the times of good people, evil people and indifferent people

I was struck by wisdom today. I had an encounter whilst doing some research for a feature film. At the Holocaust Museum near my home I got talking to a survivor of concentration camp. Kitia intelligently summed up the entire Second World War in about 4 sentences. As if this wasn't impressive enough she remarkably went on, telling stories involving her own "Schindler" and "Anne Frank" escapades. She told of her survival in the Auschwitz death camp despite the evil committed against her and her scapegoated minority of the Jewish people, who comprised only 1% of Germany at the time. What was more remarkable though was her reaction to Nazism. Whilst not outwardly begrudging the crimes against her, behaviour which she is understandably entitled to, she was optimistic, declaring the ink forever tattooed on her forearm not as daily reminder of the atrocities inflicted upon her, but as the one tangible link to the remnants of her family, an everlasting tribute. To not sustain an intense hatred towards all Germans, which I expected and would probably maintain myself, if not use as an excuse for my poor fate, is a tribute to the way she lives her life. When we (my brother and I) questioned her further about her tattoo she referred to it as an ignominious symbol of evil of which the perpetrator's should be ashamed to see, not her. I considered this attitude extraordinary considering the humiliation she and the Jewish people suffered at this time. To illustrate just some of this humiliation, she told of witnessing Nazi's prying babies from quivering hands and staking them on bayonets. Yet with images such as these cemented like concrete into her memory she still has the wisdom to surmise that these were indeed crazy times of moral quandary's in which under duress good German citizen's undertook inexplicable acts. Whether conscious or unconscious, they still occurred, whereby if a golden egg from Hitler appears on your doorstep for your deeds, you don't question it. The guilt is then merely passed on to someone else and not internalised. For Kitia to conclude "the times were filled with good people, evil people and indifferent people" is simply incredible! I will quote these words of wisdom at the beginning of my film.