- Joined
- Sep 7, 2010
- Messages
- 26,526
- Reaction score
- 9,462
- Location
- Alabama
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Conservative
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?
Hitler's Silent Partners
Still, it seems to me, something about compassion and indifference can be learned by looking closer to home. We know that almost no one in the United States protested when Japanese-Americans were rounded up during World War II. And while it is important to stress that the treatment of the Japanese-Americans was in no way comparable to the treatment of the German Jews, a small thought experiment does not seem out of order here. What if word had begun seeping back that Japanese-American children were being murdered in the internment camps? How many of the good people of California would have taken time out from their busy and war-burdened lives to register a protest, or even to learn the facts of the matter? Some, to be sure, and undoubtedly a great many more than the number of Germans who worried about the fate of the Jews. A democratic ethos does make a difference. But can anyone say with confidence that a significant portion of the public would have behaved compassionately? I for one would not bet the ranch on the kindness of strangers.
Hitler's Silent Partners