I have just finished reading a New Yorker article1 centering on the question of why the new pope, Ratzinger (now called Benedict), never made a formal visit to Dachau concentration camp, which was located in his bishopric. The article fans out into questions about the role of the Catholic Church in supporting/opposing Hitler and about the positions and actions of German leaders in condemning Nazi atrocities or in seeming to approve of the Nazi past by visiting cemeteries of SS troops.
Several of the church and government leaders who were mentioned, as well as theologians and ethicists commenting upon them, pointed out, at least in passing, that the important thing in whatever acknowledgement we give to past evils or evil-doers is that we make clear that such deeds must never be permitted to happen again. I felt that this point did not receive enough emphasis.
When I talked with Germans over the years, I started out with very mixed feelings. No German I met ever acknowledged any role in World War II or in the deeds of the Nazi government. And my first time in Germany -- as an exchange studen t -- was just fifteen years after the end of the war, at a time when most of the leaders had been adults during the war. I once asked a fellow student if Germans ever joked about Hitler. "Joke about Hitler?" he said incredulously. "We've hardly gotten to where we can joke about Bismarck." Maybe the inability to joke about Hitler had something to do with some sense of guilt for the deeds of the Hitler government.
My first wife's father was a young lawyer in the German justice department during the war, and he had by good fortune been assigned to Hamburg shortly before the end of the war. For a time he was separated from his wife and infant daughter by the division of the country, and he had to resort to subterfuge to get them smuggled from East Germany across into the West -- an exploit that was difficult then but would later have been virtually impossible. He never talked about what he did during the war. The few comments that were made suggested that all he did was routine legal paperwork. Maybe. I always knew him as a warm, kind-hearted, generous person.
The article I mentioned at the beginning did quote one priest who suggested that the Catholic Church must bear some of the responsibility for Nazi atrocities, since most of the perpetrators had been raised as Catholics, and had absorbed the Church's centuries-old anti-Semitism. This may be the only sense in which collective guilt has any validity.
Perhaps we are inclined to say, "I'm not responsible for the deeds of my parents or grandparents. I wasn't born then. And I would never do the things that people of that generation did. And I have no reason to think my own parents or grandparents ever did any of those things." (I have now eased over from Nazi atrocities to events closer to home -- like slavery in our own couintry. The more I read history, the more certain I am that virtually every culture and society and religion has its own shameful past.) I was inclined to buy that defense -- until recently. After all, the average German in the 1930s and 1940s did not commit atrocities, may not have voted for Hitler or may have voted for him without knowing what he was intending to do -- how then can the average German be held responsible for the war and all the atrocities?
But I'm not so sure any more. I -- like you -- have lived through five years of the Bush regime; marked by increasing disregard for individual rights, a regime that -- for ostensibly good ends (the defense of the country) -- believes it can decide who is a bad person, and lock that person up without trial and without any opportunity for defense or release. This regime has asserted its right to violate the country's laws and, among other things, to torture people it decides are enemies. This sounds like every dictatorship I have ever heard of.
And I am but an ordinary citizen. What can I do about it? I didn't vote for Bush or any of his Congressional supporters. I tell some of my friends and colleagues how I feel about the situation, and I occasionally write a letter (to the newspaper, to a legislator), or sign a petition, but other than that, how would anyone know what my thoughts and feelings are? How, then, am I different from a typical German of the 1930s and 1940s? What will my defense be if this regime chooses to expand its war-making and eventually -- after incredible carnage -- is brought before a war-crimes court? (Obviously this was written before the 2008 election.) Will I say I just didn't know? Will I say that I really wasn't involved?
What are you and I doing to prevent a repetition of past horrors? I admit to feeling powerless against the forces of government. (I can't even get a response from a congressman that I like and respect. What hope do I have of getting through to let the administration know that I don't approve? What else can I do?)
All I can suggest -- for you and me and other ordinary people -- is vigilance, self-examination, and alertness to opportunities to say and do the right thing:
Vote.
Talk with local, state, and national candidates and office-holders whenever there is an opportunity. Send letters and emails.
Be outspoken with friends, colleagues, neighbors. Without pushing an adversarial point of view to the point where no one will listen, do point out facts more than ideology. Or let's say: 1) Talk in stark moral terms about what is right -- caring for the poor, the weak, the defenceless. And 2) point out facts -- cases in which the government is hurting people or otherwise perpetrating injustice.
Look for opportunities to work with young people: Work or volunteer in a school; teach Sunday School; be a Y or camp volunteer. Don't indoctrinate, but do share (and discuss) moral values -- first and foremost by living your values..
Look around for injustices that need to be righted. (As you look at how any less advantaged person is treated, ask yourself, "Would I want to be treated that way?") Look in your own neighborhood, your own city. Are there people who are doing all the right things -- working hard, obeying the law, trying to live right -- but still lacking decent housing, food, or medical care? Are there laws that are enforced unequally? (Are there unfair laws?) Why is there poverty in the area? Are some people being exploited? Are laws about housing equality (or quality) not being enforced? Are some kids not getting a good education? Are underpaid parents having to work two jobs and therefore can't spend time with their children?
Having done all these things, are we still guilty for the actions of our leaders? Answer: That's an academic question. Let academics argue over it. To paraphrase Voltaire's Candide, "It's all very well to speculate about these things, but meanwhile let's get to work and hoe our beans." Do your best, and don't worry about whether it's enough.
