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欧洲视角
Respect for the dead
对逝者的尊重
Jan 7th 2010
From Economist.com
The messy politics of war memorials
战争纪念碑后肮脏的政治
WAR cemeteries are poignant places, better suited for reflection than controversy. In Vilnius, Poles, Lithuanians, Russians and others, all fierce foes in their day, rest in the same hallowed ground. In the British war cemetery in Berlin, aircrews lie in the earth that their bombs once churned. In Bitola in Macedonia, a huge German war memorial-cum-cemetery dating from the first world war glowers over the town from a nearby hill. Rebecca West, a Germanophobe British writer of the interwar period, called it “monstrous”. Local authorities have been more generous-spirited, leaving it untouched for nearly 90 years.
战争公墓是令人心酸之处,更适合人们去反思而不是争辩。在维尔纽斯(立陶宛首都),波兰人、立陶宛人、俄罗斯人等都曾兵戎相见水火不容,但现在都长眠在同一块圣地。在柏林的英国战争公墓,机组人员安息在他们曾掷下炸弹的土地上。在马其顿的比托拉,一个可追溯到一战时期的巨大的德国战争纪念公墓从山上虎视眈眈的注视着临近的村庄。Rebeca West (英国作家,活跃在两次世界大战期间,仇视德国)形容它“怪兽般的”。当地政府则更加宽宏大量,放任其存在了近90年。
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