Holocaust v Slave Trade

[anotheoldgit]

Recently there as been much discussion on the Holocaust i.e. the worse crime in the history of man.

Taking this on-board got me into thinking:

Why is it that the German people are not forever held responsible for this fairly recent crime against humanity, when I along with my fellow countrymen, are still forever held responsible for that more distant of crimes?

I refer of course to the "Slave Trade".

[sp1814]

Why is it that the German people are not forever held responsible for this fairly recent crime against humanity, when I along with my fellow countrymen, are still forever held responsible for that more distant of crimes?

What???

Are you kidding?

You must be...SURELY???!!!

[Lonnie]

I'm Jewish, and if you go back a few thousand years, my people were also slaves, however, if you take the Holocaust and the Black slave trade together, there have been many horrendous crimes by Humanity against Humanity in the history of Humans, and I think there have been many such crimes that can be put in the same class, or worse.

Mao Tse tung, Stalin, the Mongols, etc. the list is almost countless.

[jno]

Kromovaracun, I probably overstated that a bit; but actually, I don't think there's much knowledge in this country of what Pol Pot did; and if people dislike Stalin it's because of his foreign policies rather than domestic oppression. Even in Russia, many pine for the good old days of Uncle Joe.

I don't hold aog responsible for the slave trade. But perhaps he could ask himself if any of his ancestors were involved, and if they made any money or other gain from which he still profits. That's not a loaded question; the answer (if it can be discovered) is quite possibly No. My own ancestors never seem to have made much money from anything, so they probably weren't involved either. Nonetheless, great profits were made from the trade and the effects of that may still be sloshing around the economy somewhere.

[Gromit]

Both the holocaust and human slavery were crimes done by previous generations. It is silly to blame the current generation for crimes done by their forebears.

Contrary to your assertion, there are still people who cannot forgive the German people, but they are a minority and few and far between, just as people who still complain of the slave trade are a minority.

You seem to be confusing remembering the crimes with being accused of guilt for past crimes. The Holocaust is remembered at the Auschwitz Museum and the slave trade at the excellent International Slavery Museum in Liverpool.

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/

[bazwillrun]

slavery got the blacks out of Africa, they should be thankful, otherwise they would still be there