Your do not understand the history of the period. Hitler's genocide was well known and clearly understood from the mid 30s by every Western leader. We - the Allies - chose to do nothing. The US did nothing. It was not our problem. There was rampant hatred of the Jews throughout Europe and the US. There was no concerted effort on the part of any nation to undermine the genocide.
WE are responsible just as surely as we are responsible for slavery in our country's history.
The US and much of Europe have sought to overcome their failure to come to the rescue of the Jews by supporting Israel. Similarly we have sought to overcome the degradation of slavery.
We have not, however, even begun to understand the culture of death we continue to celebrate. That is the profound message of the writer.
"Hitler's genocide was well known and clearly understood from the mid 30s by every Western leader."
Which genocide ?
Yes, Poles did nothing (there were the Allies too), instead of resisting Hitler they joined the Axis. Yes, Serbs did nothing, instead of challeging Hitler they formed pro-Nazi government in Yugoslavia. Yes, Greeks did nothing, instead of helping their Serbian friends they helped Hitler in invading Yugoslavia. Yes, we Poles, Serbs and Greeks are very guilty and we should pay reparations.
Everyone was pretty sure what the Nazis were going to do. It wasn't as much of a shock as we think today. Perhaps we could draw parallels to today.
There was some famous American who was either part of or used by the anti-semitic National Socialists ... I think it was Lindberg, but I'm not sure.
The socialist authoritarians killed those they had no use for. They believe most individuals are interchangeable pawns of the State.
The national socialist's thought themselves to be superior people..
-- The socialistic idea that some men have special abilities, that they have the 'culture, intelligence and power' to create rules for the rest of us, this idea is at the heart of the madness of Auschwitz, and of that in Mecca.
Amos the Prophet wrote:
Your do not understand the history of the period. Hitler's genocide was well known and clearly understood from the mid 30s by every Western leader. We - the Allies - chose to do nothing. The US did nothing. It was not our problem.
Hindsight is always perfect. Both history & our Constitution told us at the time that it was truly "not our problem" to interfere in the politics of national socialists. -- Or of the communists, who were actually practicing genocide in the 20's & 30's.
There was rampant hatred of the Jews throughout Europe and the US. There was no concerted effort on the part of any nation to undermine the genocide.
Nazi genocide did not start till well after '39, according to the history of the period that I've read. How could we make a 'concerted effort to undermine it' before declaring war?
WE are responsible just as surely as we are responsible for slavery in our country's history.
Speak for yourself Amos. -- We the people of the USA are bound by our Constitution, in which we abolished slavery, but wherein we have not yet assumed responsibility for policing the world.. -- And I doubt we could, even if asked.
The US and much of Europe have sought to overcome their failure to come to the rescue of the Jews by supporting Israel. Similarly we have sought to overcome the degradation of slavery. We have not, however, even begun to understand the culture of death we continue to celebrate. That is the profound message of the writer.
We in the US, when we follow the constitution, celebrate a culture of freedom, not death.
I can agree that many of our constitutional principles are not being followed. -- Can you?
It’s not clear to me that Hitler’s genocide was well known and clearly understood by himself in the mid 30's, much less by every Western leader. I base this on Hitler’s recorded (1941 - 1944) evening conversations at the dinner table and after dinner. Certainly, Hitler’s persecution of Jews and other ‘inferior’ peoples were known well before fall 1939 and the beginning of the War. Radio reports were full of stories about Brown Shirt rampages in the streets of German cities. William Shirer’s Berlin Diary was published in June of 1941. And, there were newsreel accounts. Once into the war, I’m sure the free western governments (and there weren’t very many of those) were aware of the Nazi’s increasingly intense murderous treatment of Jews and other captive peoples, but I don’t recall all that much was made known to the American people until near the end.
I’ve been following, as best I can, all this conversation about the many nuances of what ‘we’ means in terms of individual v. societal responsibility with respect to that era. It’s all rather interesting, and it serves, I think, to illustrate the complexities involved in the moral issues raised by the experiences of that time.
But, if that era serves to bring any lessons to us today (and I think it brings several), the most important lesson it brings is that you do not go to war only as a last resort. Had the allies called Hitler’s bluff and gone to war in 1938 in response to the ‘Munich crisis’ Europe might have been spared much of the agony of the following six years, and a lot of people, who never even saw life, might be walking around today.
I suspect (and I know of no way to prove this) that the desire to avoid trouble has probably brought as much trouble to the world as has any other calculation.