Politics of the past: the use and abuse of history - Socialists ...

Martin Schulz, leader of the PSE Group in the European Parliament,
quoted in his dinner speech the text written at the entrance
of the Library of Congress in Washington ‘past is prologue’. This
phrase, taken from the second act of The tempest by William
Shakespeare, offers a program for the future. We should come to
terms with our past, learn from history and use the good things from
it in the future. Gdansk once was a landmark of harmony; it could
become it again.
During the visit of the Socialist Group it was extremely cold and
windy. Maybe the weather should be seen as a symbol of the horrible
times the city had to live through and at the same time of the
difficult economic times we experience nowadays. This financial
and economic crises and the unemployment we are confronted with
makes it especially important to be reminded of the depression in
the thirties of the last century which contributed to a big extent to
the rise of totalitarian – fascist – regimes and weakened democracy
in many countries. This is a reason more to rethink our use of
historical facts.
Let a city such as Gdansk become emblematical for a new Europe,
in which politicians learn from history instead of using it as a loaded
gun to shoot their opponents.
253 Hannes Swoboda and Camiel Hamans