Thank you for a dispassionate but thoughtful reply.
Let me begin by correcting my statement which no doubt leads to a misapprehension which I sensed the minute I saw it published on the screen. My observation, "It is possible to say that the Germans were guilty and the Poles were not, for example,” was meant to apply to war guilt rather than to a history of anti-Semitism, of which the polls are certainly "guilty"just as were the Russians, as you noted.
I am not sure that it is only the Germans who would have effected the Holocaust. It is clear that a quarter-century earlier the Turks explored the possibilities and a couple of decades earlier the Soviets were pretty brutal to the kulaks. We have had tens of millions murdered in China and the Vietnamese were brutal after they swept over the South. The killing fields of Cambodia reflect a kind of blind murderous outburst which killed about one third of its people. I am reminded of Churchill's wartime speech which I do not quote exactly but was to the effect that if the Nazis prevailed the world would descend into a new dark age made more terrible by the lights of perverted science. I don't know how much of the Holocaust was the product of the German soul, of 20th century technology and science, or the fanaticism of Hitler and his henchmen. I suspect it was some combination of all three.
Incidentally, for the record I am not German I'm merely live in Germany.
Let me conflate two matters. First, my comment that, "it is not proper to vest the sins of the father onto the son" and your observation that, "Germany, as a nation bears this sin." I know you have tried to square the circle but the two concepts are fundamentally incompatible-at least once the guilty generation has died off. It seems to me that for a German to bear any guilt for the Holocaust he must've arrived at least at the age of puberty by the beginning of the war, 1939. That would make these people nearly 80 years old today. More than 90% of the population feels that they are not personally guilty for the crimes of their fathers.
At some point these Germans have a legitimate complaint about paying reparations and you quite rightly note that time is drawing near. Incidentally, I do not assert that this is the exclusive cause of German anti-Semitism which I believe exists, I think it is a point which is seized upon. But as an American, I question whether United States foreign policy concerning Israel should be dictated by the historical reality of what Germans did to Jews? I have not argued this case much since Obama came into office because I believe he has sold out to the Muslim Brotherhood and this and/or his Marxist background make him an enemy of Israel. I do not want to associate myself with those motives.
If we insist that "Germany as a nation bears this sin" do we not leave ourselves intellectually defenseless to saying that Jews as a group bear responsibility for the advance of communism? If we are going to draw these conclusions, these invidious distinctions based on race or ethnicity, where does logic make us stop? May I say that stereotypes which you use in irony such as, "those money grubbing Jews” become legitimate debating points? At what point do we become what we abhor?
I am an American-Israeli. Born & bred in Michigan, raised as a Patriot, NRA and my father served in the USAAF in WWII. So, mine is a Patriot yet Zionist (not an evil word) background.
You stated: “I am not sure that it is only the Germans who would have effected the Holocaust”
and then you go on to cite all the bloody events of the 20th century carried out by various regimes. That's fine.
Yes, genocide has happened before WWII and after it but what makes this word “Holocaust” so unique for Germany and that was not done before or since is based on two main points:
1) Sheer scale of the killing machine, the absolute commitment of all of the nation's resources in order to completely eliminate a race forever and destroy any sign that it ever existed and...
2) The advanced Industrial/Technological tools and systems used to carry it out.
This differentiates the German experience in WWII from the Turks, Russians and Chinese slaughters that have ever been carried out.
Who, other than the problematic German cultural soul with their MOST ADVACNED 20th century technology and science could have done this? You and I know that Germans are industrious (I worked with Siemens) who see a project to the very end, in detail and precision. Who else has combined the concept with the technological tools other than the Master race?
Now to an issue that I thought might come up and it is a classic.
You stated: “But as an American, I question whether United States foreign policy concerning Israel should be dictated by the historical reality of what Germans did to Jews?
I really don't want to go off on a tangent here about Israel but if that is what you'd like, fine with me.
US Foreign policy is not “dictated” by war crime guilt for Israel. Israel has every right to exist and thrive. It had that right in 1919 and it had it in 1948. The world did feel sorry for the Jews in 1945 but the idea for establishing a Jewish homeland is as old as the Bible. Jews have lived in the land always but not in huge numbers.
The US and the West supported Israel because it represents the Judeo-Christian West, values, concepts, freedoms and yes, even in this region, Democracy.
When the West needed a bulwark against the USSR and her Arab satellite nations, the US supported Israel but that really did not start seriously until AFTER the 1967 war. Not before. That is to say, Israel potentially could have lost in 1948, 1956 and 1967 and there would have been not a crocodile tear shed by anybody.
I use stereotypical terms to drive home point. I have no problem writing down antisemitic slurs because when we talk about these subjects, all the cards need to be on the table. I hold nothing back and I believe in stark honesty in order to get past these hurdles.
I know what I am saying is an affront to you and I apologize for that. I refer time and time again to the German soul as being uniquely dark and violent. It is in there somewhere, do you not agree? Isn't that what S. Kubrick was alluding to in the film, ‘A Clockwork Orange’, you know, Beethoven, culture vs. violence?
In your responses I note several points that concern me.
1) Are you attempting shake off my “German Soul” idea by demonstrating that other cultures were, “just as bad”?
2) Israel exerting “undue”? influence on US Foreign Policy.
3) Jews as the main disseminating force of world Communism.
Now, I am an ardent anticommunist and a Conservative. The points you raise are yours to be raised freely but they remind me of classic anti-Jewish (Zionist) talking points.
The idea that the US is somehow controlled by Jews is a classic libel.
The idea that Jews pushed the Communist agenda is also a classic and I think we have to be careful here because I am capable of going off on multiple tangents and we might stray from the main point here.
In any event I do not wish to become that which I abhor.