Without the benefit of hindsight, can we accurately interpret what is happening right in front of our eyes? Look at the picture below. It was taken in Mittenwald, Germany, in August 1939 just before World War 2 kicked off. The lady on the right is my aunt. The lady on the left is the daughter of my grandfather's gardener. The young man between them is Hans, a German boy these girls met and clearly flirted with. What on earth, you might ask, are these girls doing fraternising with the enemy?
Well, at this point, I should say that Hans died in the war. But when this pic was taken, Britain was still at peace with Germany. It is easy for us, with the benefit of hindsight, to condemn these two young women. What do these girls think they are doing? Can't they see what is happening in Germany? Can't they see what is happening to the Jews? Why could they not see the Nazis as the evil monsters we see today? The answers to these questions would probably be that they did not know what they were doing and that they could not see what we now see because, in 1939, they did not have the benefit of hindsight.
On the other hand, it is impossible for most of us, born after WW2, to view this period with detachment.
In her book, Travellers in the Third Reich, Julia Boyd offers us a picture of the Third Reich, a picture which emerges from the personal testimonies of a range of visitors. These visitors include both celebrities, artists, writers and politicians and "ordinary" tourists like old soldiers, academics and schoolchildren and people like Molly and Joan in the picture here.
I am writing this piece as a response to those who might ask what the hell these two young women were doing in Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of war. No, they were not supporters of the regime. No, they were not evil. No, they were not fraternising with the enemy. These two girls, along with many others, were unaware or not interested in what was "really going on" in Germany at this time. They were lucky enough to be able to go on holiday at someone else's expense and simply have a good time. And Molly and Joan were not alone.
In her book, Julia Boyd offers a superb account of the reactions of travellers to Germany in the 1930s and these reactions are both disturbing and moving. They are also, sometimes, unexpected. Most disturbing to me is the idea that most (but not all) life events can only be fully understood in retrospect.
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