I also studied post WWII German history and the rigorous teaching of the Holocaust (not to mention the fact that there are memorials in every German city) is a great inspiration for how a society can embrace shame and become better for it.
https://twitter.com/michelletandler/status/1462195367152218115
Post reconstruction USA was essentially the opposite: no reparations, no Nuremberg trials, no shame, no memorials (but Confederate statues a few decades later just to be jerks) and instead the energy just moved to other ways to perpetuate the same systems (redlining, segregation)
My mom was one of those kids who was taught rigorously about the history. And she taught me that my pride as a German meant accepting the Holocaust along with Beethoven. It was OK to feel tremendous pride for some parts of our history as well as tremendous shame for others.
Meanwhile my Armenian half is pissed 100M people in the world today don't even acknowledge the #ArmenianGenocide and are still trying to wipe us out. I really wish they taught ANY history in Turkey / Azerbaijan
Great book on the subject (and let's not start on how Japan has never addressed things like Unit 731 or other war crimes)
The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan amazon.com/dp/1590178580/…
The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and Japan amazon.com/dp/1590178580/…
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