Seventy years ago this week, German gun boats began both their shelling of the Polish military base at Westerplatte and the Second World War began. Why we still have ceremonies marking this event and what they tell us about issues of atonement, forgiveness, and how we recall past pains, deserves a careful look, especially as we find ourselves getting closer and closer to Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.
Germany remains chained to the war that they began, and perhaps that is appropriate. There are still perpetrators, as well their victims, who survive and carry with them the memories and the scars of 70 years ago. Of course, the day is coming when both Germans themselves and the rest of the world as well, will need to unchain themselves. It’s not that anyone should forget, but no nation should be eternally defined by any single event in their history, no matter how epochal it may have been.
The Poles are only beginning to figure out how to tell their story of the war. Not surprising, since they were not free to make such decisions for themselves until the fall of the Iron Curtain and their own growth as an independent economic and political power.
The British and the French will continue to bicker about who was and is genuinely closer to the United States, as they did this past June when President Obama traveled to Europe to mark the anniversary of D-Day. It’s a pretty harmless feud and actually provides a bit of entertainment whenever it arises.
But it’s the Russians whose response to remembering the start of the war we should find both most fascinating and most troubling.

While the Russian people ultimately paid a terrible price for fighting against the Germans, 70 years ago this week they sat safely to the east of the German Blitz, having brokered a treaty of “non-aggression which made them at least passive partners in the Nazi onslaught.
Rather than admit their role in the first part of the war, which would be historically accurate, ethically appropriate and bring a measure of healing to those who need an honest accounting of the past in order to move into the future, the Russians hide behind meaningless platitudes about Polish bravery offered by Prime Minister Putin and then have their intelligence services leak documents which go so far as to cast blame on those who were first attacked – the Poles. I guess they believe in the old football adage that the best defense is a good offense.
Why does this matter, especially after 70 years? Because the Russian approach to dealing with an ugly time in their own past offers two lessons to all of us who must either confront such moments in our own or learn to deal with those who have committed offenses against us which still cause us pain.
The first lesson is that getting past the past requires an honest accounting of what really happened. And the longer that honest accounting is delayed, the harder it is to fix. Those who were initially offended become increasingly incensed with the passage of time — adding the offenders’ lack of honesty to the list of grievances which they harbor.
No matter how much the offender tries to bury or obfuscate their past misdeeds, it’s just not possible. In fact, the more they try, the more attention will be called to them by those who know what really happened. So, ironically, hiding from the past actually keeps it in the present.
The second lesson is for those who have been wronged. They have to make it possible for the offenders who take real responsibility for their past to move freely into the future. Without a real shot at a second chance, it’s almost impossible to admit that you failed with your first one. But when admitting past failings actually opens new doors to a better future, it’s amazing how many people and nations are willing to walk through those doors. The experience of both South Africa and Rwanda are good examples.
I am sure that the approaching holiday of Yom Kippur, colors my assessment of events this week. But I am also sure that the day’s promise that with the genuine acceptance of responsibility for mistakes of the past, there is no misdeed which cannot be forgiven and moved beyond, is a promise upon which we all need to meditate, especially this week.