My Nazi Past
At school I often used humour as a defence mechanism. This was mostly because my defence was often a humour mechanism, but I was a popular kid without being into exclusive groups as such.
I’d always been an all-rounder. I was never particularly cool, overly brainy, I was above average in sport and what I lacked in academia I made up for getting along with people. I was good in some areas, like English and music, but bad in others, like maths and chemistry.
I moved around a bit and changed schools, and often countries, every four or five years, which meant the curriculum never changed with me and I was always trying to fit in with the programme.
Which brings me on to Nazis.
Every time I changed school, the history teacher would announce in the first lesson of that yeat that we were going to study the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich. This was cool right after Raiders Of The Lost Ark came out and I realised that my uncle had kicked Nazi butt across southern Europe, but by the time I was eighteen, I was ready to give Nazis das boot.
I yearned for Vikings or modern African history, McCarthyism or the colonial wars of south east Asia. No one gave me the opening of the Northwest Passage, there were no Conquistadors, proud and misguided on armoured horses, the Santa Maria never left the dock for me because it was always Nazis, Nazis and more fucking Nazis.
Nazis who were gay, Nazis who didn’t trust Hitler and were killed, Nazis who studied in London, people who used the Nazi movement to cover their own.
What I’m saying is that if I never hear anything about Nazis for the rest of my life I’d be closer to a happiness I’m not entirely sure exists but could at least imagine myself nearer.
Have a good weekend and I’ll be around on Monday if you are.
April 25th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I had a similar problem. ‘O’ level English - Wilfred Owen. ‘A’ level English, 10 years later at night classes - Wilfred Bloody Owen. English degree, a couple of years later - Wilfred Sodding Owen! I never want to read “Dulce Et Decorum Est” again as long as I live!
April 25th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I’m thinking everyone needs a little Conquistadorian History. Pre-Columbian Mexican/South American art and anthropology is fascinating.
But nobody ever made a movie where they melted like wax.
April 26th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Never did the Nazis in history. When I moved schools it was always The Stuarts. (The Nazis we did in Current Events.)