April 9: a date in the history of Norway

It is now 70 years since Norway was invaded by German soldiers, April 9, 1940.

Now is the time come to finally call some people who were fighting against the occupation heroes. They were denied it after the war until now. And to see if those who were named heroes really was heroic. It is still too early for some. For some think one should wait until no one lives who lived during the 2nd World War. But that would not really be worthy of our heroes, would it?

All those who were called evil, was they evil? Should we not just call them evil-doers instead of always taking the short-cut. Humans are not evil being although we can do great evil. And Nazis and the Nazi regime surely did great evil, the torture, the murders, the systematic negation of life worth of people decided to be unworthy. Systematic killing of Jews, Gypsies, those with handicaps, especially people from mental hospitals.

Life seem less scary when we call murderers and such people for evil. When we see them as human just like us, then it gets scary. The torturers who were great friends to their friends, wonderful to their children and spouses. Nice people but capable to conflict the worst on other people. How is it possible? It is possible when you make other people into THE OTHERS, as NOT HUMAN. Everything is possible when a human being is not seen as fully human. And then one can put the work away and be playful at home. So it is less frightening to just see them as evil.

But why not? The answer is, if we just see them as evil, then what can we, as persons, as society do, nothing. But if we believe that the person that does evil can be taught, and then choose to do good, then there is hope.

If they are evil, then we are good. If we are good, then we are not guilty. But we have the evil-doer, the architect of evil, the accomplice, the unwilling to fight to correct evil, and then we have someone who is better than just good, the ones who fight the good fight.

The questions for all times is: will we fight the good fight when the wrongs happens to others or will we fail? I hope there will always be enough people fighting for justice of all kinds. The largest group, unfortunately, will those unwilling to fight for others when they are not self the target. We cannot rely on the good fight being fought solely on those who are targeted by injustice.

It makes me sad to think about the many who died and suffered during 2nd War War. That so many countries would close their borders so that many Jews died that could have been saved. That bombs were not on the infamous crematories of the death camps or on rail roads to the death camps. Many could have survived but they died when Germans used the last days and hours of the Nazi regime to rush killings to an even higher speed. The truth that many knew about the death camps and still did nothing, or just minimum when maximum effort was required. Such infamy!!




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