[Marxism] Recovering from fascism

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I recall Trotsky writing that it would take a generation for a nation
to recover from fascism (he may have included a war that involved
occupation). So far as consciousness is concerned, it appears that he
was off by one or two generations. Citizens of  Spain (1977) and
Portugal* (1974) have been able to celebrate their own action in
overthrowing fascism. For the citizens of militarily-defeated Germany
it has taken much longer to recover.
________________

It is only recently that Germany has learned to celebrate what it is
without losing sight of what it was.

As a string of deeply symbolic 60th anniversaries approaches - from the
liberation of Auschwitz to the end of World War II itself - the country
is in uncharacteristically self-confident mood.

Taboos have been falling away. "It's never too late to be a Jew!" - is
the motto of a couple at the centre of a new Jewish comedy set in
Berlin, whose lives, in the words of one critic, "are about as kosher
as a pork chop". The film, Alles auf Zucker! (Everything lands on
Zucker) follows a hard-up non-practising Jew, Jaeckie Zucker, as he
attempts to convince his Orthodox brother that he is, in fact, kosher -
and thus eligible for an inheritance from his mother. The film,
released in German cinemas this month, has been widely feted - hailed
as an excellent comedy in its own right, but also as proof that the
Germans are starting to trust themselves.

"To portray Jews in a thoroughly everyday setting, where one can laugh
with, or indeed at, them - this is a step that we have never taken in
Germany," said the film's maker, Dani Levy.

The eminent historian, Hans Ulrich Wehler, recently argued that Germany
cannot, ultimately, take Auschwitz as the foundation of its national
identity.
FULL AT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4185909.stm

* http://www.willy-brandt.org/english/biographie/1974b.html
(In googling this comment, I came across this interesting description
of what happened in Portugal. Perhaps some Marxmail contributors can
comment.)


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