Postview: Coming to terms with the lessons of history

Unearthing the past and trying to extract justice from long-dormant tragedies is by nature a complicated and confounding process.

On an international level, look no further than the recent deportation of John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian immigrant to the United States accused of being a brutal World War II concentration camp guard. Exonerated by Israel's Supreme Court in 1993, Demjanjuk was reindicted by German prosecutors last year and is now awaiting trial in Munich. He is 89 years old and had to be taken to the airport in a wheelchair.

Locally, similar questions were raised by the conviction and imprisonment earlier this year of 87-year-old Ludmila Brožová-Polednová for her role in the prosecution of Milada Horáková, the most prominent victim of the 1950s communist show trials in Czechoslovakia. This week's lead story about the 1945 massacre in Postoloprty, north Bohemia, raises some of the same troubling issues.

How long do the effects of crimes against humanity linger? The reluctance of most Postoloprty residents to discuss the massacre suggests that the answer has to be measured in decades, if not centuries. Even more difficult, what is the proper response at this remove? The latest investigation indicates that the primary people responsible are long-dead, leaving no one to prosecute or imprison. Creating an accurate historical record and erecting a monument to the victims seem the only realistic and attainable goals.

The situation in the Sudeten region is complicated by the Beneš Decrees, the post-World War II laws issued by then-Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš that called for the expulsion of Germans from the Sudetenland, which, by some accounts, opened the door to revenge killings against the Germans. That remains a controversial and touchy subject in this part of the world, and easier to judge in retrospect. Undoubtedly, the retribution was wrong; yet, in the aftermath of Nazi subjugation, how many of us would have acted differently? It's impossible to say.

While there are no easy answers to these questions, it is important to note that Czechs and Germans have made strong efforts in recent years to form bonds of cooperation and mutual respect. Most prominently, the Czech-German Fund for the Future, established in December 1997 and renewed for another 10-year period in 2007, has made impressive strides in supporting cross-border youth programs, preservation of cultural heritage sites and art exhibits, concerts, theater and dance projects and other cultural activities.

Germany went a step further in the agreement, acknowledging its responsibility to the victims of Nazi violence and establishing a humanitarian aid fund to compensate them.

Ultimately, no amount of money or legal proceedings can make up for the sins of the past. Which is not to say they should be ignored. They need to be acknowledged and established as historical fact, so that future generations understand what happened, why, and how not to repeat them. But, as we unearth the past, it's just as important to follow the lead of the Czech-German Fund, which stipulates that "forms of cooperation should mostly be focused on the future."