Bloomberg: publish Mein Kampf and finally complete World War II

While Germany is wondering whether to allow the publication of Mein Kampf, conflicts in several European countries create the feeling that World War II never ended. Really, even now, with the death of the majority of the representatives of the generation that really fought in the war, politicians cannot stop using it for their own purposes?

Pay attention to recent news:

In France, the leader of the National Front, Marine Le Pen, publicly clashed with his father Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of this ultra-right party, who called the gas chambers a “historical detail” of the Second World War, denoting his statement as political suicide. Frankly, this conflict is more like a political performance, designed to convince voters that the National Front has abandoned its xenophobic views. This theory is supported by the fact that Le Pen Sr. remained the honorary chairman of the party.

Greece has decided on the final amount of reparations, which it will require from Germany for the damage caused by the Nazi regime - 279 million euros. Germany is not going to pay, but Vladimir Putin supported the intentions of Greece and handed over to Prime Minister Alex Tsipras the icon that was taken out by the Nazis during World War II.

In Russia, a criminal case was brought against the owner of a toy store for selling goods with Nazi symbols (it was about toy soldiers). After that, Roskomnadzor had to come up with explanations and declare that demonstrating a swastika without a goal to propagandize Nazism was not a crime. At the same time, Russian media continue to play on emotions associated with the Second World War in order to justify their aggression in Ukraine.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized the UPA soldiers as "fighters for the independence of Ukraine." This gives veterans and their families certain benefits, and also prohibits public attacks on the UPA. However, this law, adopted to please the nationalists, does not mention that the UPA once cooperated with the occupying forces and helped them destroy the Ukrainian Jews.

In 2015, all this news sounds weird. Even if Marine Le Pen comes to power and it turns out that she agrees with her father, she will not be able to create new gas chambers. You really should not vote for the National Front - it is indeed a xenophobic party, but the Second World War has nothing to do with it.

Modern Germany has as much in common with the Nazi Third Reich as modern Greece has with the Spartan kings, so it does not have to pay the last multi-billion dollar reparations.

Toy soldiers, like the Nazi form and symbolism, are not dangerous in themselves, although they cause subconscious rejection in the representatives of my generation.

And parliaments should not decide who was and who was not a hero 75 years ago. Their job is to create their own history, not try to rewrite the past.

Politicians for too long used the theme of the Second World War in order to provoke an emotional reaction and popularize often highly dubious ideas. For example, Putin’s propaganda now represents the refusal of most Western leaders to come to Moscow for the Victory Parade as a betrayal of a union 70-year-old. In fact, the reason for their refusal is a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine (last May 9, Putin celebrated in the annexed Crimea).

This year, the expiration of the exclusive right to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf expires. The possibility of its publication in Germany caused a new wave of reflection on the Second World War. This can be used to end the use of the topic of war for political purposes.