Patricia, If you reread Liz's message you will see that she was not responding to accusations that her own parents did not do enough but that *Brits* did not do enough. I quote:
> My main circle of aquantances are Orthodox Jews and regular as clock work they bring up the holocaust and how 'little' the UK did about it. This is worse when it is brought up by people my own age (under 40) who weren't alive then either. > > When they say the usual 'what were you (the Brits) doing about the holocaust' I always say the same thing; 'well I'm sorry my Dad didn't do anything about the holocaust, he was too busy fighting the Japanese in Burma to give it his full attention. Oh and my mum was only 12 and had just lost her father. What were your parents doing?' > > It usually gets an apology at that point.> Apart from the demeaning statement that Orthodox Jews do this regular as clockwork (did they have miniature timers implanted at birth? Only Orthodox Jews? Does that mean Liberal Jews don't care about the Holocaust?), the patronizing language and the satisfaction over the apology she 'usually gets', Liz glosses over the fact that she is being addressed in the collective--you (the Brits)--and replying in the singular, "my Dad." That's a jump of logic that I don't swallow. I found her reply shallow and egotistical. I was not at all addressing the issue of whether Britain did enough during the war, so family history (yours or Liz's) is irrelevant. Nor was I refer to contemporary German society. Please don't muddy the waters by attributing to me opinions that I never expressed. As for the notion that it behooves moderators not to be offensive, I have no idea where you got that idea. Moderators are allowed to express their own opinions as individuals. If I'd used a moderator sig, I would have been speaking in my capacity as moderator and that is a different matter. I was speaking in a purely private capacity and I have little tolerance for sloppy thinking. Avital ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 8:50 PM Subject: Re: [lace-chat] Aboriginal oral tradition > Avital, it behoves you not as moderator to be offensive. I found your last > message offensive. My father captained a minesweeper and the strain of that > caused him to have nightmares for the rest of his life. My mother's family was > bombed out of three homes. And I lost a cousin in a Japanese prisoner of war > camp. And yes, the fighter in Burma and the sailor *are* representative of > Britain at that time. These people were aware Naziism was evil but had no > knowledge of the real depths of depravity which existed. But they did feel they > had to fight the evil. My father was in a reserved occupation and didn't have > to join the navy. And may I remind you that it was Britain along with the > Commonwealth family who fought this evil alone as most of Eurpoe had been > conquered and the Americans didn't join in until Pearl Harbor. I think I am right in > saying this country is still repaying all the "help" given by America before > then. > > So Liz is right in saying we have nothing to be ashamed of. Our politicians > may have known more but the frontline troops and the civiliam population being > bombed night after night after night did not. And who knows, in 60 years > time the building of that wall in your country may be widely condemned as evil. > At the moment I and many others on the outside can see both sides of the > problem but in 60 years....? it has been said before but hindsight is a wonderful > thing. > > Also, many of the members of this list are very kind and friendly Germans. > I'm sure most of us on the list do not hold them responsible for what their > parents and grandparents may or may not have done in the thirties and forties. i > certainly would not want to be held responsible for my grandparents' > activities, especially as I never knew them. > > A saddened Patricia in Wales > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: > unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
