Tuesday 3 February 2015

Nobody Is Faultless In War

Over the last week or so, there has been a lot of coverage about the anniversary of the liberation of the death camps, and the death of Sir Winston Churchill. Although not really moved by the sight of yet another Thames flotilla, the sight, and consequently the thoughts that follow about the extermination camps always leave me with so many questions, and for some strange reason guilt.

When Germany was at war with most of the world, my father was a pilot in the Luftwaffe, and his own story is written a little of here, but he also had a brother, my uncle Horst. Uncle Horst wasn't a member of the regular German army, Luftwaffe, or navy, but a lieutenant in the SS.
Dad didn't talk of him much, but on the couple of occasions that his name came up, it was clear that the two brothers were poles apart in their beliefs and ideals.

After the death of my step mother, one of the thing's to surface was Uncle Horst's bible. I ended up with it for some reason, and apart from reading the inscription inside the front cover, have never opened it further, and it has been in the bookcase ever since. The coverage on TV of the holocaust made me think of this bible again, and once again questions as to what goes through the mind of an SS officer also surfaced. As far as I know, Horst was never anywhere near one of the camps, serving instead on the eastern front, and was killed before he reached twenty years of age. I wondered if his bible had any annotations, particularly worn pages, or passages circled, but on going through it's pristine pages, it's very clear that it was perhaps never even opened. It was given to him on his confirmation, a process that many of the SS had to undergo, to help to try and justify the nazi party in the atrocities that they were committing, and about to commit. The strong, Aryan, God believing face of the new Germany.



I don't know whether or not Horst ever questioned his actions. I like to think that if he was anything like my dad, then hopefully he did, even at his point of death.

I've seen on TV, and read on some of the blogs that I follow, issues surrounding whether Churchill was a great man, of whether the Jews are maybe dragging out the holocaust memories for too long, issues surrounding Dresden, Coventry, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. I have even witnessed a blogger being called a Nazi, simply because they held anti - Churchill views, a very dangerous accusation. An evocative period over the last week, that's for certain. 

Where do I stand, maybe nobody cares, but I do know that civilians have, and are being used as pawns in military games the world over. No country is innocent of war crimes.

Some may justify Dresden as being one of the atrocities that thankfully brought an end to the war. But the end cannot always justify the means. It was the planned and executed murder of an entire city of civilians for no other reason than to demoralise the German people. Coventry, like the Ruhr, was densely packed with munitions factories, and as such, both were unfortunately  viable military targets.

It is with no doubt that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought about an end to the Japanese conflict, but to wipe out two major civilian cities to do so? Could the bombs have not been dropped a little out to sea first, for the Japanese military to witness? Maybe not, I am not a military statistician or planner. I do know that while we see time and time again on TV and in the press, articles about how civilians are being targeted by various military organisations around the world, and in the same breath find it unacceptable, we also forget that it's not just the Germans and Japanese at fault, but also the British and Americans have committed what should amount to war crimes on a massive scale. The winning side is all too often hiding behind self righteousness though, and usually controls who get's tried for what.

Was Churchill a great man? Of course he was, as he united this nation at a time when it could very easily have lost the war.  It's just a shame that the British public decided that just after the war he was no longer quite so great and kicked him out. Was Hitler great? Maybe he was, as he led the German people to victory in most of Europe, but he was also very wrong in his ideology, and thankfully Germany lost the war. It all depends on what we measure 'greatness' by.

Should we forget the holocaust?

In my mind, both WW1, WW2 and the holocaust should be taught and discussed as part of EVERY world school's curriculum. We should NEVER forget any of it. It can so easily happen again if we get complacent, and in fact is in various ways across the world even now.

It's difficult to put such an emotional topic into words, as even now I feel that my words don't truly convey my feelings.

I will leave you with my own memorial to all of those civilians who have, and are suffering in conflict. The first flower in our garden this year, which opened on January 2nd.


18 comments:

  1. Great post Gary.

    A wonderful first bloom of your gardens this year too. A lovely memorial.

    FlowerLady

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    1. Thanks Lorraine,
      The Camellia is way too early, and now we have had snow for the first time in a year......yey!

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  2. i dont think any words, from anybody, anywhere, do justice to the suffering that has happened in human history but all of us must think of our own ways to reflect and remember, it is the only way forward.

    the camellia is beautiful and fitting

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    1. Hi Kylie,
      I do agree. If we do nothing more than remember and reflect, then hopefully it can change things for the future. It does seem like a never ending plight though sometimes.

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  3. This is too serious for a glib reply but I'm going to be glib. A secular State would be a start.

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    1. Adrian, I know that atheists see a secular state as the answer to everything from mass genocide to the price of supermarket beer, I have to disagree. Most of the world's countries are secular states, and it hasn't helped much.

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    2. Gary, I'm not an atheist. If I have one belief it is that religion is evil, this is not the place to debate it. I'll do a post expressing my opinion. I like hearing your views but we will never agree.

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    3. Then I apologise Adrian.I had assumed from some previous comments that you didn't actually believe that God exists.

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  4. Well said. There are no winners in war. There are few black and white answers.

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  5. Whenever I read about war, I think how amazing our world could be if all the resources, time and effort had been put into something productive instead of destructive.

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    1. I totally agree. When you think of all the billions of dollars spent world wide each year on weapons and war, mankind should hang it's head in shame.

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  6. I agree wholeheartedly - there are never any winners in the hell that is war...

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  7. Hell is a good description of it all.

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  8. Thank you for commenting on my blog Gary, so I can read your very interesting post. I am so sorry that my English is not good enough to take part in all the discution about those subjects at Blogland.I try a little but Idont do well. Personaly I have a few people who try to insult or make agressive comments in my blog becouse I Jewish ans Israeli so sometimes I feel that nothig is behinde us as we would like to think.

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    1. Hello Yael, it's nice to see you here on my blog. Unfortunately, I don't think that thing's will ever change, as mankind always forgets the lessons from previous years, whatever the nationality.

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  9. I think you intelligently and very eloquently spoke for a lot of people here Gary. It's really about common sense, balance and humanity. Greed and power are poison and destroy every mind they touch. It makes me sad how quickly people seem to forget the horrors and lessons of the not too distant past. Let's find peace and hope in our gardens.

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    1. Hello Rosemary,
      Peace worldwide would indeed be wonderful, but sadly while the multitude of worldwide cultures and nationalities is a blessing for all mankind, the myriad opposing viewpoints, attitudes and beliefs will always create friction.

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