It took the Germans time to understand the role they played in the rise of Hitler and to come to terms with the deaths to which they had contributed.  Starting immediately after the liberation of the Concentration Camps, U.S. troops forced German civilians into processions around the camps to see the bodies and the facilities they had lived near for the past few years.  Their reactions of horror, denial, and disbelief at that time but from the German perspective of 1945 shown in the Topography of Terror Museum, they were lied to as much as the Jewish people were.  I have my reservations regarding their lack of interest towards the mysterious camps, but as the decades rolled on, their acceptance solidified.  Responsibility for the murders was understood as more images arose but similar to the Lost Cause theory here in the U.S. after the Civil War, surviving Neo Nazis in the 1970’s started to push Holocaust denial theories which the German-Resistance Museum explains.  This site showcases German resistance towards the Nazi Party with famous images of defiance in the face of overwhelming support, and many small groups sprouting up in opposition to the new government.  The museum explains that these resistance groups accounted for only 0.01-1% of the population, and many of them were communists and socialists murdered by 1939.  The museum also uses the word “we” to emphasize the role that all Germans – not only Nazis – had in the genocide.  They use another striking word: “murder” instead of “executed” to refer to all the killings the Nazis enacted to show that these were unjustified, cruel killings and not lawful deaths for breaking the law.  The centrality of German guilt in these museums stunned me since many governments go out of their way to distance themselves from their horrific deeds and episodes.  The German people do not try to sweep their past under the rug but rather embrace , explain it, and display it for all to learn which is a powerful stance to take.  Their divulging of information about not just the war but the lies, murders, rapes, and plundering of their people is an indicator that Germany takes full responsibility for allowing such evil to grow and persist.  Germany has taken to heart the actions of the Nazis and pushes back against those who wish to manipulate the truth.

Poland can never forget the pain inflicted upon it by foreign powers, but I find the lack of self-reflection about their participation in atrocities during the war disturbing.  Visits to the Museum of Krakow and Auschwitz helped me better see the Polish perspective of the war, but both left out one of the darkest moments.  The defeat of the nation by Germany was known early on, as help by the allies was not forthcoming. This led to an honorable yet futile fight that our guide at the Krakow Museum explained.  The phrases “inevitably” and “valiant but pointless” stood out during the tour as we walked through the exhibits.  However, the museum left out the seldom talked about pogroms that the Polish people enacted on their own Jewish neighbors. Having read Neighbors by Jan T. Gross, I knew that Poland did have people collaborating with the Nazis, but the nation seems to not want to recognize or remember the people who participated in these pogroms.  A pogrom is a mass attack on Jewish people in communities, which happened throughout the centuries in eastern Europe. The invasion by the Nazis encouraged those even in small towns to engage in – and initiate — anti-sematic violence.  Often these attacks were started by Polish people, but I found no discussion of this in the museums or locations in Krakow. I can understand the national narrative of being innocent, but it disingenuous not to acknowledge the looting, and violence done to Jewish Poles. Stories of the backlash to the book Neighbors by those remaining residents in small Polish towns is concerning. One woman begged to not be interviewed because she knew many who perpetrated the killings.  There were participants in the pogrom massacres that still lived there, and people feared reprisals if their neighbors found out.  Similar to the United State massacre of the Native Americans, Poland finds it hard to admit to the evil acts it committed. I feel these episodes must be recognized both for the sake of the victims and to show what blind, ignorant hatred will produce if allowed to fester.

The sites of Normandy have stuck with me the most on this trip, whether it be the beaches where my great grandfather walked or the shell craters of Point Du Hoc. But the cemeteries have held firm in my mind the most.  The reverence on display at the sites of U.S., British, and even German cemeteries is evident in the care of the grounds and preservation of the graves showing these mens’ sacrifice.  The German cemetery was a sight that I didn’t know I needed to witness when coming to Normandy, but I came to understand its significance.  My colleagues and I were conflicted, as Christian crosses and holy iconography put a bad taste in our mouths.  There was a mound in the center of the cemetery, containing the unidentifiable remains of around 200 Nazi soldiers. Its height loomed over all the other graves.  The view was sobering as the scale of the cemetery became tangible. And it was unnerving standing on what is essentially a mass grave of Nazis who fought for the subjugation and murder of human beings, yet still I pitied them.  The majority of them were young 16–18-year children who only knew Nazism.  This is not an excuse for their actions, but we should acknowledge the awful circumstances these children were raised under.

The cluster of five crosses centered in each row of graves caught me off guard, as I see this imagery as a sign of honoring the dead. This seemingly questionable choice is explained away by the cemetery’s architect as them being German crosses and not Christian ones. These images to me are all well and good for honoring the dead, however the iconography is not distinctive enough for visitors to understand the difference between German and Christian crosses. I see this as problematic in the context of a Nazi cemetery. The architect had reasons for these choices of symbology, but I feel it tows the line too close to other sites such as the U.S. cemetery as it verges on reverence for the fallen.  The German cemetery should be a place to bury the dead as we humans respect to all who die, but I remain uneasy with the veneration of soldiers who fought for the worst of causes.

Britain is a place where the memories of the past and her people are baked into the streets, architecture, and words of the museums.  The museums of Bletchley Park, Imperial War Museum and Churchill’s War Rooms are all a part of Britain’s perspective of the People’s War. where British citizens are shown relying on one another, making sacrifices in food rationing, limiting resource consumption, and supporting Britain’s survival.  The stories of rations on electricity or coal stood out as everyone from cooks, Alan Turing and even Churchill were forced to live and work in dim, cool rooms with this policy of no waste being strictly followed.  A similar policy followed food as families in their homes forcing cooks to be creative which Churchill’s personal chief did to feed him.  This national character of sacrifice was the backbone of the British Fighting Spirit.

The Imperial War Museum deals with the larger scope of the war with the cost it had on Britain and her people.  The setting and objects are designed to put viewers in the perspective of those at the time such as a dimly lit home, small portions of dinner for all and the radio keeping those inside informed about the courage of the British people.  The Churchill War Rooms are focused on the strain the government was under, its personnel, and Churchill himself.  The facility is a fortified basement with small rooms where the war was waged.   The cramped living conditions for everyone who worked inside with low lighting and smoke-filled air was their home and burden.  The diary of Chief of Staff General Alan Brookes vividly described his dread as the bombs stopped one day, which he saw as Germany readying invasion.  There in the bunker he stayed for weeks.   The fear of imminent destruction clung in the air like smoke of a cigar, yet it never came.

Harrowing stories of suspense fill the grounds of Bletchley Park for different reasons.  Unlike a military facility, Bletchley was an unusual assortment of huts, mansion and a few buildings which hold top-level security which all its members sworn to secrecy by penalty of death.  This was a necessary precaution as hundreds of men/women worked twenty-four hours a day to gather and decode German radio traffic with revolutionary equipment, including the world’s first computer, to decipher the German Enigma code.  This embodied the British national character, as the scope of their efforts touched all parts of the war with stories of sacrifice of body and mind as they worked to bring an end to the war.