“The quality of mercy is not strained” So said old Bill as he shook his spear. One wonders, why mercy is demonstrated so infrequently. As well, why age old bugbears will simply not go away. Yea, the truth shall set you free - but only if it is our version of the truth.
The truth can be manipulated in many ways. As long as there are people that accept the presentation of selective facts, then this manipulation will continue.
The Holocaust was a horrible thing, one that will not go away. As long as facts can be distorted in the interests of survivors of a very real attempt to eradicate a race from the face of the earth these issues will remain forefront.
With all due respect, one wonders why this is so. The Baltic countries and Ukraine are having outrageous charges levied against them. Meanwhile, in the case of Estonia, a country where religious tolerance is proven, a nation that is proud of its history, there seem to be few defenders against slander that has been levied.
Caution is key, granted. I think back to one of the more outrageous distortions of history, a recent film by Allan King called “The Dragon’s Egg”. The editing and translation of that movie, dealing with a German concentration camp near Klooga boggled the mind. A veteran who was conscripted against his will into the German army is depicted as wanting to kill all those in the concentration camp. Selective editing leaves the impression that all Estonians felt that way. And there is no reference to the people who protected Jews, harboured them in their farms and homes, knowing full well the consequences.
During the 1970’s I encountered in Toronto the bias that all Balts were anti semitic. Kurt Vonnegut was very popular then, and some of my schoolmates, to whose bar mitzvahs I had gone, were astounded to read in one of Vonnegut’s books about Andor Gutman, an Estonian Jew. They thought that all Jews had been killedor deported from Estonia during the war. In other words, an Estonian Jew was a rarity. No amount of explanation would convince by schoolmates otherwise.
Fast forward to a new century. I was flabbergasted to see an ad in Postimees, Estonia’s leading and for the very most part impartial daily. It had the Canadian flag on it, and requested information about individuals who had worn the German uniform during WW II. It seemed awfully much like an official governmental viewpoint.
An Estonian historian of some note, working and teaching at a prestigious American university recounted an experience to me around the same time. He received accreditation to state archives in Tallinn, and spent a number of weeks performing research. Of no small consternation to him were Russian speaking Jews working with state documents, seeking information about people that had collaborated with German forces during WW II. He actually brought the point up with the head archivist, who shrugged and said that these researchers were to be given all opportunities. The head archivist would not reveal whose orders they were.
Canadian citizens who served as conscripts, in other words forced to wear an occupying country’s uniform, can be barred from entering the United States. A pure case of discrimination, of being guilty without a trial. A Texas based organization sent out mass mailings protesting against the remains of Estonian war hero Alfons Rebane being interred in his homeland. Rebane fought against communism, his only crime was wearing a German uniform. Many more similar examples could be brought up here.
In 1990 the undersigned was in Kohtla-Järve as an accredited journalist covering a meeting of the citizenry, Russian - concerned about the winds of freedom, perestroika and ghlasnost that were invigorating Estonia. Old men in their Soviet uniforms yelled at Estonian speakers, calling them Jew killers. The Estonians maintained decorum, not dignifying such insults with a response. Suppose it helped that an elite Soviet unit of Spetznaz commandos was present and on alert...
So, how long does this complacency continue? It would be foolish to argue that no acts of anti-semitism have occured on Estonian soil. But were they performed by native Estonians? Germans? Russians? As long as Simon Wiesenthal and others of his kind are allowed to levy scurrilous charges without proof a small, proud country, known for tolerance and compromise will suffer global condemnation.
Final point here. It is curious that neighbouring Finland, the country that is responsible for the term Finlandization, as a means of coping with a sports the swastika on it’s military airplanes. Check out
http://ilmavoimat.fi/historia5.htm And The Wiesenthal Centre does not protest... It is high time that a balanced perspective, based on truth, not distortion and manipulation reaches those concerned about rectifying the crimes of history. Communism, as is well known, wreaked more havoc, resulting inmore loss of life than did the Holocaust. And there is historical evidence that many in the GPU, KGB and the NKVD were from the chosen race, brutally reacting to the outrages carried out by their opponents.
The complacency of the West allowed the Holocaust to take place. It is imperative to view the past with historical accuracy, rather than knee-jerk, outright manipulation.
