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Friday, April 22, 2005

Flying the flag 

A minor controversy in a small Australia town:
"Neighbours say a Nazi flag flying in the backyard of a New South Wales Central Coast family home has been taken down after criticism from the [Returned Servicemen League], Jewish groups and other neighbours.

"The flag had been flying in the backyard of the home of Mannering Park residents Darren Mackay and Jenni Duncombe for about a week."
Nothing unusual there except for this:
"Ms Duncombe had told the Daily Telegraph she did not know what the flag signified until the controversy erupted, but would not remove it because her four-month-old daughter liked its bright colours."
Behold Ms Duncombe, a perfect noble savage, untouched not only by the most basic historical knowledge, but also, by the sounds of it, by the popular culture.

But as Maureen Dowd would say, Ms Duncombe was probably merely celebrating the election of the new Pope.

(Ratzinger is, of course right; by that stage of the war everyone had to join Hitler Youth. The former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl had had a very similar experience as a 15-year old drafted to man a Hitler Jugend anti-aircraft battery - you can read about it in Martin Gilbert's excellent book, "The Day the War Ended". Former Australian left-wing Senator Sid Spindler was another case in point).

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