The Christmas letter from Francis Van Hoi reminded me of my youth. In the 1960ies, Asia was again a war zone. When we entered senior high school, the Virtnam War escalated. We were also very personally moved by the war. Some GIs stationed at the US barracks were friends with us. In the evening, we would meet at the Playboy (in Augsburg Pfersee) and Hank’s Night Club (in Augsburg Oberhausen), or else at the Tambourine in Munich. On their last night in Germany, before having to go to Vietnam in the morning, they wept.
We had arguments with our fathers who knew exactly why the Americans had to defend our liberty in Vietnam. Because we did not understand the Vietnam War. L’indochine of the great France (in those days we smoked Gauloise and were Francophiles), had been a failure. The Americans, whom we basically also liked very much, thought they had to continue throwing bombs and killing against the unavoidable course of history.
For the US boys in our clubs with their black music, Vietnam was the definition of atrocious. We, too, opposed it with every single fibre of our bodies. And reading the news from Francis, I am glad we were against it. And I regret not having opposed to the war more vehemently at the time, as others of my generation did.
Imagine there being a war and nobody going there!
Without a look into the history books, I can spontaneously think of quite a few wars that took place during my lifetime. There was always war somewhere: in the near East (7-days-war, Intifada, Irak-Iran, Kuwait, Iraq), in Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Pakistan, in the Far East, in Africa, South America or Europe (Serbia and Albania). I never understood how any of these wars were supposed to make sense. And from an objective point of view, all these wars can be called unreasonable in retrospect.
Consequently, I oppose any sort of war. The only war that makes me doubtful is WW-II. What can you do if a nation declares crimes against humanity its central goal and organises it industrially? Yet maybe there could have been better ways to get rid of Hitler and his accomplices?
Most wars were quite profitable for Germany. That is also something I am ashamed of. However, we are not the only ones profiting from war. A short while ago, the referendum to forbid all export of military goods failed to get the support of the people in Switzerland. But this action went mostly unnoticed after all the fuss the media made about the minaret veto.
Currently, there is a war that differs drastically from all other wars that took place in my lifetime: the war in Afghanistan. For the first time in decades, German soldiers are actively involved.
The reasoning is just as questionable as always. As opposed to Vietnam, it is not communism we are fighting these days, but terrorism. The well-meant reasoning is that we “have to take global responsibility”. Personally, I would be glad if we managed to take responsibility for ourselves.
The war in Afghanistan against the Taliban is useless. We should start opposing it more strongly, too. The least I can do is write how I feel about it openly.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
Here are two songs often played on the radio whenever the threat of war returned to our minds:
Seasons in the sun, here sung ♫ by Terry Jacks and the original version of Le moribond by my much-admired Jacques Brel:
and
Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind, sung by Joan Baez, one of the heros in my youth. I saw Joan Baez live in Munich (Olympia-Halle), a tender woman lonely playing the guitar in the big arround.
Und one more song to remember the good old times in Hanks, Playboy and Tambourine – James Brown – Sex machine:
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