Apologies for grievances?

[Ulysses]

Since many on this forum have a deep interest in history I was curious to know the opinion of members on the topic of apologies on behalf of a nation. Are apologies necessary when the perpetrators of the crime/action are no longer alive. Do the decendants of the perpetrators have a responsibilty to issue on apology on behalf of their forefathers? Do apologies heal old wounds or open them up again?

[Zbyszek]

Originally Posted by Ulysses

Since many on this forum have a deep interest in history I was curious to know the opinion of members on the topic of apologies on behalf of a nation. Are apologies necessary when the perpetrators of the crime/action are no longer alive. Do the decendants of the perpetrators have a responsibilty to issue on apology on behalf of their forefathers? Do apologies heal old wounds or open them up again?

Hello Ulysses, your question was given more than a year ago and I think it is well disputable and a very interesting issue. I hope we can debate friendly whether such apologies improve or deteriorate relations between conflicting nations.
I think that we all display a kind of being tired with endless apologies nowadays.
In my opinion, apology does not make much sense by itself, particularly if the crime was done centuries ago. For the first I am not sure whether one has a valid right to apologize on behalf of one's countrymen who died so long ago. No wonder they many of us treat it as an empty act, often aimed at gaining political advantage. If an apology is to be effective it must be submitted as soon as possible. Belated apology can result in serious backlash.
We, people of twenty first century have rather vague perception of what people felt like two or more centuries ago. I am even sure that in many cases when we say about Russians, Ukrainians, Poles we mean something so much different from what representatives of these nations had in mind at times when a human had to run miles in order to meet another human being.
The very number of us is so enormous that it dramatically changed relations between us so that categorizing became an urgent need at some point. I am sure it was way less important centuries ago. Another much influencing factor is life expectancy which was dramtically lower even a centure ago. All societies except few rich individuals disappeared just after they gave new lives.
Anyway, all the talks preceding the expected apology can be valuable because they can reveal our incredible ignorance concerning distant past and add knowledge which is indispensible when debating. Otherwise we only awake old demons of bad memory.
I think that a question of material compensations for old wrongs is even more difficult than apologies themselves.

Regards
Zbigniew