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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/17/unthinkable-second-world-war-editorial

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Unthinkable? Putting the second world war to rest Unthinkable? Putting the second world war to rest
(4 months later)
This week, it was the Dambusters – their wartime air raids against German dams commemorated once again, 70 years on. Last week, it was the Arctic convoys — their survivors gathering in the Highlands, again 70 years on from their wartime exploits. Only a few days before that, it had been the turn of the Bevin Boys — commemorated in a new memorial to their war years in the coalmines. What will it be next? Unlimited opportunities beckon for similar commemorations – many of them already doubtless well-advanced – through 2013, 2014 and in 2015. The 75th anniversaries kick in even before the 70ths have come to an end, to say nothing of those other commemorations that are already planned for the centenary of the first world war. Britain still nurses some deep official collective need to remember these epochal conflicts. Yet it all raises a set of questions which deserve more thought than they get. When should these commemorations end? What forms should they take if they are deemed necessary? Do we really need any more material memorials of these already overly well-memorialised events? There is, of course, a poignancy about the 70th anniversaries, since they are perhaps the last occasions when significant numbers of the wartime generation can gather one more time. Yet these events are well sewn into the national consciousness. Do we need any more memorials, plaques and statues? Can we not decide, maturely and respectfully, that enough is enough? Can we at last move on?This week, it was the Dambusters – their wartime air raids against German dams commemorated once again, 70 years on. Last week, it was the Arctic convoys — their survivors gathering in the Highlands, again 70 years on from their wartime exploits. Only a few days before that, it had been the turn of the Bevin Boys — commemorated in a new memorial to their war years in the coalmines. What will it be next? Unlimited opportunities beckon for similar commemorations – many of them already doubtless well-advanced – through 2013, 2014 and in 2015. The 75th anniversaries kick in even before the 70ths have come to an end, to say nothing of those other commemorations that are already planned for the centenary of the first world war. Britain still nurses some deep official collective need to remember these epochal conflicts. Yet it all raises a set of questions which deserve more thought than they get. When should these commemorations end? What forms should they take if they are deemed necessary? Do we really need any more material memorials of these already overly well-memorialised events? There is, of course, a poignancy about the 70th anniversaries, since they are perhaps the last occasions when significant numbers of the wartime generation can gather one more time. Yet these events are well sewn into the national consciousness. Do we need any more memorials, plaques and statues? Can we not decide, maturely and respectfully, that enough is enough? Can we at last move on?
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