Who should pay for the wrongs of the past?

Question

Many ethnhicities have been mistreated in the past.

Is there a statute of limitations on payback? If there is none, who is responsible for the debt?

When I think of the Jews and the Holocaust, or the Native Americans/Slaves in colonial times, the Khmer Rouge, or The Great Famine of 1933 in the Ukraine, what will suffice?

Answer 1

You could use a history lesson. Allow me: I've taken classes on the subject.

The Zionist movement (before that became a sort of slur) was active before the turn of the 20th century, and were promised the land of Israel far before the Holocaust by the British. This was stagnent due to Arab terror attacks in protest. The Holocaust merely underscored the urgency, and the land given in the 1948 proposition was actually decided based on where Jews where settled only, mostly. Only after the Arab instigated war did they become displaced (often on the command of Arabic leaders who promised Jewish property to repay them)

Hope this helped. It's a difficult subject to breach, and true, the Holocaust certainly played a part, and I can see the resentment being deserved on the part of Palestinians. But the truth is Israel was initially planned and promised before the Holocaust.

Answer 2

It doesn't seem that anything will suffice. But, there really isn't anything that can be done about it. We weren't the ones that were there doing the things that were done to whoever.

I hate the distance that is put between races, religions, w/e because of the past, but sometimes things don't change. Although, I think we are making progress. Everyone suffers for the acts of others, whether rightly so or not.

Answer 3

Debts die with the debtor.

Answer 4

nobody should have to pay for something they didnt do. you cannot punish some one b/c 5 generations back somebody in their family was a n**i etc. how is that fair? that just leads to more bad feelings among different cultures.

Answer 5

Let the past be the past.  

Answer 6

Who you think should pay...

Answer 7

If no one today was involved, I don't think anyone, or any one group, should have to "pay," BUT I think all are responsible for helping *fix* what can be mended and making sure nothing like it ever happens again.