As the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, young people around Europe share their thoughts on the conflict in the context of the continent's current geopolitical situation.
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00:00I can't remember anything at all, you can tell me.
00:02On the 8th of May, it should be the Arminiastis 1945.
00:07I think that's it.
00:08I think there is no family in Poland,
00:09with whom the Second World War has hit me.
00:12We only know peace here, our generation.
00:14And I want to make it so.
00:22There obviously has been a resurgence of the far rights in Europe,
00:25and, you know, the opportunity for, I don't know,
00:30a Second World War-like scenario will happen.
00:33Again, weapons are much more powerful.
00:37Warfare is fought in a different fashion.
00:41But I think that perhaps the kind of situation
00:45that led to the rise of Hitler,
00:48and even without Hitler, Hitler-like characters occurred,
00:50I think that can happen again in Europe,
00:52and that perhaps we are heading in that direction.
00:54There was the Arminiastis, but then there was the Marge of the Death,
00:58the release of Hitler, and all that.
01:00And so, there it was already,
01:01we saw all the horrors.
01:03So we thought that it would take time to repair all that,
01:07and that it was not just to do it in the end of the war.
01:10And now, when we see, I think, our time is difficult,
01:14we thought that if we were able to celebrate this day,
01:17everything is not behind us.
01:19We must not forget that it happened, because it could be reproduced
01:22with another ethnicity, maybe, or another religion,
01:24but it could be reproduced.
01:26We have a kind of passive anxiety, for the moment,
01:30but that can become active when we hear new things
01:34that happen in Ukraine and in Europe in general.
01:38And it's true that it remains in the brain,
01:42and we ask ourselves,
01:44what will it be in the future?
01:49Is it still there in a few years?
01:53Or is it going to be worse?
01:54I don't feel fear,
01:57because of the fear of the current situation,
02:01but some kind of fear will certainly happen.
02:05But Poland, because of the geographical situation,
02:08in a situation of a further escalation,
02:10we are just one of the next few countries,
02:13which could be more potential conflict in Europe
02:18could be facing.
02:19So, in the school, we have done the Second World War
02:22very hard, because it's a big part of the German history,
02:26which should not forget.
02:29It was the worst war, with many wars,
02:33with a lot of wars, with a lot of wars, with a Genocide,
02:36and because of that all started in Germany more or less,
02:40I think it's extremely important, to remember it.
02:44So, it's a beautiful story, it's going to be repeated.
02:46And if you don't care about it,
02:49and you don't remember it,
02:51and you also look at the nuances,
02:53which are important in this case,
02:55then you get there again again.