Should we be over slavery, the Holocaust, 9/11, when all the people involved are dead?

Question

It seems to me that when atrocities are done to people by other people, there is no way to make it right. It will never be right. Even after someone is punished, it still isn't right. But it is completely insane to perpetuate things to the next generation, as if there is a genetic responsibility. New people are new people and are cannot be responsible for those before. Thoughts?

Answer 1

We must learn from history, and apply what we have learned from events like the Holocaust and 9/11 to ensure they never happen again.

Answer 2

It's true that there isn't such a thing as a "genetic responsibility", but that doesn't mean that we "should be over it". I mean we should not forget these things, in order to learn from it and also because of respect for the victims and it is also a matter of humanity that we can't just forget such horrible events. I am German, born in 1981, and I do not feel personally guilty because of the Holocaust and World War II because I wasn't born yet when it happened, and it has never happened to me that anyone has blamed me because of it, although I've travelled to countries that had to suffer from Nazi Germany, and I've met Jews and even concentration camp survivors, but I agree with the following quote that a Holocaust survivor said to German students: "You are not responsible for what happened, but you are responsible for making sure that it doesn't happen again."

It is also not true that all the people involved are dead. There are survivors from of the concentration camps and there are many people living today who have lost family in the Holocaust, so they are personally involved and can't be expected "to be over it".

It also troubles me that my grandparents were not opposed to the Nazi regime, one of my grandfathers was a member of the NSDAP and he was in the German police in Norway and Czechoslovakia during the war. I don't know him personally as he died when I was just a few months old, and he never spoke to my mother about the time of the war. But I know that the German police in the occupied countries were involved in oppression, persecution and murder. I don't know what my grandfather did exactly, but I can never regard him as innocent. About none of my grandparents I know that they at least disliked Hitler at that time. Does this make me guilty? No, but I think you understand that it somehow affects and troubles me. I mean it would be nice to have grandparents I could love and respect.

Now I wrote a lot about the Holocaust and World War II. Regarding slavery it's also not true that all the people involved are dead. Slavery and the segregation that followed it still has its effects on American society. Blacks are still disadvantaged and underpriviledged in many ways, although this isn't legally sanctioned anymore, and this has its roots in history. I don't mean that any white American living now is guilty because of slavery, but they should learn from it in the way that they should bring an end to racism and better address social problems.

So the summary of my very long answer is that people aren't guilty because of the crimes of their ancestors but they should not forget and they should learn from history.

Answer 3

people aren't getting punished for these things today. and forgetting about atrocities is probably the biggest crime you can commit upon the victims, even if they are dead they deserve to be remembered forever so that it doesnt happen again

Answer 4

There is one way to make it right and that is to make certain that it never happens again. That's the responsibility of succeeding generations. You can't do that if you don't remember.

Answer 5

Human slavery is still practiced in Islamic states like Sudan and Mauritania.

Answer 6

Almost everyone has slavery in the ancestry. I wouldn't lump slavery in with those.

Answer 7

I am . Worse to come. GOD BLESS Them all.