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Despite the noble but fruitless efforts of Woodrow Wilson an attitude of vengeance and retribution smoldered on in Europe after the First World War. Countries that were hard hit by the German lead aggression, now victors in a long and bloody war set out to make Germany pay for its expansionist efforts. Imposing oppressive penalties on the German people, the victorious countries lead by France shatter the German economy and demoralized the defeated Germans. This devastation wrought on the German people result in a bitter and contemptuous subjugation that gave rise to the acceptance of the hate filled propaganda speeches of Adolf Hitler, which in turn saw his rise to power and ultimately culminated in the Nazi regimes attempt at world conquest during the Second World War.

Philosopher George Santayana once wrote the famous quote 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it', are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes of the vengeful people of Europe after World War I? More than sixty years after the atrocities of World War II we are contemplating imposing a responsibility for horrible actions on a population that had nothing to do with such heinous acts. Doing so would be more criminal than the acts committed by the vile Nazi's during the war.

There must come a time when society must put aside its differences and move past the bitterness of such terrible events. Punishing people of today for the sins of their fathers is as unjust as punishing an innocent man. While there is little doubt Nazi sympathizers that participated in the tragedy that was World War II still live today, the vast majority of the German people have no ties to the crimes that were committed during that dark time. If the world wants to punish those still living for the acts they committed so long ago then so be it. Imposing the crimes of previous generations on today's society will only breed the same bitterness and anger that led to the Second World War in the first place. Let us not be responsible for breeding another Adolf Hitler of the modern age.

Something that many people fail to consider now and at the time of the war was that not all of Germany supported the Nazi movement. Politically it was a minority which won power largely through threats and intimidation. Should a legitimate election have been held at the time without such inappropriate influence it is unlikely that the Nazi party would have ever come to power. Therefore the Nazi's that are

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