingor diminishing? Has freedom of thought truly become an irreducibledemand made upon German society by its citizens? […]But when freedom of thought is not continually subjected to criticalchallenge, it runs the danger of dying out.”Karl R. Popper, whom I have already quoted copiously, has arguedalong the same line in his classic work The Open Society and Its Enemies:203“those who are not prepared to fight for their freedom will lose it.”II. The State as the Target of ResistanceBut what if the State is the target of resistance, because it unjustlycurtails freedom? I have been dragged into court by the Police Departmentfor State Protection. Hence the state believes that it has to protectitself from me, because I am allegedly somehow threatening it. I amconsidered to be an enemy of the state. But I do not want to be this, andI do not think that I am one. I have indicated several times during mybiographic deliberations that I was gladly prepared as an adolescent andas a young man to get involved for this state, for this society, and toserve it. My enthusiasm for this state waned only when I had to recognizehow this state persecutes well-meaning citizens only because theyhave different views on aspects of history. I have commented severaltimes about this tragedy of governmental misconduct, like for instancein the appendix to the book Grundlagen zur Zeitgeschichte, from whereI may quote: 204“Anyone who tries to make the legitimacy of the Federal Republicof Germany’s existence hinge on the truth or falsehood of historiographyabout a detail of contemporary history (and almost all themajor media and many politicians have been doing this lately) suffersfrom a profound misconception of the foundations of this ourrepublic, which is not based on the Holocaust but on the acceptanceof its citizens and on inalienable human and national rights. At thesame time, such a person commits two unpardonable sins. First, hegives the actual enemies of this republic an easy means for destroy-203 Karl Popper, The Open…, op. cit. (note 70), vol. 2, p. 287.204 Ernst Gauss, op. cit. (note 125), p. 406f.180