NORTHAMPTON — Strong rains fell down on City Hall on Friday, but that didn’t stop around 100 protesters from gathering around its steps. In fact, the somber weather made for a fitting analogy for John Paradis, who helped organize the rally.

“Here we are, the dark skies, the rain, the storms seem endless,” Paradis, of Florence, told the crowd. “And yet, all of you here in the valley took the time today to come here to stand up and say, ‘stop fascism.’ And we all as Americans need to do that.”

The crowd convened to mark the 104th birthday of Sophie Scholl, who was a student at the University of Munich when she was executed by the Nazis in 1943 for distributing antifascist leaflets. Scholl had been part of a resistance group known as the White Rose, and those gathered in Northampton brought white roses to the rally to mark the occasion.

“They tried to disseminate a lot of information that went against the Nazis,” said Colin Mew of Amherst, who spoke to the Gazette at the rally. “What we’re trying to do is honor their legacy of speaking out against authoritarian regimes, even when it’s scary to do so.”

In remembering Scholl, the rally also strove to make parallels between the events of 1940s Germany and actions taken by the current administration of President Donald Trump. Local speakers, before reading sections of the White Rose leaflets, highlighted the arrests of Rümeysa Öztürk, Kilmar Garcia and Andry Romero, all of whom have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under dubious circumstances during Trump’s presidency.

Richard Tedlow, a professor at Harvard University who spoke at the rally, said that in his view the parallels between the Nazi regime and the Trump regime shouldn’t be taken as just hyperbole, saying some of the language in the White Rose leaflets could be applied to today.

“We shouldn’t blink on this. The rule of law is under attack. The norms surrounding our politics are under attack,” Tedlow said. “The fourth leaflet of the White Rose states every word that comes out of the mouth of Hitler is a lie. I am not saying that Trump is Hitler, but in this particular [instance] something very similar could be said of Trump.”

Tedlow said Trump’s claims of having won the 2020 election over Joe Biden, and defending his supporters who breached the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021 was particularly disturbing.

“This lie is extraordinarily dangerous, because it strikes at the heart of democracy,” Tedlow said. “What democracy enables, and where every anti-democratic form of government fails is the peaceful transfer of power from one office holder to another. With this lie, Trump strikes a blow against democracy.”

Several paragraphs of the leaflets passed out by the White Rose were also read out loud, meant to highlight the parallels between Germany of the 1940s and today.

“It is the duty of each and every one of us to fight for our future, our freedom and honor in a political system conscious of its own moral responsibility,” one leaflet read, the one Scholl was caught with that lead to her execution. “The German name will remain forever tarnished, unless finally the young people of Germany stand up.”

The rally in Northampton on Friday was organized by Indivisible/Swing Left Western Mass, which has organized several rallies in the region in opposition to Trump and to billionaire Elon Musk, who has held considerable influence over the administration. Past protests by the group also have taken place in Springfield and on an overpass along Interstate 91.

Larry Pareles, a member of the Indivisble/Swing Left group, also addressed the crowd on Friday.

“We’re not powerless, we’re the majority, and we can stop this,” Pareles said. “Most Americans, including most Republicans, don’t want to live in a dictatorship. None of us do.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.