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Text: Zhang Runchen
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introduction
There has long been an opinion on the Internet that Germany did a better job than Japan in the post-war reflection of World War II. But is this really the case? I am afraid that this is not necessarily the case, and the most ferocious issue concerning Japan's anti-war issue today is definitely that all successive Japanese prime ministers have visited the Yasukuni Shrine.
And in Germany, in fact, something similar happened, and even the president of the United States personally visited the shrine ...
(Tone)
1. The Bitburg scandal
May 5, 1985, was three days before the 40th anniversary of the armistice in Europe. It was at this special occasion that then-US President Ronald Reagan, who was visiting Germany at the time, accompanied by German Chancellor Kohl, visited and paid homage to the Kolmeishohe Military Cemetery in Bitburg, Germany.
It stands to reason that it is not uncommon for heads of state of other countries to be arranged to pay respects to military cemeteries during their visits. But Reagan's visit to the Fort Bit Military Cemetery was very "out of place". In other words, at no time should Reagan visit the Kormeishohe Military Cemetery.
(Tone)
Because in this cemetery, all the German soldiers who died in the "Battle of the Bulge" at the end of 1944 are buried. If it were just the Wehrmacht's cemetery, there were 49 members of the SS stormtroopers buried in the Kolmaishohe military cemetery. The tombstones of these SS soldiers have a clear SS marking.
In fact, the Battle of the Bulge itself was launched by the SS. The SS unit had massacred all 642 villagers, including 207 children, in a French village under the pretext of rounding up members of the Resistance. It can be said that the SS soldiers buried in the Kolmaishohe cemetery were all thugs and criminals.
(German Cemetery)
But Reagan didn't mind this at all, and he didn't hesitate to visit the Collmeithhoa cemetery. And the reason why Reagan did this was actually to "repay the favor". Because West Germany withstood the pressure of the Soviet Union and allowed the US military to deploy medium-range ballistic missiles in West Germany.
On the other hand, German Chancellor Kohl was also the first leader of Western European countries to take a clear stand in support of Reagan's "Star Wars" program. At the time, the West German newspaper Die Welt declared: "Reagan and Kohl were, in fact, an alliance that cannot be renounced. There is no doubt that Cole's request for Reagan to pay homage to the SS soldiers at this time was no longer an "unthinkable task."
(Reagan and Cole)
Or, in other words, in fact, this behavior of West Germany was itself caused by the connivance of the United States. However, Germany also brought great harm to Western countries in World War II. So on this issue, the peoples of Western Europe are equally emotionally difficult to accept...
2. Consequences
In 1985, a Washington Post poll showed that 55 percent of U.S. citizens opposed Reagan's visit to Colmaishohe Cemetery. Because of the great harm done to Jews by SS soldiers during World War II, many prominent Jewish figures in the United States, as well as American World War II veterans at the time, joined together to oppose President Reagan's "wrong acts".
(Brandt's earth-shattering kneeling)
American World War II veterans, in particular, reacted even more violently than the Jews. American veterans generally believe that President Reagan "did not understand the historical significance of World War II in the extreme," let alone history. In addition to the ripple effects of the United States itself, the reaction in Europe is actually greater than that of the United States.
Since President Reagan's schedule is public, the British Parliament has clearly opposed President Reagan's wrongdoing as early as the end of April. 100 British parliamentarians even signed a motion for President Reagan to cancel the trip. Even within West Germany, there were "mixed reviews" of President Reagan's actions.
(Tone)
Former Prime Minister Brandt made it clear that President Reagan's schedule is "probably not appropriate" and that it is a "destructive move." In response to the surging public opinion, President Reagan even had to compromise by adding a visit to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to his itinerary.
In other words, President Reagan did not plan to visit the concentration camps in the first place, and President Reagan's attitude at the beginning was actually very clear. In fact, it can also be seen from this incident that the Western world, especially Europe, has certain requirements for Germany to reflect on its crimes.
(Tone)
If Germany had the idea of "reviving the Nazis", then the Western world would "attack them en masse". But in the East, this does not exist. One of the big variables is the attitude of the United States. On the question of reflection in Germany, the attitude of the United States is generally the same as that of Europe. However, in the case of Japan in East Asia, the attitude of the United States is diametrically opposed.
It is this difference that makes today's Germany seem to be very well reflected on World War II. But what the Germans really think in their hearts, I'm afraid only the Germans themselves know.
(Nazi)
Third, Germany has not reflected enough
In 2015, Germany once released a nonsensical comedy film "Hitler is Back". At the end of the film, Hitler's actor stands in a car and drives through the streets of Berlin without informing the crowd that the film was filmed.
And the German civilians on the street, some angrily scolded "Hitler", some gave him the middle finger, some took pictures of him, and some smiled at him and saluted him. It can be seen that in Germany, people's attitude towards Hitler is not consistent. And the German Chancellor Kohl, who invited Reagan at the time, was himself a conservative, and after he came to power in 1982, Germany's reflection began to regress.
(Hitler)
Conservatives in Germany have been trying to falsify history and exonerate Hitler. It is only because the resistance to whitewashing Hitler in Europe is so great that they have not succeeded, but this does not mean that German conservatives do not want to whitewash Hitler.
From the events of Hitler's Diary to the Bitburg scandal, each event illustrates the "efforts" made by German conservatives. In German film and television works, human nature is a very common angle, but under this perspective of human nature, you will often find that the German army in film and television dramas is actually "not so bad".
We don't know why, but what we do know is that the German right wing is taking rein, and it's getting faster and faster...
Resources
Jing Dexiang.The tortuous process of reflecting on Nazi history in Germany after World War II[J].Xue Xi Monthly, 2005(7):3.
World Knowledge, 1985(11):11.
Why did Gulon Reagan take the risk to go to Bitburg? International Outlook, 1985.