Controversy over sale of white poppies
-03/11/05
A church minister has provoked contro
Controversy over sale of white poppies
-03/11/05
A church minister has provoked controversy by selling white poppies which symbolise peace, at his church in Ipswich.
The Rev Andrew Kleissner has suggested that the white poppy be worn alongside – or instead of – the traditional red poppy.
Some war veterans however have branded the move ‘disgraceful’.
Peter Thompson, chairman of the Ipswich branch of the Royal British Legion and the Poppy Appeal organiser for Ipswich and district, said: ìThe red poppy doesn’t promote war in any way. It’s red for blood and has a black centre for grief.
ìI feel very sad. I have spoken to several volunteers and they all feel the same. We are out there trying to sell poppies and this comes along. I think it’s disgraceful.î
Dunkirk veteran Bernard Sharp, said: ìThe red poppy is a symbol of help and to remember those who’ve died. I lost and lots of friends in the war. Nobody wants war but we have to respect those who died. I don’t recognise the white poppy.î
The white poppies have been around since 1933 and were developed as a response to those who see war as regrettable, but necessary. Those producing them suggest that the red poppies are part of a portrayal of war as grim and regrettable yet sometimes necessary and sound in purpose. The white poppy represents another view that war is neither necessary nor purposive, and sets out to challenge what some see as comfortable and convenient formulations of the kind perpetuated every year on Remembrance Day.
The culture surrounding Remembrance Day has developed to give comfort to those bereaved by war, but also to give justification to the state that embarked on it, say the producers of the poppies. ëThey did not die in vainí implies ëthe war had a valuable purposeí. For those producing the white poppies this is a lie that has been “repeated sanctimoniously every day of remembrance since 1918”.
Mr Kleissner, minister at Christ Church a united reformed/Baptist church came to Ipswich two months ago from a church in West London where he also used to sell the white poppies.
Mr Kleissner said: ìI bought a little packet of 25. I’ve got about ten or 12 left and I think I will carry on selling them. I didn’t mean to cause offence, it’s just something I’ve done for years. Christ said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’.
ìI don’t want to detract from the sale of red poppies and I don’t want to decry the memory of those who fought, but I want to look to the future and there are ways of solving problems that don’t involve conflict.î
Mr Kleissner’s own father, who came from Germany, was involved in the student anti-Nazi movement in the late 1930s and served in the British army during the Second World War.
You can buy white poppies here
Controversy over sale of white poppies
-03/11/05
A church minister has provoked controversy by selling white poppies which symbolise peace, at his church in Ipswich.
The Rev Andrew Kleissner has suggested that the white poppy be worn alongside – or instead of – the traditional red poppy.
Some war veterans however have branded the move ‘disgraceful’.
Peter Thompson, chairman of the Ipswich branch of the Royal British Legion and the Poppy Appeal organiser for Ipswich and district, said: ‘The red poppy doesn’t promote war in any way. It’s red for blood and has a black centre for grief.
‘I feel very sad. I have spoken to several volunteers and they all feel the same. We are out there trying to sell poppies and this comes along. I think it’s disgraceful.’
Dunkirk veteran Bernard Sharp, said: ‘The red poppy is a symbol of help and to remember those who’ve died. I lost and lots of friends in the war. Nobody wants war but we have to respect those who died. I don’t recognise the white poppy.’
The white poppies have been around since 1933 and were developed as a response to those who see war as regrettable, but necessary. Those producing them suggest that the red poppies are part of a portrayal of war as grim and regrettable yet sometimes necessary and sound in purpose. The white poppy represents another view that war is neither necessary nor purposive, and sets out to challenge what some see as comfortable and convenient formulations of the kind perpetuated every year on Remembrance Day.
The culture surrounding Remembrance Day has developed to give comfort to those bereaved by war, but also to give justification to the state that embarked on it, say the producers of the poppies. ëThey did not die in vain’ implies ëthe war had a valuable purpose’. For those producing the white poppies this is a lie that has been “repeated sanctimoniously every day of remembrance since 1918”.
Mr Kleissner, minister at Christ Church a united reformed/Baptist church came to Ipswich two months ago from a church in West London where he also used to sell the white poppies.
Mr Kleissner said: ‘I bought a little packet of 25. I’ve got about ten or 12 left and I think I will carry on selling them. I didn’t mean to cause offence, it’s just something I’ve done for years. Christ said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’.
‘I don’t want to detract from the sale of red poppies and I don’t want to decry the memory of those who fought, but I want to look to the future and there are ways of solving problems that don’t involve conflict.’
Mr Kleissner’s own father, who came from Germany, was involved in the student anti-Nazi movement in the late 1930s and served in the British army during the Second World War.