Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Should We Remind Germans Of Their Great War Atrocities

Our soldiers: Now that the last of the veterans has passed away and a substantial anniversary looms, might it not also be time to look at the Great War in historical terms?

Why We SHOULD Upset The Germans - By Reminding Them Of Their Great War Atrocities -- Daily Mail

Oh dear. I think we can already see how this one is going to play out: mud, futility of war, lions led by donkeys, a bit of poetry, a nod to the nurses and the munitions girls and a solemn conclusion that it must ‘never be allowed to happen again’.

As we approach the centenary of the Great War, we must strenuously avoid acknowledging that it actually achieved anything, let alone that we were vaguely on the side of right. For that would commit two sins.

First, it might upset the Germans. Second, it might suggest that there was actually a point to all that slaughter.

And that would never do.

Read more ....

My Comment: My nationality is Russian .. so you can imagine all the education that was thrown at me on German atrocities and war crimes. With time I have come to accept what the Germans did during the war (i.e. the Second World War).... the Nazis were "bastards" and the good thing about the Second World War was that many of these "bastards" and their enablers were killed off. Saying that .... it is now time to move on.

Unfortunately .... my position is a minority one .... at least in Russia. But in the rest of Europe I am seeing change, and with each succeeding generation a lesser concern of who to blame and more on examining the history of the conflict from an analytical/historical point of view .... starting with the First World War. The emotion is no longer there ... and I suspect that 50 years from now many of the emotions that are present on the Second World War will also dissipate .... and future generations will look at the Second World War in the same way that we look at past wars like the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Napoleon wars, etc.. 

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