We want to step out of the Shoah shadow, but we run into obstacles
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1694000,00.html
As the Holocaust goes from memory to history, Jews have tried to move
forward. But the deniers haul us back again
Jonathan Freedland
Wednesday January 25, 2006
The Guardian
I am writing these words on a train, travelling through Germany. And
yet, it hardly feels strange at all. There was a time when a journey
like this would have felt like the breaking of a taboo: the
associations with the wartime past - trains, Germany - were too obvious
to ignore.
I remember my first trip to this country, as a student nearly 20 years
ago. Some relatives wished me luck, as if I was entering a danger zone;
others wondered if it was right to go at all, as if my mere presence in
Germany was an act of unwarranted, premature forgiveness. The emotions
behind those sentiments were alive in me, too: I found myself looking
at every white-haired man or aged matron, wondering what secrets they
concealed. The language itself was abrasive to my ears: I heard not
German, but Nazi.
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