I am, both for personal family reasons and on political-historical grounds, deeply interested in World War II and the crimes of the Nazis. Last year’s visit to Berlin was, to a large degree, devoted to the subject, and we watched a documentary just last night about Hitler’s Adlerhof or “Eagle’s Nest” in the Obersalzburg area of Bavaria, near Berchtesgaden — a place that I’ve visited many times.
It’s impossible for me, in these areas, not to think of the Nazis. But I also think about how ordinary the places and people here seem, and how sadly thinkable it is, therefore, that the “unthinkable” might happen again.
That’s one of the reasons I’m so concerned at any appearance of demagogic authoritarian nationalism and the singling out of religious or ethnic minorities.
Here’s a fascinating new find that adds an element of humanness and tangibility to the story, which can all too easily become one of mere (vast) numbers in far-away places:
Posted from Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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