National Guilt

I've been thinking a lot lately about the concept of national guilt. It's a subject that first became interesting to me when I read the book The Reader.

Unlike the movie version, the book The Reader focuses more on the post-WWII generation in Germany coming to terms with the actions of their parents' generation. It's an interesting phenomenon. How do you accept the shameful actions of your country's past? How do you have pride in a country that has done such awful things? But, if you have no national pride, what keeps the country and people together? Is national pride and therefore the denial of national guilt necessary for the advancement of a culture?

Recently, I read the book Sarah's Key. I found this book to be particularly interesting because it focused on a subject of which I knew nothing. That is the Vel d'Hiv round-up in Paris in July 1942. This round-up effectively sent thousands of Jews to their deaths. Jews that were forced from their homes, taken into custody, and sent to gas chambers by the French police - not the SS. It was the French imprisoning the French.

Of course, the round-up is a shocking and horrific action, and the part of the book that describes the events is particularly heartbreaking.

But, what I found to be fascinating in the book was the feelings of the witnesses. So many people witnessed these round-ups and did nothing to stop them. Realistically, they probably could not have stopped them, but no one even seemed to try. The people who lived near the Vel d'Hiv and knew that thousands of people were being held hostage in the building, did nothing. Sure, some people tried to sneak in some food but that was the extent of their assistance. From the description of the event in the book as well as research that I did after reading it, it seems like most French citizens turned away and pretended that they had no idea what was going on. They pretended not to know why apartments were suddenly vacant or why areas of the city - Jewish areas - were empty.

After the war, it seemed that the witnesses tried to forget these events. When forced to remember, they placed blame on others - namely the Germans - and not on themselves or their countrymen. In fact it took an entire half a century for the French government to recognize the part of its people in these actions. To accept blame. To acknowledge guilt.

It's true that all cultures have historic actions of which they are or should be ashamed. America is no different. You just have to look to the Trail of Tears, slavery, and the Iraq War for examples.

And I suppose that the only way to move beyond the knowledge that your country - or yourself - participated in such actions is to either forget the actions occurred or place the blame on others. Otherwise, how do you live with yourself?

If I was still in school, I think I would be moved to research and write on this topic. I may still do the research aspect as I truly find this phenomenon fascinating. It would be very interesting to look at parellels in Roman history, German history, French history, American history, Russian history, etc to see how powerful cultures that perform abhorrent actions manage to persevere. Do their people feel a sense of national guilt? How do they overcome it? Is regaining the sense of national pride integral to the future success of a nation?

I'm not sure that there are any clear cut answers but I do find the concept to be an intriguing one.