Last week the Canadian War Museum announced it will “adjust” its controversial exhibit on Allied bombing during WWII, a move prompted by intense lobbying from this country’s veterans and even a recommendation from the Canadian Senate.
This decision should be troubling for any who consider the search for historical truth more important than coddling illusory national identities. It is a move emblematic of a national consciousness pervasive in this country, one that is informed as much by selfcongratulation and selective history than anything grounded in reality.
The display at the War Museum explained that the morality of the Allied bombing campaign in eastern Germany at the end of the Second World War has been “bitterly contested” for sixty years. The bombing raids, which were destructive in unprecedented proportions, saw over a million tons of bombs dropped on Germany’s cities. Six hundred thousand innocent civilians lost their lives and 7 million more became refugees.
The Allied planes, Canadians among them, used incendiary bombs on German towns, which are designed not only to demolish targets but to start fires which destroy the surrounding area. These bombs were dropped not only on industrial and military targets, but across whole cities, creating massive infernos which consumed innocent life in horrific proportions.
In Dresden, the fires raged so hot that the city’s lake itself boiled. As hot air from the flames rose, colder air rushed in towards the fires at tremendous speed, sweeping Germans through the streets and into the inferno. Charred corpses were found in fountains, the remains of victims who had jumped into the water seeking refuge from the flames, only to be boiled alive.
The bombings achieved only limited strategic benefits, and were designed to punish Germany and spread terror and chaos across a country that was teetering on the brink of defeat. The targeting of civilians caused outcry among many Britons, and even Winston Churchill, who had authorized the attacks, soon began to have second thoughts.
In an internal memo in March of 1945, he wrote “It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed […] The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing.”
Despite the British leader’s seeming admission of regret, calling into question the necessity of this unprecedented destruction has proved too much for many Canadians, who claimed the War Museum’s exhibit was “offensive” to those pilots who risked their lives in the war and portrayed the Canadian forces unfairly. The new “altered” wording of the exhibit will presumably take a more neutral position on the deaths.
Are we, as a country, truly prepared to declare that the violent deaths of so many innocent people are not morally troubling? Why are we so reluctant to acknowledge even the possibility that Canadians were party to crimes against humanity?
It is because such an admission would disrupt a key narrative of our national identity; that historically, and especially during the world wars, our country has only been a positive force in the world. But unfortunately the reality is much more complex, and such a reading of the Canadian national identity disregards important and documented historical truths.
As Canadians, we harbour many myths about ourselves. For example, most Canadians would tell you that we are dedicated peacekeepers, and that our soldiers are an integral part of United Nations Peacekeeping missions throughout the world. This is a myth. Although it was a Canadian who invented the concept of UN peacekeepers, Canada currently ranks 55th out of 108 countries contributing to peacekeeping missions throughout the world. Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Jordan, Romania, and Uruguay all contribute more troops than we do.
Similarly, most Canadians would like to believe that our country is founded on the values of multiculturalism and diversity. Yet we forget that for the first century of our country’s existence, oppression and assimilation of the land’s native peoples was official government policy. We were reluctant to acknowledge this truth too, until this year the federal government finally began reparations for the residential school program which abused and killed so many Canadian Indians.
Although it may be painful, our national myths must be scrutinized. To do so is not an act of disrespect for our forefathers, but an act of respect for the truth and those we may have wronged.
The Canadian pilots who dropped bombs on Germany were part of something horrible. For that, they deserve our sympathy and respect. They bear a burden we can never know. But let us not pretend that no injustice took place. We owe it to the dead and the surviving, of all nationalities, to take ownership of what this country was a part of. It may mean giving up an important part of our national identity, but it should be consolation to remember that 600,000 others gave up their lives.
