Germany did at least the minimum and apologised for its actions during the Holocaust and went further and put its money where it's mouth is by paying compensation to Jewish victims of the Nazi regime and contributing substantial monies to development of Israel.
Switch to Australia. PM Howard steadfastly refuses to say sorry for the actions of governments down the line towards Australia's indigenous people. Not even what are now called the Stolen Generation can elicit an apology from the PM and his Government.
Interestingly, as the LA Times reports, the Spanish Government proposes to openly confront the Franco era:
"Spain will take a major step in confronting its past today when parliament unveils legislation aimed at granting justice to hundreds of thousands of long-neglected victims of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship.
Debated fiercely for more than a year, the bill contains the most explicit formal condemnation to date of Gen. Francisco Franco's four-decade-long regime. Among other things, it requires the removal of statues, plaques and other symbols that honor the deceased dictator.
But facing the past has inflamed passions in this polarized society.
Conservatives bitterly oppose the legislation, saying it only reopens wounds better left undisturbed, while some victims and their families are unhappy that the measure does not go further.
Thirty-two years after Franco died, and 71 years after the fascist general took part in a coup against an elected leftist government, igniting a devastating civil war, Spain is undergoing an unprecedented examination of that period's brutalities."
Switch to Australia. PM Howard steadfastly refuses to say sorry for the actions of governments down the line towards Australia's indigenous people. Not even what are now called the Stolen Generation can elicit an apology from the PM and his Government.
Interestingly, as the LA Times reports, the Spanish Government proposes to openly confront the Franco era:
"Spain will take a major step in confronting its past today when parliament unveils legislation aimed at granting justice to hundreds of thousands of long-neglected victims of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship.
Debated fiercely for more than a year, the bill contains the most explicit formal condemnation to date of Gen. Francisco Franco's four-decade-long regime. Among other things, it requires the removal of statues, plaques and other symbols that honor the deceased dictator.
But facing the past has inflamed passions in this polarized society.
Conservatives bitterly oppose the legislation, saying it only reopens wounds better left undisturbed, while some victims and their families are unhappy that the measure does not go further.
Thirty-two years after Franco died, and 71 years after the fascist general took part in a coup against an elected leftist government, igniting a devastating civil war, Spain is undergoing an unprecedented examination of that period's brutalities."
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