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I would suggest avoiding some sort of self-inflicted trauma from this horrible past (which might not be happening but it reads like that to me). There is no po

I would suggest avoiding some sort of self-inflicted trauma from this horrible past (which might not be happening but it reads like that to me). There is no point getting depressed from one's ancestors past - if one looks in the past far enough, there will be probably something utterly horrible that given nation/tribe/group did to somebody innocent. Basically all western european democracies fall into this category, and many, many other nations too. Don't forget about it by any means, tech your kids as I will do, but don't put emotions into this just because your nation was the culprit. There were similar things happening to innocent civilians en masse in the past elsewhere. Genocides are not an invention of Germany or 20th century, life was often pretty horrible and violent in the past.

distribot 5y ago
I don't know if personal guilt or shame is the correct feeling either, but I also don't think OP should feel nothing. Time and entropy (empires dissolving or population groups migrating) definitely diffuse the responsibility for a horrific act. Of which there are many in history. But this specific thing happened in living memory, was performed by an organization that still exists (a German speaking nation state, with almost the same borders as before), and by people the OP knows personally. In fact, it's a very wealthy nation that OP has gained a lot of advantage from living in. It's subjective and graduated, but I don't think it's been nearly "long" enough that the Holocaust just background noise next to all other events that have happened in human history. Modern Germany is awesome btw. Really respect how they've reckoned with this awful time in their history.
vmception 5y ago
Naaaaaaaah Everywhere else the state just cut off the ability to feed a large population, or a particularly brutal military unit went from town to town. Germany built trains and factories for the express purpose of turning people into jello and ash This is the only reason anybody is interested in German politics, a comical off-broadway show just to see if they’re going to turn the ovens back on. And this is coming from someone that likes Germany and Germans and would avoid some areas. Thats what they did. Their robotic efficiency is still relevant in the industrial way the world went, especially compared to their neighbors. Even the most extremist Germans 100 years ago weren’t inaccurate about that: the cultures around them did not support efficient allocation of resources and making those resources valuable to others. The methodology those extremists chose was not tolerable. Third time is a charm with domination in the form of finances this time. Everyone is skeptical of ongoing German tolerance of the situation.

distribot 5y ago

I don't know if personal guilt or shame is the correct feeling either, but I also don't think OP should feel nothing. Time and entropy (empires dissolving or population groups migrating) definitely diffuse the responsibility for a horrific act. Of which there are many in history. But this specific thing happened in living memory, was performed by an organization that still exists (a German speaking nation state, with almost the same borders as before), and by people the OP knows personally. In fact, it's a very wealthy nation that OP has gained a lot of advantage from living in. It's subjective and graduated, but I don't think it's been nearly "long" enough that the Holocaust just background noise next to all other events that have happened in human history. Modern Germany is awesome btw. Really respect how they've reckoned with this awful time in their history.

vmception 5y ago

Naaaaaaaah Everywhere else the state just cut off the ability to feed a large population, or a particularly brutal military unit went from town to town. Germany built trains and factories for the express purpose of turning people into jello and ash This is the only reason anybody is interested in German politics, a comical off-broadway show just to see if they’re going to turn the ovens back on. And this is coming from someone that likes Germany and Germans and would avoid some areas. Thats what they did. Their robotic efficiency is still relevant in the industrial way the world went, especially compared to their neighbors. Even the most extremist Germans 100 years ago weren’t inaccurate about that: the cultures around them did not support efficient allocation of resources and making those resources valuable to others. The methodology those extremists chose was not tolerable. Third time is a charm with domination in the form of finances this time. Everyone is skeptical of ongoing German tolerance of the situation.