Sunday, June 06, 2004
Winston Schroeder
At that moment, for example, in 1944 (if it was 1944), the Germans were at war with the Nazis and in alliance with the US, UK, and France. In no public or private utterance is it ever admitted that the powers had at any time been grouped along different lines. Actually, as Winston well knows, it was only a few years since Germany had been at war with the US and UK and in fact, had been Nazis. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Germany was at war with the Nazis: therefore Germany had always been at war with the Nazis. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible.
Schroeder attended the D-Day events today and praised the Allies for liberating Germany from the Nazis. This foolish foray into German victimhood requires a willing suspension of memory or significant redefining of the word "liberate" to suppose that the Germans were liberated from the Nazis. In fact, we had to destroy the German army, raze numerous cities, and squat our armies on their land for decades to get them to stop fighting for the Nazi cause.
The Germans may indeed now recognize the folly of their way in WWII and may now be thankful for being defeated, but to suggest that the Germans were liberated from Nazism is foolish (and somewhat scary). I personally find it quite distasteful that Schroeder used the word "liberate" and equally distasteful that Chirac invited Schroeder to the D-Day ceremonies for the purposes of expressing just this sentiment.
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Schroeder attended the D-Day events today and praised the Allies for liberating Germany from the Nazis. This foolish foray into German victimhood requires a willing suspension of memory or significant redefining of the word "liberate" to suppose that the Germans were liberated from the Nazis. In fact, we had to destroy the German army, raze numerous cities, and squat our armies on their land for decades to get them to stop fighting for the Nazi cause.
The Germans may indeed now recognize the folly of their way in WWII and may now be thankful for being defeated, but to suggest that the Germans were liberated from Nazism is foolish (and somewhat scary). I personally find it quite distasteful that Schroeder used the word "liberate" and equally distasteful that Chirac invited Schroeder to the D-Day ceremonies for the purposes of expressing just this sentiment.
Comments(0) |
