Becoming older means that one has become part of a history that the current world seems to have forgotten. I was born while World War II raged around the world. My father, my grandfather, and my uncles were all caught up in that war fighting on many fronts. Not only my family, but all of the country was caught up in that conflict as well. In my case my father was killed and two of my other relatives suffered from what one now would call PTSD. Yet in the rosy glow which time places over all ancient history, that war has become ‘the good war.’ All we seem to remember about that time is that we fought Hitler and were united in our effort to defeat him.
But that is not really all the history of that time. In fact, the average citizen in the forties was opposed to getting involved with any conflict in Europe. Hitler invaded the Sudetenland, Czechoslovak, Austria and Poland and we did nothing. It was the attack on Pearl Harbor than drew us into the war. We had finally been personally touched as a nation and we had to scramble to react. But to me, perhaps the most heart wrenching incident of our lack of compassion occurred in 1939 as a ship filled with 900 Jews tried to reach our shores. We are now well aware of what coming disaster they were trying to escape, but we refused them entry. We even had the Coast Guard shadow that ship to make sure no one made a break for the shore. The State Department telegraphed the ship noting that they, “must await their turns on the waiting list and qualify for and obtain immigration visas before they may be admissible into the United States.” One-third of those passengers would die in Hitler’s death camps.
While I was too young to personally remember World War II, it is part of my historical memory as so many of my relatives served during its duration and spoke about it often. Therefore, one’s historical knowledge is not only gained from personal experience, but from the past that one touches through contact with those who experienced it. And for the rest of it there are history classes which may be the most important class taught in school, (says the history major.)
In light of the current divide over immigration and aid to Ukraine it might be well to look back at our history and while all the answers may not lie there, at least there can be some understanding and compassion for what others are going through.