isn’t reminded every day for what they did and still do to Native Americans. Why should we be reminded every day of what Nazis did to Jews and other minorities?” Another person said, “I’m not a Nazi. I didn’t kill Jews, just like Americans today didn’t kill Native Americans. Did you kill a Native American?” he asked me. Before I could answer, he said, “Of course you didn’t. So why should you have to apologize for what you didn’t do? Why should I have to be ashamed of what others did?”
To what extent should Germans remember the atrocities that Nazi Germans performed? To what extent should people in the U.S. reflect on their own country’s controversial past? Should there be an “end date” to feeling guilty about, or acknowledging, the controversial (or negative) past?
These are perhaps complicated and uncomfortable questions. And I would love to know what you think.
