Posted on 04/07/2003 11:22:23 PM PDT by Avoiding_Sulla
Dear Germany: Have you learned anything? April 8, 2003 I grew up, as many Americans and nearly all Jews did, with a deep anger at your country. But as a young man, I began to rethink my views of Germans. Against the wishes of almost everyone I knew -- most of whom would not even buy a German product -- I decided to go to Germany. My visit in 1968, at the age of 20, was the first of at least a dozen trips to your country. In fact, I became a defender of yours. I argued that it was wrong to hold any German who had been younger than 13 years old during the war morally responsible for your country's horrific crimes. I chose the age of 13 because in Judaism, that is the age of moral culpability. I argued in 1968 that every German then under the age of 40 must be regarded as blameless, and we should not assume the worst of every German over 40. I argued that because Volkswagen and Mercedes defied the Arab boycott and did business with Israel, Jews should not boycott German products. I argued that you were our staunch ally in the Cold War in confronting Soviet Communism. I argued, most important of all, that Germans were ashamed of their Nazi past and had learned great moral lessons from it. The last argument, I now realize, was more hope than fact. There is no question that the vast majority of Germans are ashamed of Nazism and the Holocaust. But I am now as certain as I am sad that you learned nothing about good and evil from it, and that you are as confused morally today as you were when you supported Hitler. Not because you are evil, but because you cannot recognize evil. This is stunning. Unlike the Japanese, who have ignored their atrocities against the Chinese and Koreans, you confronted your evil. You taught the next generations of Germans about Nazism and about the Holocaust. It is therefore incredible that all that education about evil has produced a generation that shies away from judging, let alone confronting, evil. It boggles the mind that a nation that was liberated from Nazism solely by armies waging war should embrace pacifism, that a nation that saw what appeasement of evil leads to now embraces it. I was sure that some German leaders would stand up and say, "My fellow Germans, we know a Hitler when we see one, and Saddam Hussein is one." But no German stood up to say this. Instead one of your leaders compared the American president to Hitler. I was sure that some German leaders would stand up and say, "My fellow Germans, we know genocidal anti-Semitism when we see it, and we see it in the Arab world." But no German leader stood up to say this either. Few of us expected anything from the French. From the Jacobins and the guillotine, to the Dreyfus trial, to the Vichy regime, to de Gaulle's withdrawal from anti-Communist NATO, France, with rare exceptions, has done little that is moral and nothing that is courageous. So the disdain that many Americans have long felt for France has merely been reinforced. But I think that I speak in the name of many Americans in saying that we expected more of you. Because of what we did for you after World War II and during the Cold War. Because you, of all people, know that Americans are a decent people. And especially because of your experience with evil. How could you have produced a Hitler and not recognize another one just one generation later? How could you know firsthand about torture chambers and children's screams and not ache to end them in another country? How could you side with amoral France against your friend America? There is, it would seem, only one answer. Nazism taught you nothing. Instead of learning that evil must be fought, you learned that fighting is evil. But thanks for Bach.
Dennis Prager
How much time have you spent in Germany? I have lived here most of my life and can tell you that your claim is absolute B.S.
Read Prager's article again, he has it right.
Also, your vitriolic attack on DBtoo is uncalled for and you should apologize.
Since the 70s, there has been a lot of hateful propaganda against the Germans, and it has worked remarkably well, as your post shows. I'm sorry you feel so much anger and hate, it can only be harmful to you. This attitude of some concerns me because it doesn't have to be that way; it's a needless suffering of sorts.
I don't believe the Dutch were complicit in the extermination of the Jews. I lived in Holland a few years ago, and they too hate the Germans and have deep resentments because of the brutal occupation of Holland. Many Dutch starved to death, and the Nazis took away Dutch Jews as well. Please do not judge people collectively, that only leads to needless suffering and continued violence. I stand by my statement that not all Germans who were not Jewish worshipped Hitler. Many hid Jews and gave up their lives to try to get rid of Hitler and the nazis. Those people do deserve to be remembered. The 2 college students, who were a brother and sister aged 19 and 20 were beheaded in public. Perhaps you are thinking of a similar incident. But resentment and hatred are bad for your heart and your spirit. This is not a perfect world, and at times evil is unleashed.
Jews were a main target, as were Gypsys, Catholics, and homosexuals, and those who disagreed with Hitler. I'm sorry you have so much anger in your heart. If you knew the entire truth you would see things in an entirely different light, and your heart would be free of such hatred. I lost my real grandfather there; he was executed.
Here's a Swiss article BMCDA sent me. It is long (too long for me to translate right now), however it does fit in nicely with Prager's article.
Ist die «Umerziehung» zu weit gegangen?
Re: My thoughts on the posts on these threads:
I think the German baby boomers have had the history of the 2nd world war 're-educated' completely out of them. I don't think they could make any comments over the events in the 30's and 40's that were based on objective material.
People who I have talked to, including those who were German WWII vets, including Germans who were POW's in Russia and the US, never indicated to me that the only remorse was that they lost the war. Those decades were terrible times of millions of deaths and incredible destruction. I have never met anyone who enjoyed it or was interested in a re-do.
longjack
Good point. It could happen anywhere, and it does happen because many people assume their country's leaders are always right. When people stick their heads in the sand, and stop questioning, it makes it too easy for those with evil motives to take over.
Others, like my grandmother and step-grandfather escaped when it became too late. They did so by hiding in a cargo ship which came to America where they settled.
There has been a lot of negative material put out over the years claiming all Germans were at fault. This is simply not true and impossible if you really think about it; in every country of the world there are some very kind people with love in their hearts for all people. Many during WW2 did hide Jews, risking their lives. The human nature never changes. Germans are not inherently evil; there are evil ones and some very brave moral ones. You have to remember too that there was a very successful propaganda campaign carried out, and people being what they are, always thinking their nation and their people are right, fall for it. Those who think for themselves and do some research find the truth.
A good and thoughtful article, which clarifies some of the things I had been thinking about. Thank you for the link!
longjack
????????????????
Trust you to blame the Jews for their own deaths
For anyone to blame the Jews and not the nazis for the extermination campaign against the Jews is absurd, and I said nor implied any such thing as you know. Please open your eyes and your heart.
Either you have me confused with someone else, or you are using dishonest smear tactics. I've never even thought such an idea. It's impossible to debate someone who is not capable of having an honest discussion. I care about people and respect human life very much thankyou. I care about you because you must be unhappy being so obsessed with blind hatred. It's just not healthy. Please try to be more honest and understanding, and realize there are some good Germans out there too.
You are right, it does take someone special to fight evil. More important it takes that one special leader to recoginize evil, then rally his people to defeat that evil.
Chamberlin," peace in our time" was not that leader. Winston Churchill was. And he met the evil of Hitler headlong, not with compromise, or treaty but with war.
Does the women in the garden have the power of Churchill, or President Bush? She does if she wants to. All she has to do is stop digging in the garden long enough to realize that there is evil all around her, and she can stop it just by lifting her head out of the garden(sand)to realize it.
I never quite thought of her being that evil. You may be right. She just may have the characteristics for another Hitler or Saddam. Let us pray she never is put in a position where she could use her evil ways. First Lady was too close for comfort.
Again, it is hard to stand up to a cruel totalitarian regime. Look at what Saddam did to such people.
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