Self Expression Magazine

Which Side of History!

Posted on the 07 September 2013 by Yamini
The film "Divided we fall" brought some interesting questions to my mind. Probably this is what is called catharsis, one reflects about ones own life b interacting with the media. In the film, Josef protects a Jew David from the Nazis and in order to protect him acts like a collaborator with the Nazis so that he can stay off the radar. When the war ends, he is looked at as a collaborator with the Nazis and a traitor by the allies until David testifies that he had saved him. Suddenly the entire game is changed, the one who has been chased all along gains the power to save his savior. What if David wasn't found at the right time, Josef would have lost his life or worse would have gone down the history as a perpetrator of violence inspite of risking his life to be on the right side. How many others who must have clandestinely stood up against the injustice must have been misrepresented in the history. Should those who obliged by the rules for the sake of being alive be treated same as that of those who believed in the violence. Consider a case, if a German is forced to join the army and he obliges for the fear of his life how should history judge him. This dilemma is seen in the case of Nuremberg trials as well, when the judges were decrying against the innocent people, they were doing so in accordance with the law of the land, how should they be judged because they were doing what the law demanded, straying away from the law would have been betrayal then, following the law has become betrayal after the war. If one remembers the film "The pianist", if not for the German soldier, the pianist would have never come out alive but after the war inspite of his one good deed he still goes down as the demon. Should not having courage to stand up against injustice also be treated equal to the injustice itself. If we look at our own country, thousands of people were jailed during the emergency, this was done with the then police force. Consider a constable or an inspector who followed the orders if his superiors and jailed someone. He was a villain in the eyes of the person jailed, his family members and those working to break the emergency rule, but from his point of view, had he risen his voice he would have lost his job and probably would have ended up in the jail himself for speaking against the government. He probably was not courageous enough or cared about the safety of his family and didn't rise against the injustice. Now how should he be judged. The same questions can be asked about the army in the north east. They are heroes for their families and the rest of the country, heroes who are working to keep the nation intact but for those who are the subjects they are demons. How would history treat them, what place would they get in the history. It reminds me of one of the stories I had read in school about a constable who breaks the head of a young boy protesting against an injustice in trying to stop the protest. He was ordered by his superior to break the protest, he comes back home and breaks down. How should he be judged. Well  I surely do not have answers. With the insignificant life I live and with the choices I make, how would history judge me, which side of the history would I be on?

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