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| Marshal Zhukov reading the German Instrument of Surrender in Berlin, Germany on March 8, 1945. Also seen Arthur Tedder, Marshal of the Royal Air Force. [A] |
As a late baby-boomer, I grew up among people who experienced WWII first hand. We were their children.
My youth’s old-timers carried with them bad, bad memories. Rancour towards Germans wasn’t unusual, even among those who were never directly affected. It wasn’t unusual either, for us kids to hear from our elders that “the only good German is a dead German”.
Forgiveness, I guess, was a lot easier for us, kids.
Back then that rancour had always, invariably, angered me. No matter how many bad guys, or how bad they were – I would reply – there were good Germans too, surely? Blanket condemnations are inherently unjust. Those good Germans deserved not only to be spared but acknowledged.
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Without realising it, I was – like Abraham in chapter 19 of Genesis – begging for God’s mercy on behalf of the few righteous ones of Sodom and Gomorrah.
But my anger wasn’t only because of the injustice: that resentment was a burden my elders carried with them, making them intransigent and incapable of self-critique. It was also like a poison, making them bitter and self-satisfied. If not for that rancour – I thought – they could have been happier, better.
And we ourselves may have been better than the Nazis, but we were no saints, as millions of people all over the world would agree: judge not lest ye be judged.
But my anger wasn’t only because of the injustice: that resentment was a burden my elders carried with them, making them intransigent and incapable of self-critique. It was also like a poison, making them bitter and self-satisfied. If not for that rancour – I thought – they could have been happier, better.
And we ourselves may have been better than the Nazis, but we were no saints, as millions of people all over the world would agree: judge not lest ye be judged.
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And yet, as I go into my old age, I’ve come to wonder if my youthful forgiveness wasn’t too easy and I’m finding a renewed appreciation for my elders’s Germanophobia. Maybe neither they were so wrong, nor I was so right as I believed.
It took some time. For a while, Germans’ unwillingness to join the “Coalition of the Willing” gave me hope progress was possible. A more independent Europe – with Germany at its core – could act as a moderator to the US.
It took some time. For a while, Germans’ unwillingness to join the “Coalition of the Willing” gave me hope progress was possible. A more independent Europe – with Germany at its core – could act as a moderator to the US.
But then, the unforgivable German attitude towards their southern neighbours during the GFC made my hopes falter for the first time.
Deep down, I think, Germans welcome Putin’s aggression for it gives them the chance to say “it’s not just us who are monsters”: misery loves company. You don’t need to raise yourself, it’s enough to sink others to your own level. It’s easier.
We should not forget, even if Russians look European, they are not European … They think differently about violence or death. They have no concept of a liberal, post-modern life, a concept of life that each individual can choose. Instead, life simply can end early with death. — Florence Gaub, deputy director at the EU Institute for Security Studies.But it’s with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that things got clearer to me. The feeling I get is that after defeat Germans did not really learn from their own sins. Instead, they just grew envious of the victors’ self-righteousness. German hypocrisy and bigotry — as Gaud demonstrates — never had a more attractive face.
Deep down, I think, Germans welcome Putin’s aggression for it gives them the chance to say “it’s not just us who are monsters”: misery loves company. You don’t need to raise yourself, it’s enough to sink others to your own level. It’s easier.
Instead of independent and pacifist, Europe and Germany learned their place as American vassals.
And it’s an opportunity all the sweeter because – English-speakers’ chauvinism notwithstanding – the Soviet Union was the chief responsible for Germany’s defeat in WWII.
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So, yes, ahm defelopink a shtronk dislike fuer Tchermin shcum. I feel no pride admitting it.
And sometimes I wonder if the world would not have been better off if the Morgenthau plan, instead of the Marshall plan, had been put into practice.
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| [B] |
And sometimes I wonder if the world would not have been better off if the Morgenthau plan, instead of the Marshall plan, had been put into practice.
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It’s with relief that I read Wolfgang Streeck’s latest. To some measure, it restores my earlier faith that at least some Germans are not cowardly, stupid, hysterical, greedy, cruel, hypocritical (not that many of my own compatriots are much better, actually).
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Today is VE Day.
I will formulate a wish for this day. Given that it has been reported that all civilians trapped in Azovstal have been evacuated with the assistance of the Red Cross, I hope Russian forces, before storming the steel mill, offer Ukrainian fighters a last chance to surrender, under the protections granted by the Geneve Conventions, supervised by the Red Cross. Russian authorities must also guarantee medical treatment, assisted perhaps by Red Cross, to those injured.
The Russian military, however, will reserve the right to investigate Ukrainian POWs for their behaviour. If anyone is charged with war crimes, the trial will be public with the supervision of the Red Cross.
Image Credits:
[A] Marshal Zhukov reading the German Instrument of Surrender in Berlin, Germany on March 8, 1945. Also seen Arthur Tedder, Marshal of the Royal Air Force. File in the public domain.
[B] Source WikiMedia. File in the public domain.
Image Credits:
[A] Marshal Zhukov reading the German Instrument of Surrender in Berlin, Germany on March 8, 1945. Also seen Arthur Tedder, Marshal of the Royal Air Force. File in the public domain.
[B] Source WikiMedia. File in the public domain.
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