Dutch writer and historian Ewoud Kieft opened his lecture at the Krithi Festival of Books and Authors here on Saturday on Adolf Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kampf and its relevance in relation to rising xenophobia and nationalist sentiments across the globe by saying: “In meeting the other, you get the chance to become yourself”.
That is something that the nationalist movements that are currently rising in many parts of the world are forgetting.
Many people are scared of losing their identity “when they are confronted with people who are seemingly different, who dress different, who eat different, who worship different”, he said.
He cited his own country: In Holland, political parties are constantly talking about the danger of “Dutch culture” disappearing.
“They say that their traditional celebrations are disappearing, that their sense of belonging together is disappearing because of immigrants with different religious backgrounds, though most of the immigrants are well integrated.” He spoke of the fate of the Left parties in Europe. In many other European countries, Left-wing parties, which see diversity as a positive feature, have lost substantial ground over the past 10 to 15 years and their leaders wonder how they lost the hearts of the people.
Nazi ideology
Mr. Kieft said that as the grandson of a resistance activist who died in a German concentration camp, he was not inclined to justify Nazism.
But his efforts were focused on a better understanding of how the Nazi ideology attracted millions of followers. “It is not pointless to compare the present to Nazi times as it challenged us to make democracy flourish and make the rule of law resilient,” he said.
