QotD: Historical Perspective

[Judgment at Nuremburg] begins in the streets of Nuremburg in 1948 — bombed out, no utilities, no reconstruction. They had cleaned the streets of rubble, and that's about it. The populace is outwardly amiable but seethes with resentment over the occupiers' treatment of the functionaries of the Nazi regime. The prosecutors, in fact, are warned that a harsh verdict will anger the population, and only serve to increase their shame — and the Allies need the German people to confront the future. Underlying it all is the realization that the nightmare scenario predicted by some has come to pass: the eastern portion of the country has been de facto annexed by a hostile power. And of course you say, were the Americans not once allies with the Russians? True. Well, this shows how short-sighted such decisions are; perhaps if that fool Roosevelt had a better plan, all of Eastern Europe would not have been swallowed by the nation' most implacable foe.

In short, I had no idea World War Two was such a disaster.

James Lileks, The Bleat, 2005-11-08