It’s Unthinkable
On our recent trip to Germany, we decided to go off the beaten path and stop at a little isolated town between Hamburg and Bremen. Very clean streets, and very polite people, but something was amiss. At the intersections, some of the lampposts flew surprising banners: red, white, and black flags with a stylized eagle, and others with an iron cross. They were vaguely familiar but we hadn’t seen them anywhere else in Germany.
After having some lunch, we went for a stroll in a nearby park and sauntered over to a statue of a man on a pedestal. In German it honored the young architect who had designed the town’s municipal building, Albert Speer. Could it be Albert Speer, the chief architect for the Third Reich? We quickly walked back to our car sensing that we had come to know something we weren’t supposed to know. We now feared that those vaguely familiar banners were in fact Third Reich banners.
We decided that it was best to leave town quickly but we needed to gas up. There was a gas station on the way out of town, so we stopped to fill up, but while pumping I gasped to notice an unmistakable sticker on the side of the pump. It was the bent cross of a swastika, plain as day.
In Germany you don’t pay at the pump, you pay inside. I now dreaded going inside to pay. I took a deep breath and walked in. I paid. When he gave me change, a timidly asked why that sticker was on the pump. He smiled and answered “Dies sindSymbole des Erbe, nicht Hass,” these are symbols of heritage, not hatred.
A nation started and prosecuted a terrible and bloody war defending indefensible racial supremacy. After losing the war, that same nation repented and came to realize that it was on the wrong side of history, and has taken many strides to make amends. Is it possible that there are pockets of its population that build monuments and still fly banners of the Third Reich? The fact is, it is not possible. I made up the entire story. There was no such town, there were no such statues or banners. I invented the story for one purpose only, to demonstrate the unbelievable. You instinctively knew when reading it that in 2023 it was unthinkable.
Now let’s talk of another very short-lived nation, the Confederate States of America, which started and prosecuted a terrible and bloody war defending indefensible racial supremacy. After losing the war, it is presumed that they repented, and came to realize that they were on the wrong side of history, and have taken many strides to make amends. Is it possible that there are pockets of that population that build monuments and still fly Confederate banners? Indeed there are! When asked how they could justify such acts, a typical response is that it’s “heritage, not hate.”
We should expect no less of the United States than we expect of Germany. Should we allow the public display of monuments and banners of the Confederacy?
It’s unthinkable.
Thank you for this very enlightening and clear of double standards on behalf of many Americans especially the corrupt members and the low IQ pretend leader.
As a Germanophile for many years, I can attest and support your point. I recall when visiting the soul-aching scenes of the Auschwitz and Birkenau (aka Auschwitz ll) which are, by the way and, to my surprise, located in proximity to each other.
Anyway, the reason I mention this is because we tourists and searchers for the deeper understanding and appreciation of Germany’s past, and, I will add, what humans are capable of, noticed a couple of German company couches pull up at the entrance and out of which poured many German students.
As usual, my curiosity got the better of me so when one of the students, who was about 16 or 17 years old, happened to be part of our tour group, I asked if they had travelled from Germany? He replied that they did and left early in that morning. I also asked if he had an interest in his countries history. “Of course,” he replied a little amused, as if it was a silly question and then added, "learning about our country’s involvement in World War 2 is compulsory for all students!” He continued to explain that visits to places like Auschwitz and Birkenau, were although not compulsory because it meant travelling to a foreign country, and are encouraged, because it makes us realise that this should never happen again. I asked what do they study? He told me they learn about their country’s Nazi past including the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party, as well as the persecution of the Jews and other minorities, the structure and function of the concentration camps, Germany’s responsibilities and post-war reconciliation and much mnore. Consequently, visits to memorial sites like Auschwitz, Dachau, Bergen-Belsen or Buchenwald are a recommended inclusion of the learning experience.
The German government has continued to emphasis “Erinnerungskultur” meaning, culture of remembrance, which stresses that acknowledging and learning for the past is essential to preserving democracy and human rights.
So, compared that education to American students when or if they learn about their past? Incidentally, this is another indictment on this current American administration for getting rid of the Federal Education Department.
You’ve offered a very sly view of how the U.S. failed to make good on the military defeat of the Confederacy in 1865. That’s because the racist Andrew Johnson in the White House had no intention of Reconstruction and the integration of black people into the general population. This led to the return of Confederate generals as U.S. senators. We are still a nation divided—some more than ever, but no, we’ve been divided formally ever since the compromises that got 13 colonies together in 1787.