Who determines what becomes history? A witness’s reflections

The renowned historian Arnold Toynbee posed the question whether we, the general public, but also scholars and students of historical events, are correctly informed. This question has concerned George Wittenstein for many decades, as it has a determining influence on “what becomes history”. Dr. Wittenstein will discuss the common and disturbing phenomenon of historical facts being presented in slanted, misleading, and, at times, even falsifying ways. From the vantage point of a witness to and active participant in historical events during the Hitler regime, Dr. Wittenstein will then describe lesser known facts about two resistance groups with whom he was closely associated: the famous White Rose and the Freedom Action Bavaria.
Dr. George Wittenstein, born in 1919, majored simultaneously in medicine, psychology and philosophy at the University of Munich during World War II. As Military service was compulsory, Wittenstein and most of his White Rose friends were drafted together into a medical student company. As early as 1939, he was threatened by the Nazi secret police (Gestapo) and, in 1942 and 1943, undertook a series of dangerous actions on behalf of the White Rose. In 1943, five of his friends, Hans Scholl, Sophie Scholl, Christoph Probst, Alexander Schmorell, Willi Graf, and his PhD advisor, the professor of philosophy Kurt Huber, were executed. When Wittenstein learned in 1944 that the Gestapo was likely to apprehend him, he volunteered to serve at the front-lines, as the immediate combat zone was the only place where the Gestapo had no jurisdiction over members of the armed forces. Assigned as a physician to the Italian front, he collected the wounded soldiers’ weapons for the secret arsenal of the Freedom Action Bavaria, a resistance group of military officers led by Captain Rupprecht Gerngross based in Munich. Wittenstein was wounded at the Italian front in 1945.

Wittenstein emigrated to the United States in 1948. Continuing his surgical training at Harvard and the universities of Rochester and Colorado, he specialized in general, cardiovascular, and thoracic surgery and later taught and performed the latest complex heart operations at numerous European medical schools. Since 1960, Wittenstein has been residing in Santa Barbara, where he was in private practice until his appointment as professor of surgery at the University of California at Los Angeles, and as chair of the Department of Surgery at UCLA/LAC Olive View Medical Center. He retired from UCLA in 1991 and continued to practice in Santa Barbara. Over almost four decades, Wittenstein served in various capacities at four Santa Barbara hospitals, the UCSB’s Affiliates, the Friends of the UCSB Library, and on the board of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. In recognition of his active involvement in the resistance against Hitler, for his contributions to German cardiac surgery, and for promoting scientific exchange between the United States and Germany, Wittenstein was awarded the “Commander’s Cross Of The Federal Republic Of Germany” (Grosses Verdienstkreuz des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) and more recently the “Bayerischer Verdienstorden”, the State of Bavaria’s highest honor.

In Fall 2007 the UCSB Department of Germanic, Slavic and Semitic Studies initiated the George J. Wittenstein lecture series, created to commemorate and continue the legacy of civic courage of Dr. George J. Wittenstein. The series sponsors one to three lectures every year. (UCSB press release)
In 2008-2009, the series is made possible by the generous co-sponsorships of the following campus agencies and departments: Office of the Chancellor, Comparative Literature, Feminist Studies, Film and Media Studies, French and Italian, History, Law and Society, Religious Studies, Theater and Dance.

Dr. Wittenstein himself will be the speaker at this event, which will take place in the McCune conference room (HSSB 6020) at 5 pm.

This lecture series is designed to inspire people to become active citizens and to uphold and defend democratic principles. While some talks may have an explicitly political dimension, others will deal with literature and philosophy—two areas that were extremely important to White Rose members, including Dr. Wittenstein, who continues to be greatly interested in them.

The Munich-based White Rose consisted of a group of friends, predominantly medical students, who appealed to the German people to defy both Hitler’s dictatorship and the apathy of their fellow citizens. Members of the White Rose wrote, printed, and disseminated six leaflets that denounced the National Socialist regime’s criminal activities and goals. It was the only German group specifically to condemn the extermination of European Jews. Six members were convicted of high treason and executed.

Already a member of the German armed forces, Wittenstein escaped apprehension by the Gestapo by volunteering to serve on the front line—the only place the German secret police would have no jurisdiction over him. He was assigned to the Italian front to serve as a physician. There he collected the weapons of wounded soldiers and contributed them to a secret arsenal maintained by Freedom Action Bavaria, a resistance group that consisted of military officers based in Munich.

Wounded in 1945, Wittenstein immigrated to the United States a few years later and continued his surgical training at Harvard University, the University of Rochester, and the University of Colorado. A Santa Barbara resident for almost 50 years, he has worked in private practice, as a professor of surgery at UCLA, and as chair of the Department of Surgery at the UCLA-Olive View Medical Center.

hm 5/4/09, 5/6/09

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