"La Guerre Est Un Bloc"

When relations between European countries become tense enough, one country will often bring up the other's actions during World War II as a shaming tactic to gain leverage in the argument. To paraphrase Georges Clemenceau, World War II has become its own constituency among European states. By pandering to a given aspect of the war's memory, one can curry favor with voters.

Two examples of this have recently reared the heads. First, in a last-ditch effort to polish his legacy, outgoing Ukrainian president Victor Yuschenko recently named World War II partisan Stepan Bandera a "Hero of Ukraine," one of the state's highest honors. Bandera is a controversial figure in the war, having opportunistically collaborated with the Nazis as the Third Reich prepared to attack the Soviet Union. He is also accused of condoning deportations of Jews and Poles to concentration camps. Supporters maintain that his actions helped lead to the creation of an independent Ukrainian state.

Yushchenko's announcement has provoked criticism from all corners of Europe, including the EU itself, which issued a statement (see clause 19) "deeply deploring" the decision because of Bandera's Nazi collaboration. Nor are all Ukrainians pleased: residents in the Eastern half of the country, which maintains strong sympathies to Russia, burned an effigy of Bandera after the announcement was made. Yushchenko's successor, Victor Yanukovych, will now have to decide whether to let the decision stand and face hostility in the east and from Russia, or reverse it at the expense of support in the more Russo-skeptic west.  

Meanwhile, as the crisis in Greece has unfolded, the issue of reparations owed by Germany has bubbled up to the surface. In a speech this week, the Greek prime minister stated that while he would not negotiate reparations during the present crisis, the issue remained "open" between the two countries. According to Reuters, several interest groups in Greece claim that Germany owes additional reparations over and above the 115 million deutschemarks it paid the country in 1960. The Prime Minister is surely correct in recognizing the folly of bringing up the reparations question at a time when the country needs German financial aid more than ever. But the fact that the reparations question will remain unresolved is a testament to how strongly the war and its legacy still resonate in Europe.

The US has forgiven most of its historical grudges. Japan and Germany are now two of its strongest allies, and Vietnam one of its largest trading partners (though we have thus far refused to pay reparations). While relations with Russia remain cool, the country is no longer Communist. The only real exception is Iran, where the US still refuses to support a diplomatic presence as a result of the 1979 hostage crisis. Yet American officials eagerly await the election of a moderate regime, one that we would in no way hold responsible for that unpleasant event. America has often been accused of lacking historical perspective, but one might argue that the price to pay for such perspective is deep indeed.