Even if you haven’t read Churchill’s account, there is no way in avoiding the conclusion that it was the way the Allies handled victory in the first world war that pushed Germany into the second one. We took their pride, divided their land and burdened them financially to an inconceivable level. Hitler’s words appealled to desperate, bitter and hardened people with nothing to lose, not die hard born fascists.
So many years after the second world war Greeks are now complaining about money they feel is owed to them from theft and massacres during German occupation of Greece. There is an important difference: Germany worked it’s way out of the dismal situation we put it in. Some Greeks, once again, lazily await a miracle. They feel they are “owed” a magical solution to the current financial mess we got ourselves into.
Selectivity in reading history is always a problem. Maybe we need to learn more about the German miracle. Precisely how Germany got from utterly destitute to the triple A powerhouse it is today in Europe. Even if some people wish to treat them as enemies instead of the allies they now are.
We would do well to learn more from them. (One example I have refered to in the past is the mid sized German family business that we would do well to emulate.)
