Prompt: Do you think there is any part of our history that modern Americans, as a people, have to come to terms with? Or do you think this is a strictly German problem?
Dealing with consequences of the past is a situation that all groups of people have to deal with as we all do things we are not exactly proud of. For example, while Germans have the heavy burden of dealing with the Holocaust, Americans must remember that the soil which they have built their wealth on was forcibly taken away from Native Americans who inhabited the land for many generations. It may be wrong to compare the Holocaust to Indian Removal in the United States, but both consist of unlawful removal of ethnic groups from their homes and many deaths during the process of removal.
I believe that both Germans and Americans have learned to come to terms with the past. Like I noted during the discussion following the visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp, Germans have allowed the camp to stay intact for public viewing. To me, that decision by itself is reason enough to believe that modern Germans have accepted history as they have nothing to hide. The acceptance of the American problem may not be as obvious, but continued efforts to provide Native Americans with rights and protection illustrates that Americans and their government recognize the problem made almost 200 years ago and are working to alleviate it.
These two incidences in history show that we should not dwell on the past, but rather remember the past as an indication that we have the power to make amends and move on.
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