Where can I get a white poppy?

[Ellbell]

Some time ago, I used to wear a white poppy (for peace) at this time of year. I haven't seen them for some years now. Does anyone know if they are still produced and where I can get one? Thanks

and i wear my white poppy (actually, i can't seem to get hold of one ) as I feel that german combatants and their families are EQUALLY worthy of being remembered.

i wear my white poppy because war is futile.
i wear my white poppy because wars are touted as 'just' when there is no such thing. a mother grieving for her dead son is never just. nothing can justify it. there is nothing 'honourable' about killing.

and ty soph, all I can take is my german history as one, and yes, am not proud, and then all that anecdotal stuff passed on by my wonderful grandma especially! They werte not bad people, and they have suffered a lot...one of the stories and not all that anacdotal I suppose, of my grnadma was how she had to watch (made to watch) one of her companion female silesians being lailed down on a table by russian soliders and raped and raped over an over again....can anyone say that anyone deserves it just because of their governemnt and war?

and do you know what? my grandfather, WW2 veteran, exiled to siberia before being mobilised in the British army totally agreed with me.

hm maybe the white poppy would be my personal middle ground

I don't wear my poppy to offend German survivors. I wear my poppy to remember everyone who suffered as a consequence of war.

By the way I ma not saying anyone should be sorry for those that did what they did with conviction.....

absolutely mrsaek....i'm not offended by it! are you offended by the white poppy?

mrsaek, no I don't think you are disrespectful wearing the red poppy, of course not, it's your history, my personal point was that I as a german (dh english and in the army) can't get myself to wear it, as I personally feel it would be ignoring my own history, my grandparents...if that males sense...indeed anyone british should be happy and proud...and I love england/britain, but this is part of my history...iykwim

I am not offended by your white poppy either sophable, but there are many posts on this thread that have very idealised views with regards to red poppies. They see life in black and white, without any grey areas..........eveything has shades of grey, nothing is clear cut.

I will not judge anyone who choses to wear (or not wear) a poppy. I feel it is very important not to forget the past. I can choose to do this by wearing my poppy, as I am free to do so. I am not so niave to think that all germans were nazis. Likewise I am not so niave to think that the red poppy "honours" war?!?!?

Germans are not murdering scum.
They [i]were[/i] murdering scum which is why we had to kill so many of the murdering, raping fuckers.

Yes Russiands (and British, and American) soldiers raped some German women. That's hardly something to be proud of but again we see the Guardian school of moral relativism.
Under the "poor innocent German" theory of histroy some soldiers being bad was is equated to death camps and on a horrific scale. Far more women were raped by Germans than the reverse.,
That doesn't mkake it good, but you have to ask yourself why there were Russian soldiers in Germany ?

Do you think they got a bit drunk and ended up on the wrong train ?
If you start a huge set of wars, terrible things will happen. Really bad things.
The trick is not to do it.
Ther Germans got off too lightly after WWII and many genuinely believed that they were "tricked".

After WWII, no one believed that they weren't fucked over big times, and yes the sudden appearance of Russian looking babies didn't hurt that message one little bit.

How many German women were there working in factories ?
What exactly did they think the bombs were going to be used for ?

For various reasons the British actually took steps to stop Brits seeing pictures of the effec to German bombing.
You have to understand that the single most common proximate cause of death to British poeple was flying glass, not fire, and certainly not little bullet wounds.
There are pictures of British children conscious with glass sticking out of their eyes, and worse, yes I means worse, and it's surprising what you have to do to see those pictures. I've seen real live nukes and that was easy in comparison.
Even now the government thinks it would spark undesriable effects, and of course luvvies want us to forget and wear white poppies.

DominiConnor I beleive this thread is about the wearing of white poppies as apposed to red, not accusations of guilt.

haven't read the thread fully but just had to give my own reasons for buying poppies and the reason i shall make sure my children continue to buy poppies in years to come.

My nan never knew her father. He was a mechanic before the war and was conscripted very early on. He met my great gran shortly before leaving to go and be trained to join the RAF as a pilot navigator.

he was an incredibly good pilot and following many many weeks of non stop flying and fighting in the skies he was given some leave.
he came home to my great gran and married her.
they spent one weekend together before he had to return.
My nan was concieved during that weekend.

