To Err is Human but Divine to Forgive

This April marks the anniversary of liberating the death camps. It's been some 40 years since the end of the long and destructive war. Much discussion has been held. Americans, Russians and Englishmen have gathered and debated the merits and faults of the war that was to bring an end to all wars.

The colossal mobilization of the United Front has never been reproduced. The end of the Fatherland dream of a "Deutschland uber alles" has come and the hellish slaughter has been brought to an end. Great speeches are held and countries make statements with great resolve. Never will despots and tyrants rule the world. Genocide, an unthinkable word. The clergy intones "we are one people, have we not one father. Religious leaders preach, "Forgive and forget." Forge ahead and it will never, ever happen again. Words of comfort and determination are heard over and over.

The American eagle stands proud and strong; the Russian bear, suspicious and hungry; the English are preoccupied with daily internal strife. But all in all, we the allies of the past, have come to terms.

Alas, Germany now speaks again! I hear a voice so unnerving, so ghostly, accusing, damning and, most of all, arrogant. "I do not believe in collective guilt," states the new German leadership. "As Germans, we will bear the responsibility. But this we do only because we are a noble and proper people! Our Teutonic nation has the funds; guilt is of the past! A possessed Germany of old times, things have changed. Yes, the shame is gone."

How strange, The Los Angeles Times, Sunday, February 10, 1985, runs a heading article, "40th Anniversary of Allied Attack on Defenseless City. Bitterness Over Dresden Raid Remains." In a report by Philip Williams, U.P.I., we are told that Dresden citizens and leaders will not forgive us for the awful alliance fire bombing. Dresden Mayor, Gerhard Shill, is quoted, "Dresden had not strategic importance. It was full of refugees and was one of the world's most celebrated architectural treasures. The raid was barbaric." When asked for the exact amount of refugee deaths, whether it was 100,000 or 130,000, the report says that the good Mayor was, "clipped and grim on the subject. Isn't 35,000 enough?" he said. It seems that we have been bombed needlessly. You Americans and British will carry the guilt.  The hurt is forever, they seem to say.  Perhaps Mayor Schill should try to count six million Jews when he thinks of numbers!

The front page heading of The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, February 19, 1985 reads, "Inheritors of Sin, Bonn's Policy Makers Are Still Handicapped By The Nazis" Misdeed, Forced To Dwell On The Past, They Pursue World Goals With Vigor Held In Check, Time To Move On To future?" The German leadership is hurting. They are resentful. The new Germany bemoans their plight that the world will not forgive and allow them to move ahead in the right direction - how insensitive!

The paper reports the following, "Dachau, West Germany - Do Not Forget." For Alois Mertes, who was a German soldier and 23 years old when the war ended, the words stand for something that he must deal with every day as he helps formulate West German foreign policy. "I totally reject the notion of collective guilt," says the deputy foreign minister. "But it belongs to the dignity and ethics of German foreign policy never to forget that these things were done in the German name."

Who would believe that I, as a proud American citizen, would be reading this, how in a short 40 years span we would be blamed for barbaric acts on a defenseless city. The German nation did engulf the entire world in flame and death. They, in their cruel methodical ways, brought total annihilation to millions. The devastation of so many countries and cultures will never be understood.

They will not forgive us, yet they, in their New Germany, as to be allowed to forget. Well, I would like to tell Germany to learn her lessons better! It's only because of our present troops and spilt blood that the nature of your beast has not been allowed to conquer itself. Whether our President visits the death camps on his visit is not of great importance. The very fact of remembering and not forgiving is! Remembering the holocaust and who started it is what furthers goodness, understanding, and the uplifting of civilization.

True, it's human to err, but only the divine can forgive.