In my opinion, a major contribution of my social psychologist colleagues was to show how much we divide ourselves into in-group and out-group (us and them) as a way of protecting ourselves from harm or our fears of harm and then how we disparage "them" in order to justify or rationalize our behavior toward them. It is easier to mistreated or kill a kraut or a Jap or a commie than a father and son and husband. That phenomenon occurred on all sides during and after WWII. What makes that dynamic particularly sad to me is that our erstwhile enemies (e.g., the English during much of the late 18th century and the Germans during much of the first half of the 19th century) are now among our very best friends - for me both personally and nationally. As the song by Pete Seeger goes, when Will they ever learn? Jack Sent from my Credo cell phone -------- Original message -------- Subject: Re: [GERMAN-BOHEMIAN] Expulsion discussions From: Laurence Krupnak <LKrupnak@verizon.net> To: german-bohemian@rootsweb.com CC: ----- Original Message ----- From: "Laurence Krupnak" <LKrupnak@verizon.net> To: <german-bohemian@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 10:23 AM Subject: Re: [GERMAN-BOHEMIAN] Expulsion discussions > / > >    Also, find reports, observations, etc. which were written during > the time of the expulsions.  Writings of the contemporary period often > distort perspectives, called political correcting. > >     The passions of the 1945-1950 ran deep. > > ______ > > Lavrentiy /      Contemporary authors who write about the expulsions (e.g., why were the expelled treated badly, etc.) often overlook the fact that the German people were almost universally hated right after the war.  The German nation and German people inflicted great pain on others. _______ Lavrentiy German-Bohemian Heritage Society web site http://www.rootsweb.com/~gbhs/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message