Learning the Right Lessons

In the wake of an irritable spat between Russia and the Baltic states over whether Stalin contributed as much as Hitler towards the outbreak of the Battle of Britain, some people who wouldn't dream of falsifying history have invaded Poland to commemorate the start of the Second World War, the last great crusade against anti-semitism before the commencement of the Israelis' sixty-year war on terror in 1948. The Upper Miliband, Britain's Minister for Lesser Breeds, noted that "We have a duty to remember the sacrifices, including of Poles fighting in and alongside British forces, and to learn the right lessons - about confronting racism and xenophobia, about standing up against tyranny, and about building international co-operation". The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, noted that "he who falsifies history, and has power or will assume power, will bring unhappiness again"; while the president, Lech Kaczynski, indicated his respect for historical truth by blathering about how glorious a thing it is to be shot, dismembered, lacerated, crushed, impaled, incinerated, pulverised or splattered in a good cause. Tusk did his bit for international reconciliation by remembering aloud the eternal distinction between Them and Us: "who started the war, who the culprit was, who the executioner in the war was, and who was the victim of this aggression", while sportingly leaving it to the Kremlin to point out the pre-war Polish government's contribution to peace in its time by helping Hitler and Neville Chamberlain carve up Czechoslovakia. It was no doubt all very salutary, and we can look forward with due confidence to the anniversary in two days' time of Britain's declaration of war on Germany and the glorious beginning of the actual business.