Guilt of the living.

“When evil-doing comes like falling rain, nobody calls out ‘stop’.
When crimes begin to pick up they become invisible.
When sufferings become unendurable, the cries are no longer heard.
The cries, too, fall like rain in summer.”

Bertolt Brecht

The world holds reverence to those who have died or suffered in wars of the past. Not just the soldiers, but those persecuted and murdered, the drowning victims in a sea of violence. We have seen from the aftermath of war the advent of peace and reconciliation. The leadership of Nelson Mandela was the light that lead South Africa out of the darkness of Apartheid. The military Junta in Argentina were tried and punished after their rule of force and abduction. From the outside declarations of peace and forgiveness hold dear the properties of human dignity and grace. But is it possible for a nation or a generation to be absolved of their guilt or to exorcise the demons of their past?

We do not comprehend the invisible paths of horror; we only read it second hand. In Germany, World War Two and the Holocaust continue to scar subsequent generations and often through choice. Relatives of Nazi architects including Katrin Himmler (great-niece of Heinrich) wrote a fierce and critical memoir of her uncle. Albert Göring, who helped save Jews from persecution, retained his name as an act of guilt. For a long time the people of post-war Germany were silent and avoided their murky past. Though Hitler was the leader, much of the hell was performed by ordinary citizens, something they were not willing to recall.

In France, we hear the patriotic stories of the Resistance, yet for a long time people neglected the truths of Vichy France and its acquiescence and collaboration. The horrors are all too evident in Rwanda where much of the pre-genocide population still reside in camps in Eastern Congo. Afraid to go home and afraid of reprisals. The silence harbours an innate guilt, but why did subsequent generations apologise for their parents or grandparents’ role in a previous conflict. Could it simply be an acceptance that in the same position these people believe it could have simply been them too? In Germany, schoolchildren are bussed to concentration camps to learn their history with their own eyes. Is it simply to reinforce their guilt. Kantian philosophies do not incriminate a child from its parent’s actions, yet Germany, in particular, still carries its cross.

Future generations are often better at re-examining past events and even putting them in a context. The ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ trials in South Africa and Liberia show the goodness of human nature and the journey a country has to take before it can rebuild. The horrors of Cambodia and the Marxist revolution by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge still linger. Cambodia is rebuilding itself after decades of economic hardship and developing itself into a tourist hotspot. Yet the wonders and attractions do not heal the fragments that hide the killers from the victim’s children. It is easy for nations and people to forgive but it we cannot detract from the invisible scars that will forever exist.