This was true enough for the judicial matters before the Nuremberg court. But it can never be true if one wishes to evaluate a human being, his development, motivations, conflicts and emotions. If there is one thing all psychologists now agree on, it is that the denial of love in childhood almost invariably leads to a damaged adult. And in that sense, Speer certainly had more than scars -- he bore the wounds of an emotionally deprived childhood.
-- Gitta Sereny, Albert Speer: His Battle With Truth --
Have a great Thursday!
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What a powerful passage. In context of Speer's involvement with Hitler, it may seem almost blasphemous to waste any degree of compassion on him or cut him even the slightest slack.
ReplyDeleteYet who can deny the utter truth of Sereny's commentary?
To consider the whole of a person's life as extenuating circumstance as well as motive and explanation for their actions - what court can really accomplish this? It would appear to be far too complex for the practical and perhaps societally necessary business of "justice" - a fact that seems both obvious and tragic.
"I am a part of all that I have met..." Tennyson's "Ulysses"