By now, most have heard some accounts of the neo-nazi youth gang which was just busted in Israel (even the Toronto Star has an account), but if your head really is that far under the sand, here is a background link from Arutz Sheva.
All of which got me to thinking; when will the appeal of Nazism just end? As a way of life or political philosophy hasn’t history shown that it has a very limited shelf life? I just don’t understand how it continues to pick up adherents in 2007 nor do I comprehend the willful glorification of Hitler or Nazis by these groups. It is beyond bafflement to me.
Perhaps, me and mine will never be able to understand it as long as we can look at pictures taken long ago from places like Auschwitz and see the outline of our family faces etched among the dead. But one hundred years from now, when the last holocaust survivor is long dead and buried, and all traces of their memory has slipped from their families collective remembrance - will the world once again see the rise of those who claim the Nazis had a point or even a new fourth Reich rise? Ten years I would have bet no fourth Reich would ever rise but now I am not so sure. I just know I wouldn’t lay any money down on that bet.
2 comments:
Well, remember that "Never again"? The history has already made a sad joke out of this proud slogan.
I am afraid that history repeats itself all the time.
The impulses that make Nazism attractive are unfortunately part of of humanity, and some individuals will always be attracted to a movement that gives them voice. Surrender of individual will to an external political and moral force, belief in a "blood destiny", a world view that proclaims you a superior being, the attraction of force...every century and every culture has a movement like that, and the Nazis have become the iconic representation. And until (God forbid) something even worse comes along, they are likely to remain so.
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