OPINION: 80 years later

Yesterday marked the annivesary official end of World War II following the formal surrender of Japan in 1945. While I’ve always had some interest in the history surrounding this war, I had the privilege of interviewing one of the few still-living World War II vets in Union County earlier this year for yesterday’s story. It is absolutely fascinating to listen to people of that era talk about their experiences, whether as a civilian or when serving.

For the people who experienced this time, the end of the war happening 80 years ago seems almost impossible. How can time have passed that quickly? However, for many people my age, learning about the events of World War II growing up seemed almost unreal.

Many of us in Gen Z don’t personally know people who remember the war, if they were even born yet. Learning about Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust and the atomic bombs would fill us with a morbid fascination, especially without the connection to real people in our lives. I wonder if this is part of what has caused the disconnect today.

Somehow, throughout the world, there are people who either deny the Holocaust actually happened, or instead show support for the historical figures that committed those atrocities. While this was something I’d heard about abstractly growing up, I encountered my first real-life nazi (I try not to use this term loosely, but I think it fits in this circumstance) was when I was studying abroad in Spain.

This whole topic in various European countries is interesting, though I feel it is the most unexpected in Spain. To briefly explain, Spain’s civil war ended in April 1939, while World War II began in September 1939. Because of this, Spain was in no place to join a world war and officially stayed out of it. However, the new Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, had received aid from Hitler during the civil war and showed sympathy for the Axis powers.

In most parts of Spain, the people are loudly against the Francoist regime and the Axis powers when looking at history. However, I was living in a very conservative area where people didn’t necessarily share all the same views as the rest of the country. In fact, my host mom grew up quite wealthy because of her parents’ affiliation with the regime.

One night a bunch of us Americans were out for drinks. My roommate, a very pretty blond-haired, blue-eyed girl, began to be hit on by a small group of Spaniards around our age. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for us to hear them talking about the beautiful Aryan babies she would make and at least one of them literally had Hitler as his phone background.

My roommate, who also happened to be a very liberal poli-sci major, quickly got into a heated discussion with them and we got her out of the area before anything more happened. I was left shocked by the encounter, though. People actually thought that way? It wasn’t just trolls on the internet looking to get comments?

While that had been my first personal encounter with people like this, it had only been earlier that year in which neo-nazis stormed the U.S. Capitol. There were plenty of these white nationalist groups spotted around the U.S. since then, but I had been pretty isolated at my progressive college campus.

Since then, things have just gotten worse. Holocaust deniers and white nationalists are getting louder, antisemitism is on the rise and the overall acceptance of people who are different is in a drastic decline. While life certainly wasn’t perfect after World War II, people were more conscious of those around them. People around the world knew it was hate that tore us apart.

In 2025, 80 years after World War II has officially ended, we need to go back to the lessons we learned in 1945. We need to remember empathy and compassion, we need to encourage humanity, we need to stop making the same mistakes our ancestors did so many decades ago.

Many of us haven’t taken the time since high school to look at what truly happened during World War II, as well as the consequences of all of these actions. On this anniversary, do some research of your own. If you can, sit and listen to someone who actually experienced those times. I promise it will change you for the better.