As some who's father was on the front lines personally witnessing the German's efforts to eradicate the Jews and other political and religious pariahs – Enemies of the State, I had the opportunity, over the years, to hear some of what he experienced. Of this I experienced his life-long condemnation of the German people for what they did. To him, the Nuremberg trials, judgments and executions was merely “icing on the cake.” Not for what the German's had done to the Jews and others, but for the cost in American lives. Combat troops didn't just blame the German High Command and their soldiers, but all the people. To him the firebombing of Dresden that killed thousands of women and children at the end of the war was totally justified, because no German was innocent.
It was with some interest Tuesday, June 5, 2012, when watching Democracy Now: Polish Resistance Figure Jan Karski, Honored withPosthumous Medal of Freedom, in His Own Words. Here he recounts that his primary reason for coming to the United States and speaking to two incredulous individuals, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter and President Roosevelt. He wanted the Allies to drop leaflets all over Germany to make sure that the average German citizen was personally aware of what Hitler was doing to the Jews. What he doesn't talk about it exactly what he was doing to the Americans through Frankfurter and Roosevelt, that of making all Americans aware and responsible.
The paradox, however, is contained in what the remaining Jews did to the Palestinian people the moment they found themselves in a similar situation as the Germans and other European people. Democracy Now, again, highlights this in: Five Broken Cameras: Home VideosEvolve into Stirring Film on Palestinian Resistance to Israeli Wall.
What was done to the Jews and subsequently done to the Palestinian people is a matter of recorded history.
--Joe
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