Embracing historical instances of global injustice, one must admit that of all the evils that the humankind has ever created, the Holocaust as the persecution and extermination of Jews and slavery as the failure to recognize the humanity of African American people in the U.S. represent by far the worst. However, whereas Germany has managed to face the evils of the past and reconcile with them, thus, creating an opportunity to redeem itself and using it successfully, the U.S. still strives to grapple with the dark legacy of its past, particularly, the history of slavery, segregation, and discrimination of African American people. In her book, Susan Neiman explores the subject matter as a Jewish woman who has lived in the U.S. for a substantial portion of her life. Although Neiman’s idealistic view of GDR could be seen as questionable, the general sentiment of apologizing for the evils of the past so that long-lasting conflicts between the African American community and the white one could finally be reconciled is a reasonable idea worth considering.
One of the main lessons that Neiman’s book provides concerns the necessity to embrace the past and acknowledge its mistakes. Using the crimes of Nazi Germany, particularly, the Holocaust, as the main example, Neiman asserts that recognizing one’s fault is a critical part of making progress in advancing social relationships and resolving a long-lasting conflict. The specified argument represents the focal point of the book, with multiple examples drawn from the experience of Germany under the Third Reich: “The Holocaust Memorial is the size of two football fields, and it occupies one of the most central and expensive pieces of real estate in Germany’s capital” (Neiman 108). Therefore, Neiman articulates the need for an apology made to victims and the affected population, in general, expressively clearly, though she also mentions GDR as a worthy example briefly.
Despite the presence of several questionable ideas, including the one of viewing GDR as the idealized version of Germany, Neiman’s book represents a sensible idea of the U.S. making an example of Germany and apologizing for the evils of its past. Specifically, the idea of paying moral retribution for the evils of slavery, segregation, and racism is considered as a solution to the current tensions between African Americans and White Americans in the U.S. social setting is discussed. The book’s sympathetic exploration of the issue makes Neiman’s “Learning from the Germans” an important addition to the discourse.
The ideas represented in the book, particularly, the importance of acknowledging the errors of the past and the decision to commit to avoiding them in the future, can be seen as a viable and effective solution of some of the present-day issues, particularly, the presence of racial tension in the U.S. However, while Neiman does admit that the conflicts in question, namely, slavery in the U.S. and the holocaust in Germany, are incomparable, distinctive reasons why they cannot be equated are largely ignored. Specifically, even though both confrontations imply drastic injustice toward people of a different race, the ideologies that produced them are entirely different. Therefore, the path to reconciliation between African Americans and White Americans is likely to be significantly different than that one between Germans and Jewish people.
Furthermore, the issue of nationalism needs to be considered when talking about the subject matter. In contrast to Germany, where nationalism prevailed during the Third Reich, in the U.S., nationalism in its pure form could barely be applicable given the fact that White Americans do not represent the native population. Therefore, the power dynamics between the specified groups is significantly different from the one between German and Jewish people during the Third Reich. Nevertheless, learning to acknowledge the past mistakes and show remorse is vital to the further management of the racial tensions within the U.S.
Work Cited
Neiman, Susan. Learning from the Germans: Confronting Race and the Memory of Evil. Penguin, 2020.