Wir Haben Es Nicht Gewusst

At what point are we no longer responsible for our own actions? When do certain actions or behaviours become excusable? Are we ever really blameless? Is mob-mentality a solid enough excuse for our sometimes erratic and unjust behaviour? Is fear for our own lives justification for malicious acts towards others? Some argue "Responsibility" should always be weighted against the circumstancial background, or defined within a societal context. Should it really?

The ease with which Europeans have shifted responsibility for the events that unfolded in WWII onto the German people, has always baffled me. Are citizens who helped a malicious government into power more to blame than the citizens who follow its orders once they've been invaded & annexed by it? Were the Belgian, Dutch, French, Austrian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese citizens' & governements' actions so much more excusable because they were under siege or occupied? I've always felt the blame/responsibility is equally weighted. Unfortunately it's not until recently that local and international courts have started to call on the responsibilty of other European countries and institutions.

Towards the late 90s, Switzerland's financial holdings were the first to undergo proper re-evaluation of their warpast. Swiss banks were forced to own up to their own "warcrimes". And a few years later, the Swiss governements "neutral" stance during the war was finally criticized.

Yesterday, in an unprecedented ruling, a court in Toulouse has ordered the French state and the rail firm SNCF to pay compensation for deporting Jews during World War II. SNCF had tried to defend its own actions by stating they had been forced by the local Vichy-regime and the German occupiers. The plaintiffs, both children of a deported Jewish father, won their claim on the grounds that while the German occupiers might have forced them into complying with the deportations, it was SNCF who chose to do such by means of animal transport carriers in order to save money on guard personnel. SNCF also continued to demand financial reimbursement of "traintickets" for those journeys even after France had been liberated.

While the matter of personal responsibility is perhaps less clearcut (although that's highly debateable), our habit of excusing corporate actions by a miriad of societal & contextual arguments has long since lost its palour. It's about time we recognize that each of us plays a part in the bigger picture. And that it takes people to participate in malicious systems in order for them to work.