TheLastManInAmerica

Nothing more,

Nothing less

An icon on the wall

Decoration and duress

“Portrait of Authority”- Bad Religion (1993)

            I am pleased to announce that the Nazi Regime has been deposed once again! In a stunning and brutal return to power that saw the Madame Tussauds’ wax museum in Berlin unveil a likeness of Adolph Hitler, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was able to bring the country back into their grasp. But thanks to the daring of one German man, the Fourth Reich’s tenure was as brief as their ascension to power was. The man was able to muscle his way past Hitler’s two bodyguards (museum employees), leap the velvet rope guarding the exhibit and then rip the dictator’s head clean from his body. This bold act was proof that some are so determined to never see such a cruel man return to power that they would just as soon forget he ever existed.        

    Forgoing comment on all the grisly details of Adolph Hitler’s time as ruler of Germany, I am comfortable saying he was an evil man. But what might be a little unsettling for some to hear, is that the man was also a great leader. Taking a country from the verge of collapse and turning it into a power that came this close to dominating the world is quite a feat. I by no means condone some of the measures by which he did it (genocide, subjugation, etc) but the fact is he managed to do it and that takes some vast amounts of leadership. And it goes without saying that he’s earned a place in history. I don’t think the man deserves a statue of himself, in full Nazi garb, calling for a “Sieg Heil”, atop the Brandenburg Gate, but he shouldn’t be erased from our minds.  

  It’s not as if it IS a statue of Hitler in downtown Berlin after all, it’s a wax sculpture in a museum! A museum is a place where history is preserved and the last time I checked, history isn’t always pretty. And from what I gather, the exhibit depicts a disheveled Hitler toiling out his last days in his bunker, with a map of the Allied advance on his position adorning the wall behind him. To me it doesn’t appear as if this was meant to glorify the man in any way. This is just a case of someone’s ignorance leading them to act inappropriately to something they believe to be offensive.       

      If we choose to forget the dark times of our history, what is to stop us from falling into those snares again? No matter how fast we run, our past is always biting at our heels and we can never hope to outrun it. China can deny the events of Tian’an Men Square but all the news footage makes it plenty evident that something happened. And no matter how much the people of Germany, or the entire world, would like to stifle the memory of Adolph Hitler, no amount of burning history books or decapitated effigies will ever remove his imprint from the world.  

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