An Eye for an
Eye, A German for a Jew
Expelled Germans from Sudetenland.
Norman M. Naimark in his book
“Fires of Hatred” talks about the concept of the term ‘ethnic cleansing’ and
how it has applied to major historical events, all of which were motivated by
race. Ethnic cleansing, for those who are unfamiliar with the term, is the
process of ridding a nation of a targeted group of people, under the impetus of
racial background. One historical event I recently learned about that
perpetuated ethnic cleansing shocked me because of its method in relation to
events preceding it. This event was the Polish and Czechoslovak ‘revenge on
Germany’ affair. It was not event post World War II yet when the Poles and the
Czechs made the decision to broadcast their disgust with the Nazi encampment,
torture, and attempted extermination of the Jewish race. Granted, who can blame
them for taking a stand against a tumultuous dictatorship such as the one
dominated by Adolf Hitler. Yet, it was both their method of operation and
targets that made their actions completely counterproductive. As we know, it
was not every single German who had a hand in exterminating the Jewish
population, but the political tyrants under the Nazi party that spread the
disdain for Jews to desensitize the public from their murder. However, it was
nearly 3 million German residents of Sudetenland and parts of Poland who reaped
the reparations of the Polish and Czech governments-in-exile.
So why all of this headache of
torture, deportation, and ethnic cleansing of the Deutsche people? For the sake
of the Jews? Naimark believes that the Poles and Czechs used the mask of WWII
to settle a debt they had with Germany. I personally believe that they wanted
to be the villain and the hero, in a sense, to promote their own nationalism. I
don’t think it had much to do with their pity on the Jewish race. I would
question where their open arms were when Hitler tried to sell the Jews out of
Germany.
For me, this topic hit an
interesting spot. I am African American, and my great-great-great-great
grandfather was a half Black, half German freed slave. This would explain the
surname Gross, from the Deutsch word ‘GroB’, meaning ‘big’ or ‘tall’. The question
of whether my great to the fourth grandfather’s slave owners were of purely
German or Jewish-German decent requires further investigation. Yet the large
possibility that they were German-Jews puzzles me. How can a people who have
endured or even witnessed such hatred and brutalization all in the name of
race, do the same to another? If given the resources and opportunity, would the
Irish, Native Americans, or even my race do such a thing? I would argue it
doubtful but perhaps someone asked the same question prior to the ethnic
cleansing of the German people post WWII. Perhaps it should be questioned why
this cycle of hatred keeps revolving and evolving and into different forms as
each generation passes.
Referencing back to the Poles and
Czechs, the Germans under siege were degraded to a degree that the Jews were,
such as by having to walk on all fours, being subjected to starvation, as well
as humiliation by being singled out and berated for their race. Perhaps we do
this in a more subtle and less literal way today to those we deem ‘too
different’ or ‘unworthy’ of American nationalism.
No comments:
Post a Comment