Re: [Leica] Riefenstahl Dies

[John Collier <jbcollier@shaw.ca>]

Thank you Johnny for saving me the trouble of having to state the 
obvious.

You cannot judge people's past decisions wearing today's glasses. You 
have to judge their decisions on what they knew at the time. 
Anti-Semitism was very common in many countries of the world -- and 
still is.

In the pre-war period, Nazi scientists were welcomed to my home 
province of Alberta to see our eugenics program. The province of 
Alberta routinely sterilized mentally and physically challenged people 
without their permission. Remember that is where the Nazis started with 
their mobile gas chambers: the mentally and physically challenged. 
Perhaps we helped them along?

The famous boat load of German Jewish refugees, that was turned away in 
so many countries, was also turned away from Canada. Our certifiably 
insane Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, hated Jews with a passion.

I recommend the following diaries to anyone who is interested in this 
subject:

I Will Bear Witness, A Diary of the Nazi Years by Victor Klemperer, 
vol. one: 1933 to 1941, vol. 2: 1942-1945.

They record the everyday thoughts of a jewish man who is bitter about 
lost job advancement and difficulties in building his house. It is 
enlightening to see the casual splash of great events on a daily 
humdrum tableau. He survived the war due to his war record and amazing 
luck.

Does this mean you have to like Leni? Of course not! I disagree with 
BD's reasoning but it is at least thought out.

John Collier

On Tuesday, September 9, 2003, at 11:10 AM, Johnny Deadman wrote:

> Were we to all be suddenly transported back to pre WWII Germany 
> without the benefit of hindsight it is a sobering thought that about 
> half the people on this list would be supporters of Hitler (I have no 
> idea how many Jewish members this list has but I exempt them from my 
> generalization). Maybe I would. Maybe you would.Snip

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