IME people aren’t taught about the holocaust or fascism properly in schools, if at all. Especially true of Israelis, whose education on the Nazis seems to focus almost entirely on Jewish suffering, and not the fundamental nature of fascism. Talked to an Israeli, and she explained that she went on a school trip to Auschwitz, and the teachers basically shouted at them for not being angry or sad enough. Basically used it as propaganda.
To be fair, you see a similar thing with Americans. For example, perhaps inspired by Hollywood, they seem to think the Soviets were all barbaric rapists. While the Soviets did behave appallingly, some historians have argued it is likely that roughly 1 in 5 rapes perpetrated by allied soldiers, were perpetrated by American GIs. Which given how many troops the Soviets deployed compared to the US, is a pretty high number. Plenty of men and young boys too. Certainly one rape is too many, I hope we can all agree on that.
It’ll come as no surprise to the community, but the Brits are no better either. Perhaps due to WWII they have this idea they’re the plucky underdog, the good guys who took on Hitler. It’s what tv shows and their history lessons often teach them. This leads to some very simplistic takes. For example, they often think the British empire were the good guys in WWI. Don’t get me wrong, the Germans really weren’t great either, but neither was the British Empire. Once again, anyone in this community already knows this.’
The list goes on.
Hell, the ancient Romans killed millions, enslaved millions more. They thought of it as bringing civilization, bringing peace. Thought they were the good guys.
TLDR: No one thinks they’re the bad guy. Especially the bad guy.
IME people aren’t taught about the holocaust or fascism properly in schools, if at all. Especially true of Israelis, whose education on the Nazis seems to focus almost entirely on Jewish suffering, and not the fundamental nature of fascism. Talked to an Israeli, and she explained that she went on a school trip to Auschwitz, and the teachers basically shouted at them for not being angry or sad enough. Basically used it as propaganda.
To be fair, you see a similar thing with Americans. For example, perhaps inspired by Hollywood, they seem to think the Soviets were all barbaric rapists. While the Soviets did behave appallingly, some historians have argued it is likely that roughly 1 in 5 rapes perpetrated by allied soldiers, were perpetrated by American GIs. Which given how many troops the Soviets deployed compared to the US, is a pretty high number. Plenty of men and young boys too. Certainly one rape is too many, I hope we can all agree on that.
It’ll come as no surprise to the community, but the Brits are no better either. Perhaps due to WWII they have this idea they’re the plucky underdog, the good guys who took on Hitler. It’s what tv shows and their history lessons often teach them. This leads to some very simplistic takes. For example, they often think the British empire were the good guys in WWI. Don’t get me wrong, the Germans really weren’t great either, but neither was the British Empire. Once again, anyone in this community already knows this.’
The list goes on.
Hell, the ancient Romans killed millions, enslaved millions more. They thought of it as bringing civilization, bringing peace. Thought they were the good guys.
TLDR: No one thinks they’re the bad guy. Especially the bad guy.