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.