IT was 75 years ago last week that a young Austrian named Adolf Hitler be came chancellor of Germany.
The world is still struggling with his legacy.
Key word: struggling.
Hitler’s deeds have – thankfully – yet to fade from memory, but more Americans probably associate the man with cheap political slurs (hello, MoveOn.org) than know him as the murderously charismatic leader that he was.
Adolf Hitler was more than just an embodiment of evil. His rise was a concrete historical event – one that modern society forgets at its own peril.
Germany, happily, hasn’t forgotten.
Last Monday, the country’s culture minister announced two new monuments in Berlin dedicated to victims of the Holocaust – sure to complement the already meticulous public accounting that nation has made for its shameful past.
Such honesty is admirable – especially compared to the state of denial that Hitler’s World War II ally, Japan, continues to inhabit over its war crimes.
All the same, we wonder if too many Germans aren’t taking precisely the wrong lessons from their continued national soul-searching.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that many younger Germans are treating their study of the Nazi era as a call to . . . pacifism.
Hitler went to war; ergo, all wars are wrong – right?
Hardly. Indeed, if Hitler taught the world anything, it’s that great evil must be confronted – as early as possible – with the threat of decisive force.
That’s especially true in today’s world, which has seen the rise of ideologies compatible on multiple levels with Hitler’s murderous creed.
Today’s leaders can learn a good deal from the way the world at first failed – and ultimately succeeded – to confront that genocidal madman.
Provided they don’t pretend their task will be easy.
Or the consequences of failure, light.