Perhaps, I don't know the NATO politics. And I think NATO has outlived it's usefulness anyway. The underlying Der Spiegel article is here, the essential pitch being OK, we came up with the idea, but plenty of individuals both actively participated or looked the other way. Which is true, even in Poland, but to blame nations, and the lead paragraph in the article states But the collusion of other European countries in the Holocaust has received surprisingly little attention until recently. is another thing. Perhaps if Hitler hadn't planned on enslaving Poles, a collaborationist government would have been formed, but it wasn't, so the charge falls short. IMO it's just a case of sure, we did it, but others did too. BTW, I don't think of them as a nation, but along with Poland, Denmark and Finland, I should have included the Vatican as not collaborationist regiems. And shame on the Brits for barring immigration to the Jewish homeland, their obligation under their League of Nations Mandate. Not a proud time for Europe, but it's not right to deflect blame.
I viewed this focus on the “accomplices” as NOT shifting the blame at all , but bringing to light , yes again, that it is simplistic to ignore the world wide anti semitism that existed during this era.
If we JUST look at the Germans ( who with their shame had not dared to write such an article until now ) we avoid our human “complicity” in evil roaming through the world.
It really goes to the core of Christianity that “none of us are without sin” and that Jesus came to ‘save us from our inherent sinfullness” and to present a victory over ALL evil.
I appreciate your reasoned and intelligent response to my post.
The article, interestingly enough, brings forth the whole discussion of the Jewish Question...which is now painfully at the heart (again) of the Israeli situation. So in a way, with this article, the Germans perhaps are calling all of the world to focus again that the globe is ignoring Israel’s plight.
I doubt that there is such subplot. Almost all Hitler's allies from Eastern Europe were in NATO before publishing of this article. NATO's policy is continuation of The Third Reich's Drang nach Osten. NATO's madness will end the same way as Hitler's, probably with more than 50 million dead, and this time it will not be 200 000 Americans and 49 800 000 others.
-Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria are in NATO since 1999. They repeated their WWII role in NATO's attack on Serbia by allowing their territory to be used as a staging area, the same as in 1941.All three countries had fascist governments and were Hitler's allies.
-Croatia and Albania are in NATO since early this spring. WWII Croatia operated the most barbaric extermination camps that even the German Nazis were shocked with Croatian savagery. They are not mentioned in Der Spiegel article. Nor are Albanians who provided one Waffen SS division for Hitler.
The only Hitler's helper outside of NATO are Bosnian Muslims but their manpower and territory is insignificant.
Ukraine can not be considered as Hitler's helper because it was only minority who did the killing on Hitler's behalf.