My Great grandad quickly rose through the ranks of the RAF as more and more or his friends died, he was soon seen as an experianced officer...he was 22.
he was called to join a special operation called "operation chastise" it was an elite group of pilots whose job it was to fly very low and drop a brand new bomb that could bounce. it had been invented by a gentleman called Barnes Wallace and as yet no one had seen it.

this elite group would forever be known as the 617 squadron or more commonly the "dambusters"

on the night of the operation he went and did his job. the bombs were dropped and despite losing most of his squadron he returned safely.
the squadron returned the following night.

when he returned to base in the early hours of the morning following a succesfull night he found that there had been many many casualties amongst the air crew that night and the german planes were destroying them in the skies.

despite having flown all night he got straight into his plane and went to help his friends.

unfortunatly his plane was hit by a falling german aircraft that had been shot down, his plabe lost a wing and crashed. my great grandad did not survive.

my great gran was 5 months pregnant.

my gran was invited to collect many medals awarded to my grandad posthumously but she nver did. she was incredibly proud of her husband but she was also angry that he flew again.

i have never met my grandad but Thomas Johnson, you are the bravest man i have ever known of and my poppy is for you and all those who gave themselves tp save others.

the poppies are to remember those who have fallen, how you feel about wae in general shouldn't cloud your view of them. i really don't think anyone can argue about the necessity of WW1 or 2?

Fattymumma
brilliant post
it is for men like that that i wear my poppy and do the silence and watch the march past.

you are so obnoxious.

it is not guardian school of moral relativism to point out that

-the british invented the concentration camp.
-the allied governments knew about the death camps for years and did nothing at all.
-genocide has occurred throughout history and still does

i'm not sure what you're suggesting: that a punitive reparations policy should have been implemented after the WW2: because that helped so much after WW1 didn't it?

you might want to consider how many tens of millions of people were systematically murdered by our allies (the Soviet Union) in bringing these dreadful Germans to account.

your grasp of twentieth century history is.....tenuous to be polite. evidently you need an arts degree.

what on earth are you arguing exactly??? it does seem that you are arguing that somehow the german race 'were' peculiarly evil (but not any more?). is that what you are arguing?

that was to domconnor btw...obviously i hope.

fattiemama, i think the white poppy symbolises remembrance of your grear-grandfather and the hope that future generations are not deprived of their husbands, fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers.

OH and IRA never used that, they might not be british, they were irish, but, ok, extrmemist.....but without the actual war....I really do not want to belittle what the german have done...but that dd not make the ther sides right in what they did to the innocent neither..and not all german women worked in bomb factorys..actually my grnadma was far to busy fleeing from their enemies with a few young Kids and pregant at the time...

To me a red poppy is a poignant reminder of the fallen, directly connected to the scourge of war whereas a white poppy has no significance for me. The poppy is a flower that blooms when the earth is disturbed - any newly ploughed land can produce a crop of red poppies - and thus represents the terrible turmoil of WW1.

In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

-----

I have no particular interest in war but a couple of years ago in France dh wanted to visit the Normandy beaches. I sighed but agreed to a day out there. To my astonshment I found myself incredibly moved by what I saw. The thought of all those mother's sons (not to mention the poor civilians) dying made me hope fervently my children will never have to face such conflict.

So, no british women have worked in bomb factories??Oh, and if they did..what did they believe that would do????sorry, war...differnt measure@ Not normal life!
Also, like I stated, my grandma and her pears were fleeing from their country Silesia which is now poland right through russia to reach from germany...so...guess what...wonder why they were going through russia to be safe in germany????Opinion there?
I will say it again, Hitler and Nazis were eveil shits...but germans in general should not be tarred by the same brush, there wee as in any other war, different reasons why you fight your side!

Harking back to my A level General Studies........."one mans freedom fighter is anoter mans terrorist"

suedonim, snap re normandy...this spring in fact....we went to pegasus bridge....i cried and cried....

but the poppy is the sign of the fallen soldier, not the fallen english soldier.

i will sit silent for those 2 minutes on sunday and shall think of ALL those who have given their lives through war. i dont think i have ever heard of a single soldier that actually had a hand in the cause or organisation of war. they are sent out to do their job, they follow orders and when in that situation it is kill or be killed.

my (paternal) grandad was conscripted at the very late stages pf the war and was sent to Japan. he would often help out at a military hospital and would speak to many of those who had been captured. thjere was a distrust at first as these men were the enemy but he said hge very soon realised these were simply men like him, forced to do a job he never applied for.

the ordinary soldier on both sides would have spent most of the day thinking of home and praying to see it again.

whichever "side" they were on they gave their life thrigh war, that makes them worthy of being remembered.

will oog off for now, as I am getting to worked up right now!

there are no poppies in germany. it is not an internationally recognised symbol but particularly linked to the british, and to france because that was the site of the WW1 battles that inspired it.