Let me please first be clear here that the actions that were carried out during the Holocaust were horrific and unthinkably cruel, and I am truly saddened that such events took place and I in no way excuse what happened.
The guide who showed me Auschwitz and Birkenau repeatedly referred to the German people with phrases like 'Germans are so heartless and greedy, as to benefit from the killing of innocents...' Afterwards, I discussed with him the idea that not every German shared the views of those who were involved in carrying out during WW11, but yet also, there were people beyond their borders that did share the mentality of the Nazis, so that there could be a better way, a better term, than to refer to the German people in general when speaking about the Holocaust. From this, he assumed that I was from Germany, because it bothered me that all Germans, from both then and now, and only the Germans seemed to be blamed.
I received the comment, 'It must be so difficult for you to be in these places, knowing that your people committed these crimes.' Even I was of German heritage, why should I bear blame for what those before me had done? Further, myself and others being categorized in this way, this 'us' versus 'them' mentality seemed to be a limited viewpoint. It seemed to me that some people are perpetuating hatred towards the 'other', maybe not even realizing the torture they are doing to themselves by letting anger run through their veins.
I realize that this is the most sensitive of topics. My point is merely that in remembering and acknowledging what happened, and in continuing to bring justice to the atrocities that happened, it could done in ways that further enable a raised awareness of humanity.
Let me leave you here with the works of a Polish composer who expresses his emotions of these places:
Henyrk Górecki - Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
Hi Marie,
ReplyDeleteinteresting text.
Naturally, I share your view, and I just wonder if your guide was an official guide of the concentration camp.
If so, that is sad. Auschwitz (and the other camps) are too important for all mankind to remind us of what cruelty HUMANS can do to their kin.
That an official guide of such a place falls into stupid patterns of racism / nationalism, is just sad.
As a half German, with a grandfather who served in the "Wehrmacht" as a youth, and lots of other family members who lived through those difficult times without wanting that war or any massacre to happen, I am saddened that still to this day there is so much ignorance on all sides.
On the other hand - how naive are we? The Holocaust was the ultimate catastrophe, not only of the 20th century, but of all history that we are currently aware of.
As a German, I am sad that it were my ancestors who were blinded by fanatism and racism. As a human being, I am terrified that only 70 years lie between this unbearable terror and the present.
Everytime I think of WWII, I am ashamed to be of the same species (human, that is, not German) who committed such acts.
Well, back to your guide. I would have liked to talk to him. Tell him that during those times, the Germans were the "bad guys", yes. But not the only ones. They committed the unspeakable crime, but others, the French for example, were nearly a little bit too eager in delivering Jewish citizens to the then so-called "enemy". That in France, after the war, suddenly everybody was in the "Resistance" and nobody wanted to be seen as a supporter of Vichy and Pétain.
In reality, a large majority of French people were active and passive collaborateurs. Some out of fear, some out of hatred. Like always, everywhere, people have so many different motives. Nobody - also not I - would go and blame "the French people" for what they did (there are other dark chapters, like Sétif, in French history).
So, even though stupidity is close to uncurable, I would try to explain to your guide how stupid it is to charge an entire people with such accussations. Especially 70 years after, when a huge majority of Germans wonder about and regret for what their grandparents - actively and passively - did.
Hakim