Reply To: Remembering D-Day and the difficulty of being a German

[crazyredcoatParticipant 13642xp 4]

I wanted to take plenty of time to write my thoughts on this, but all the time I spend I am not sure I will truly understand why people have these reactions, and that is not a mark on them in the slightest. I am British, and that is why I can’t understand how a German, or a Pole, or Frenchman would feel about these things. I can empathise, and I do, but I cannot understand. We are all different in how we remember, or even think of, the past. We celebrate great victories and lament horrible defeats, but each of us has our own way of doing this. I feel forgetting is dangerous, and too many people are willing to do so, but when the past is bleak, it can hurt to remember it. As awkward as it may seem, I think that both sides of a conflict discussing it, even if it is in this context with our little toy soldiers, is the best way forward. Let people celebrate in their own way, let them mourn in their own way. If you feel WW2 is too close to home to play games in, then you can do that. I will respect that, but let others enjoy the same freedom. For example, I will never play SS in WW2, I am simply not comfortable with it, but I would never think to tell someone else that they are wrong in thinking the opposite. I feel it is good to invite the German Chancellor to remember the past with us, because they were still people in those bunkers atop the cliffs and lining the beaches and they deserve to be remembered.