The other day in my German class, a
term of striking relevance came up in discussion and the term is
Vergangenheitsbewältigung. True it is terrifyingly long as German words are oft
to get, but it means quite simply: coming to terms with the past. Yet what does
that really mean?
Germany is
a country responsible for one of the most atrocious acts of humankind with the senseless
death of 6 million people in what is collectively known as the Holocaust. It is
a scar that burns deep in every facet of German history, culture, politics, and
foreign policy. To Germans, they must realize and continue in realizing that,
due to the actions of their ancestors, they are the inheritors of a legacy of
pain and struggle. And they must and have made amends.
One of the
ways is financial and logistical, each survivor of the holocaust received a
stipend and West Germany conceded $1.5 billion in 1950s dollars to the resettlement
of 500, 000 Holocaust survivors in the new State of Israel. Actions such as
these continue to this day, the modern state of Germany issued another 772
million euros to the care of aging survivors as well. Likewise, Germany grants automatic
citizenship to all those who claim Jewish ancestry that can prove that their
family was displaced or victimized during the Second World War.
The school
and cities in Germany dedicate a significant portion of time and effort to
remember the holocaust, so that everyone is aware of its scale and the sheer
amount of human suffering. Starting in middle school, all German children learn
about what happened in the camps and what the German Army did in the occupied
countries. Today in just about every German town there relies a memorial that
states where a victim of the Holocaust lived, where they went, and when they
died. Streets that bore the name of Prussian generals and Nazis were changed
for members of the German Resistance. In Tubingen when I was abroad, they dedicated
an entire building to the siblings Scholl, who protested against Hitler and the
war.
Germany has
also made it an explicit point to restructure the way they present their
history and how certain political groups can form. The Nazi Party in all its
iterations are explicitly prohibited in Germany. The display of the swastika and
Nazi paraphilia is illegal. That does not mean right wing/fascist/ or extremist
groups cannot form, but they severely limited in the way that they can
advertise their ideology. This program has even come under fire because uses
this law to prevent the recognition of scientology. The German constitution
even states that all Germans have the right to resist any person that seeks to
destroy the democratic order of the Federal Republic of Germany. Germany does
this so what happened once can never happen again.
This idea
of Vergangenheitsbewältigung is a radical one, but it is needed. But the extent
of it places stark contrast with how we in the South choose to see our own
history. Did we in the South ever truly come to terms with the Jim Crowe and
Slavery? There are still monuments to Klansmen and the Klan itself; racism
still presents itself in many aspects of American life and culture; and the
current president-elect stoked the fires of hate so he could be elected. Or is
it really possible to overcome what happened so long ago?
I think the thought of Vergangenheitsbewältigung is idealistic. I just do not see the United States government creating a stipend for African Americans that were affected by the horrors of our past. I remember vividly in high school an alumnus of Rhodes College and history teacher telling me that the treatment of African Americans was not nearly as bad as what happened during the holocaust. I think his opinion rings true for many U.S. citizens. People fail to realize the lasting impact of Jim Crow and Slavery. Until people are willing to address the past, the U.S. will never have a chance to reach Vergangenheitsbewältigung.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great read, Michael!
We certainly need something like Vergangenheitsbewältigung, but it will never happen with the current government. A couple summers ago, I was talking with a friend who had gone to my boarding school but had grown up in Louisiana. She was wealthy and went to a good school in Baton Rouge, but she told me that the first time she had heard the Civil War called the Civil War was in high school. She had honestly learned it as "The War of Northern Aggression". The very states that are most guilty of needing Vergangenheitsbewältigung are the ones who are suppressing it the most. They will also block anything in the federal government. In the end, many don't feel the shame the Germans do. Our complicated history and the century of Jim Crow laws most likely contributes to that.
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