In Germany, if you look, its all around you. Reminders of the atrocities carried out by the Nazi’s under the total command of one man – Adolph Hitler. It remains incredible to believe that one man could have commanded such atrocious actions of men against humanity…….
English people of a certain age will remember when the world was mostly pink. It was Britannia’s favourite colour as she trounced around the planet on a land grab exercise which acquired whole nations, their natural resources and natives.
The surprising fact is that it is only recently that young people have cottoned on to the fact that the Glorious Rule over many centuries was based on some very uncomfortable truths.
Whereas in simple terms it would appear wholly justified to vilify individuals such as Edward Colston – Bristol-born English merchant, philanthropist and slave trader – life is rarely simple and the actions of these individuals must be taken in their full historical context.
Colston was a man of his time living in a society built on a history of barbaric warfare and political & Royal power games.
Look to the past.
In the 11th century (1082) under the command of Hannibal, the army of Carthage – having traipsed across the Alps in the company of Elephants …..
(you can see a spectacular statue with the front half of four elephant heads, shoulders, knees and toes one on each side of a monument in the centre of Chambery known by the locals as ‘Les Quatre sans culs’ – the elephants without arses. It is often assumed that this monument is in recognition of the fact that Hannibal passed through Chambery en route to Italy and battle with the Romans. This is appears not to be the case and it is, in fact to celebrate General and Count de Boigne (1751-1830) who according to France Revisited was a mercenary who had made his fortune and his titles by selling his military and governing skills to various powers of Europe and the Indian sub-continent, especially in the Maratha Empire. The threads of warfare and killing permeate the fabric of humanity.)
……Returning to Hannibal and The Battle of Cannae. With a relatively small army, Hannibal led his soldiers against the Roman army of 86,000 men and in one day of battle the majority of the Romans were slaughtered, the most lethal single day’s hand to hand fighting in history.
Hannibal was around 30 at the time. Hitler was 44 when he was elected Chancellor of Germany. Both committed suicide.
For numbers facts and figures as to Hitler’s extermination programme – which incidentally was not confined to Jews alone, an article in Advanced Science sets out the stats.
The Diary of Anne Frank sets out the absolute terror endured by populations during Hitler’s satanic reign and yet ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ continues to this day.
Young people, the world you live in today is built on the actions of humans through millennia. We cannot change the past because to eradicate the worst would equally require the eradication of the best actions of humanity. However, you can act to change the future.
In a speech in 2012 one of England’s best hockey players quoted the then coach of the England’s Olympic Woman’s Hockey Team:
“If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got”.
The time to change is now. The European Union is no longer fit for purpose. It was created before the Internet and all the financial, political and social ramifications associated with it. We need a global union to so we can work together using the best of the EU regulations across the planet. The current climate catastrophe can be a catalyst and a time in human history to create a socially, politically and financially stable world.
Look Up to the future – and in Germany look down to see reminders of the past.
It is bizarrely curious that to a dyslexic the word Stolperstein looks like Stolen Person. In fact it means “stumbling stone”. This is a project initiated by Gunter Demnig (born 27 October 1947), a German artist. According to Wikipedia 60,000 stones have been placed across 21 countries in Europe including the two in Freiburg pictured below.
Switzerland has not been at war for 500 years. However it has a strong army and able male citizens are subject to mandatory military service. Women can volunteer.
On September 22, 2013, a referendum that aimed to abolish conscription was held. With over 73% voting against the proposal and showing strong support for continued conscription in Switzerland.
According to Wikipedia ‘The Swiss executive is one of the most stable governments worldwide. Since 1848, it has never been renewed entirely at the same time, providing a long-term continuity.’
No single person has complete control over the country.
And finally, according to the historian and moralist John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902).
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Great men are almost always bad men.”
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Next time….. The Statue of Liberty…. in Germany?
Claudia Bow 