I am old enough to remember the Life magazine photos of the liberation of German prison camps. In Munich (1973), there was still mountain of débris left over from the war. There for a LSUNO summer school, four of us took a week-end planing to go to Dachau on our way to Rothenburg. After we left the camp, no one mentioned the experience of being there—not a word. Two years later, while teaching an advanced French lit class, I found myself speaking about Dachau to a class who knew nothing of the camps. As we watch the Russians in Ukraine, those of us who remember Stalin or who have read Timothy Snyder on Russian camps (or even Alan Furst’s novel with an account of a Siberian “work camp”) or paid attention to Navalny, have no idea what we can be in for as serfs of Trump/Putin. But there is Santayana’s warning.
-1945):”Those who do not remember the mistakes of history are condemned to repeat them.”
Sorry for the blundering finger and again thanks for your post.
Yes. And curiously, just yesterday I finished a long-overdue re-read of "The Diary of Anne Frank"
I am old enough to remember the Life magazine photos of the liberation of German prison camps. In Munich (1973), there was still mountain of débris left over from the war. There for a LSUNO summer school, four of us took a week-end planing to go to Dachau on our way to Rothenburg. After we left the camp, no one mentioned the experience of being there—not a word. Two years later, while teaching an advanced French lit class, I found myself speaking about Dachau to a class who knew nothing of the camps. As we watch the Russians in Ukraine, those of us who remember Stalin or who have read Timothy Snyder on Russian camps (or even Alan Furst’s novel with an account of a Siberian “work camp”) or paid attention to Navalny, have no idea what we can be in for as serfs of Trump/Putin. But there is Santayana’s warning.
Mark, I just looked up Furst’s novel. It’s “Night Soldiers.” I recommend it for an easy and fascinating way to European history 1934-44.
Mark, read all the way down if you have time.