Remnants of war

The pudgy fingers of Adolf Hitler gave a soft and squashy handshake to all his luncheon guests, on a distant 1th of September. They had together decided to invade Poland... and that was the first of a series of events we would later call Second World War. That was roughly about 65 years ago. It could be a lot of time... but since I am here I think it is not enough. The wounds have not healed yet.

There is something that caught my attention since my arrival: Germans don't fly their flag. This could be a minor detail but I asked about the issue. They neither are used to sing the National Anthem. So, I discovered a certain relation between nationalist events and the Hitler's universe that, implicit, reach in the true that the German society still feels guilty for the horrors of war, in particular the old people, as my German teacher, for example.

When I was in Argentina I studied a lot about the German History, in particular about the time of the war. And it is a fact that the Holocaust was a consequence of the congruence of four major factors: the personality of Adolf Hitler, the Economic and Political situation of that time, the Culture, and the behaviour of the German society. And this last remark is the one who I am interested today. Some people say that Adolf Hitler's plans would not have developed in a different context, and that is why the Germans feel ashamed. Their parents, grandparents or great grandparents who might have voted for Adolf Hitler in the last free elections in 1933 could still be held accountable, even indirectly, for the war, the Holocaust and Nazi crimes.

I think all nationalities have done atrocities, some more than others, and I am frankly ashamed because I have to say in my country really horrible events happened during the military dictatorships. Every nationality has something in its past that it is not proud of. Americans have black slave trade and the near genocide of the Native Americans. Spanish have the Spanish Inquisition. Russians, Chinese, and Japanese have their fair history of atrocities. Chile, for example, shares some similarities with Argentina, and I am sorry because I know I am leaving a lot of other countries out.

From the moment I arrived I have never heard someone neglected work or speak bad things about it. I noticed that Germans like to work... they see it as a blessing and not as a sacrifice. That is really to highlight. I think we have to base our pride on those things that we have to be proud of, and don't worry about people who we can't change. The History is full of war genocide and plundering, and it is sad, but any people can resort to that behaviour if the situation is there. The History is not to make us feel embarrased, but to prevent things like that from happening again.