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

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Let me add one more angle to view the issue.

I was born in Poland over 30 years after the War ended and even today I suffer trauma connected with the war. When I was a child most TV shows and movies were somehow connected with struggle against the Germans (please note, that in the 70 and 80 one was not allowed to talk about aggression of USSR). My grandparents while talking about their childhood talked almost exclusively about atrocities they suffered, hunger and general misery of those times. My friends at the time were fed with similar stories at their homes. We most often played as soldiers of constipation Home Army or Polish tankers in Polish Folk Army (not sure if the translation is right here) organized by the Soviets – as shown in then popular TV show.

In effect today I can’t imagine myself having any fun in doing anything connected with the War – I can’t see myself playing any kind of wargame set in that time period, regardless of which side I would play.

Many other Poles I know still see themselves (almost personally) as victims of the War and can’t get over that trauma, to the point that even academic discussion about actions of some people in that period is very difficult.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that while no one should forget about history to avoid repeating the same mistakes, focusing too much on some of its aspects may twist whole generations and in the end twist popular understanding of commemorated events and their effects making whole endeavour pointless.