A saying that is used to justify the study of history, although not all philosophers agree. This was supposedly found in Auschwitz.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net
As a student of history, I have focused on ancient civilizations, especially the 3.000 year history of the Jewish people, but also the modern terrible story of World War II which can never be forgotten. A monster like Hitler almost took over the world, and we need to remember that story and to praise courageous people who would risk their lives to save others from terrorists and oppressive dictators.
Killing in self defense has been justified throughout history, and so has collateral damage (civilians unavoidably caught in battle.)
But murdering civilians as a wartime strategy was also routine in the past, and it has also been brought into modern times (see below.)
In ancient times warfare was a constant, and when one civilization attacked another they would totally destroy the place and the people. They would typically take slaves and kill the rest. Then they would start from scratch.
Such brutal behavior with wholesale killing of non -combatants occurred as a routine in ancient times. Some historians have justified such policies as fitting the times.
The Bible describes such killing by King David and King Saul as they fought wars with the horrid Ammonites who threatened their populace, wanting to cut an eye out of every person.
This eventually ended in a provoked war and a year-long siege of Rabbah, the capital of Ammon. “The war ended with all the Ammonite cities being conquered and plundered, and the inhabitants being killed or put to forced labor at David’s command.”
This sort of savage combat, where civilians were slaughtered, was “normal warfare” and continued with the Sumerians, the Greeks, the Romans, Barbarians, the Crusaders, and the Conquistadores among others.
Even during the Civil War, Sherman’s march to the sea focused on destroying civilian support for the Confederacy. There was destruction, pillage, hunger, and massive harm along the way–purposeful as a strategy to bring the south to its knees. Casualties along the way were mostly military, but Sherman’s brutal style did demoralize civilians.
Sherman’s March to the Sea. Internet graphic.
There is no war where civilians are not killed. That is acknowledged in modern rules of war as long as such deaths are not intentional.
But in modern times, killing of civilians may be part of a strategy to demoralize noncombatants. You can look around the world and find examples of purposeful civilian deaths in modern conflicts, for example in Rwanda, Bosnia and Viet Nam.
But although modern rules of war do not accept that behavior, those rules are often more concepts than reality.
Hitler told the German people that everyone must pledge their support to him and his policies and he told his army to kill everyone in their path. And that was borne out during Operation Barbarossa when millions of German soldiers invaded Russia. They destroyed homes, cities, and any food or industrial resources and they murdered millions of innocent Russian citizens as well as citizens of every other country that they invaded. But who in the US complained about that?
Israel is currently being criticized around the world over civilian losses which are inevitable in Gaza despite the IDF’s attempts to avoid civilian casualties. No one is saying that Israel is purposely killing non-Hamas civilians, but nevertheless they are being criticized harshly. They are not an example of strategic wartime killing of civilians.
Which brings me back to WWII. Most of you know that dropping nuclear bombs on two Japanese cities was judged to be necessary to save Allied lives, and it did involve the purposeful annihilation of huge numbers of civilians. The civilian deaths numbered about 100,000, and few around the world complained.
And you may also be aware that the Allies justified the fire-bombing of the German city Dresden where many civilians (at least 25,000—maybe up to 100,000) died.
But here is the interesting part. Those civilian deaths were not criticized. There was no international condemnation of the US or Great Britain. The Brits experienced horrid civilian casualties in London from Nazi bombs and rockets.
And no one tried to criticize the Russians for their civilian brutality as they moved westward into Germany.–raping, killing and plundering everything in sight. Their vengeance was understood.
But here is a story from WWII that perhaps you don’t know about:
The Nazis were routinely causing civilian deaths and destruction, intentionally, everywhere they went including the rounding up of millions to be killed in death camps. There were few outcries about that indiscriminate human suffering either. The focus was on stopping the Nazi war machine.
Finally Churchill and FDR had enough in 1943. They knew that an invasion of Germany would be necessary to end the war, but every German grandmother and 13 year old would fight.
Churchill spoke to the world. He said, “We have had enough of the frightful cruelties with which the Germans have tormented us. We will wage a bombing campaign against German civilians in order to crush their morale and undermine their support for the war.”
He and FDR believed that this strategy, destruction of cities and all who were present, was a legitimate way to finish the war.
Churchill also said, “We have had enough of German atrocities and we will destroy the entire city of Hamburg, turning it into a ‘ball of fire.'”
Fliers were dropped to warn the people of Hamburg, but many stayed on.
The city of Hamburg, Germany was firebombed by the Allies. Original movie footage. Still photos by Paul Goldfinger 7/24/43 from Netflix documentary streaming in 6 parts about WWII.
Hamburg. Everything on fire. Allied bombings. WWII documentary currently on Netflix. Paul Goldfinger still photo.
On July 24, 1943 during the night, 767 heavy Allied bombers dropped 1,000 tons of incendiary bombs on the target. The city of Hamburg was obliterated by rapidly moving fires. 45,000 civilians were killed.
The next day the Allies learned that thousands of civilians were holed up in the huge main post office. Another bombing run finished them off.
A pilot said that his men were not happy with that decision coming on the heels of the first attack, but he said, “We went and we did…..no choice.”
Do you think that anyone then protested those killings? Not that I know of. Our side, “the good guys,” justified the action, and no one disagreed. After that other German cities were firebombed.
Subsequently the Allies and especially the Russians did invade Germany and end the war. They did what was necessary although today they would be charged with “war crimes.” Only German leaders were tried after the war and only a small number received appropriate punishment–the death penalty.
Today you can consider the Israel/Hamas war and you can learn from history if Israel is doing what is necessary and moral in order to save their people.
But double standards do not stand up to honest scrutiny. One man’s genocide is another’s unavoidable strategy.