75 years seem to have all but erased the echoes of what was one of the most frightening and shameful event in history. An event that not only presaged but fulfilled the evil promise it contained.
The night of the crystals, which is what Kristallnacht means, was also called the night of a hundred knives. Many Jews were attacked and killed, as many as 1,500, and many places of business and abodes were brutally destroyed. And the destruction and killing was done in the name of nationalism.
What was more frightening, is that many countries not only sympathized, but empathized with the Germans, removing all doubt as to how little condemnation there was of their vile practices during the Nazi period.
But those echoes, now lost, bear an eery resemblance to events that are happening today, both in action and propaganda, in many European countries. Greece, Hungary, France, Russia and Italy all have significant if not important sections of the political spectrum engulfed in nationalist, xenophobic, and far right propaganda, which could see a return of regimes, such as the Vichy and the Fascist, in some mutated, but still evil form.
Hungary, just this week, celebrated the life and death of a famous Nazi figure. In France, Marine Le Pen argues about the appearance of three hostages who have miraculously regained freedom after three years, because they sported beards, insinuating that they have become radicalized members of the group that kidnapped them in Mali. In Greece, Golden Dawn is increasingly perpetrating acts of murder and mayhem against foreigners and migrants. The list is long and getting longer.
What happened then, to the outrage and sadness that succeeded the Nazi era?
An Exhibition in Berlin will soon show hundreds of photos and artifacts to commemorate the fateful event, and to bring awareness of what excesses can occur when dictatorship and mass hysteria take root.
In the exhibition will also be seen many documents, testimonials, reports and articles that harken to that period, which show not only the detail and sang froid of the responses of the observers, but the lack of action such responses obtained. Of the diplomatic cables, and there are numerous, condemning or otherwise talking of the murders and persecutions of the Kristallnacht, none of them resulted in the severing of diplomatic ties with Germany.
Some of the diplomatic cables also highlight how only 20% of Germans agreed with the violence displayed by the Nazis. One has to wonder again, how the remaining 80% although showing disapproval, did nothing to stop the madness that would result in the second world conflict. And that speaks to the general lightheartedness that people display at such acts. They all hope the violence will stop, or disappear or somehow not worsen, while in their heart of hearts, they must know what is to come.
The world must contemplate again the questions and the answers offered by such an exhibition, and realize how easy it could be for such events to repeat. The radicals are still among us, and they are using the same tactics and words and methods, in many different places.
Op-Ed
Source : Spiegel international/ 11.06.13
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