Moral Obligation to Remember.

 

Eighty years ago, on the morning of June 6, 1944, Allied forces staged an enormous assault on German positions on the beaches of Normandy, France.  The invasion (Operation Overlord) is known by the famous nickname "D-Day".  The letter "D" was a redundancy that meant "big day," but also decision, departure, disembarkation, and doomsday.  Canada commemorates the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy this year.

In the politics of remembrance, there is the belief that there is a moral obligation to remember.  The meaning of remembrance varies because each person's experience or connection to war differs.

For the post-veteran generations, remembrance involves learning about historical facts and trying to comprehend the what, how, and why so that remembering remains relevant.  Visiting sites of war memory, such as the Normandy region of France, can help historical facts come alive in the imagination.

Standing in the footsteps of soldiers can trigger reflections, including the horror of the bloody violence of war, the why, the courage, the camaraderie, and the sacrifice for liberty and freedom.  As part of the commemoration experience, people may think about what they would do if they had to do what our Canadian heroes did for us.

Commemorating with other nationalities is important in Normandy to recall the brave forces and those who were liberated.  It is also part of the necessary journey to reconcile the past with former enemies.

While nationalism and pride in a country may rise by remembering, there also are sites of war memory that are empty of meaning, leaving only the emotion of senseless loss, cruelty, and the call for humanity and peace.

I recall several places in Normandy that I visited where Canadian prisoners of war who had surrendered under the rules of war were systematically murdered while in detention.  These histories are profound and gut-wrenching.  The time spent there allowed me to break out of any detached myth of war.

On June 7, dozens of Canadians of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders and the 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment were taken prisoner following heavy fighting around the village of Authie.  The Germans transported their prisoners to the nearby Abbaye d'Ardenne, an ancient stone church where Colonel Kurt Meyer, one of the 12th SS commanders, had set up his headquarters after D-Day.  Later that night, 11 of the Canadian prisoners of war were taken into the Abbaye's garden and shot.  The following day, seven more POWs, all North Nova Scotia Highlanders, were taken outside the Abbaye and shot.

On June 8, 64 other Canadians, including several dozen members of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, were taken prisoner during fighting near the village of Putot-en-Bessin.  The prisoners were marched to the Château d'Audrieu, a Normandy estate confiscated by officers of the 12th SS.  Later that day, 45 of the Canadians were murdered on the grounds of the Château.

Precisely how many Canadian POWs were executed by the Germans during the Battle of Normandy has never been established.  The point of the atrocities is that these were executions that occurred long after the local battles were over.  Canada's Veterans Affairs says up to 156 or more Canadian soldiers were illegally murdered in scattered groups in various pockets of the Normandy countryside.

At the Abbaye d'Ardenne, a memorial in the garden where 18 executions took place is frequently covered in small maple leaf flags left by Canadian visitors to the site.

"They are gone but not forgotten," says the memorial inscription.

Remembrance can be an emotional experience and a force for healing, reconciling, and unifying, and it is also something that needs to be done at home.

Canada's free privilege to politically rant and call out the government for its mistakes without fear of arrest was paid for by our young of past generations.  If it is possible to travel to Europe, every Canadian should plan a particular time to visit the Vimy Memorial to remember WW1.  Then, one must experience the Canadian Juno Beach Centre on the beach in Normandy and the Memorial de Caen Museum.

The consequence of WW2 brought perhaps 60 million dead.  Nazi Germany behaved following their cultural, political, and economic ideas.  We must always examine Canadian ideas and values.  We must also remember the broader significance of D-day and keep June 6 forever in our memory.

Historical commemorations pay a debt of gratitude to those who have died fighting to protect our way of life and our values.

Remembrance helps bring our political communities closer together and strengthens the bonds of citizenship.

Commemoration can remind people of the follies of national emotions being whipped up into fervor or used to support unjust practices, such as Putin’s national speeches to bolster support for military aggression.

What are the moral reasons for remembering wars and their dead?

In a way of thinking, national borders and political communities are irrelevant regarding our rights and duties to the human race.  Remembrance is justified when it helps us realize the universal moral significance of all human life.  Commemorating events like the Holocaust or the two world wars can help.

Respect for remembrance can help us avoid conflict in the future by shining the light of history on the darker aspects of our human nature.   War often reflects the worst of what we are capable of doing to one another.  Reflection can serve as a reminder of the horrors of war and help us keep in view the moral requirement not to senselessly sacrifice life.

Historical study is used to discover the constant principles of human nature, keep the worst of human nature in check, and avoid war.  The history of war reveals how we get into conflicts, why we keep fighting them, and what we do to justify the cruelty and destruction.   So, good history helps humanize the past by telling individual personal stories and engaging our empathy so we may never forget the moral tragedy of war.

Humanity has become smarter but not wiser, understanding the evolution from the sword and spear to modern missiles and “the bomb.” Human nature has not changed despite our technology.

History can allow us to see clearly and tame some of the monsters inside us.  While we recognize the depravity of war, we must remember that there may be, at times, compelling moral reasons for fighting.

As long as justice and injustice have not ended the fight for ascendancy, human beings must be willing to battle for one against the other.  Some have said that war is always a matter of doing evil in the hope that good may come from it.

When we consider the past, such as the larger meaning of June 6, take a moment to reflect not only on those who have died fighting for us but also on those who died fighting against us — the horrors experienced by all and what we can do to avoid a future horror.

A broader understanding can teach us much about ourselves, lest we forget.