Thursday, July 3, 2008

'Don't Know Much About History'

Those Who Rewrite History Risk Falling into a Well Marked Pit

When I was very young, and perhaps in answer to one of my youthful impolite questions, my mother explained to me one day the origin of the tattoos. I must have noticed them on some ladies' arms and as gently as she could, Mom explained the hideous and well orchestrated death of six million people. Before I was born we fought a war that brought an end to the killing, but the horror lingers on in pictures I later saw of what went on in the camps.

There is a movement afoot in intellectual circles to dismiss our role in preserving civilized society that time. This Piece by Jonathan Tobin is required reading as we celebrate this Independence Day. I know Charles Linbergh and other notable individuals argued against our involvement in the war, thinking Hitler would counterbalance Stalin. Appeasement didn't work with Hitler and Europe was on the verge of becoming a reincarnation of the Roman Empire.

The war was not without blunders on the part of the allies, but it must be noted that an American reporter in Leningrad in the seventies was surprised by the warm greeting he received from an older lady there. Clearly the Americans have been the liberators many times and there are those who remember their liberators with great kindness.

Honest history will do well to remember as much!

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