war war war .. again??

There are too much thing to write about this topic until a point I don't know what to write.. hahaha.. But i guess before i lost in my own busy world, it better to jot down something as reminder to the older me.  Recently I went to eastern europe travel.. It kind of eye opening to me. There are a few highlights. So maybe it will be easier to make it in bullet form as it all not related but just a pieces here and there...

1. Before my travel, a friend give me a book .. Man's Search For Meaning. It was a real experience of a psychiatrist (Dr Frank) in concentration camp, not as psychiatrist but as the prisoner itself. He wrote what happen there, what he felt, what keep he going, how life there change him & people surround him.. how evil manifest itself in camp guard which mostly from the same race with the prisoner and how kindness can be found even in SS or commander (which from German). It really eye opening.. I do have to google something like the "shower head" as it seems to be so obvious to him but not to me.. (imagine how katak tempering am I). To be honest i really cannot imagine if I were in Dr Frank's shoe or even born in during that time.. Either as a prisoner or as the other side of the group.  Not sure what will I do.. Do i have the will to survive.. Do I have the will to fight the evil or will I just tell myself lies that things is OK? It seems obvious when we just seeing it from outside but i wonder if it the same if we are inside. There is another story... Nightingale. it is a fiction but happen during world war 2 in France. How life that is normal turn to a different twist during that war period. I can relate myself more to the older sister which just want thing to be normal..who afraid of everything .. who don't want to challenge the authority.. At this moment, it was so easy for us to condemn the holocaust and to condemn what hitler did was wrong but if we where there at that time, will I still see the same thing or can I able to even see it? It still a question that linger in my head. I really don't know myself.. Most of time i tell myself.. death is for sure, i cannot run form that .. but the thought of dying actually scared me. Sigh..
2. My second highlight was the trip to Bosnia.. Bosnia just like malaysia.. 3 different major race with 3 different religion. It just need a trigger ..greed and the war happen. From what the guide told us the serb started to attack the bosnia & croat village. Initially bosnia & croat join venture to fight the serb but half way croat is turning his back and attacking the bosnia as well. At the end these 3 races are fighting each other. As I heard this story from a Bosniak of course it kind of sided to Bosniak but as what the guide tell us which i agree, every side has their own story.. has their own pain.. has their own lost. The guy that being killed is someone's son/daughter, someone's father/mother. How things before the war are never the same again.. It will take time to heal. Will it ever heal?
3. My third highlight was still in Bosnia. I met another Bosniak lady that tell the story of the war from her view. She was young at that time.. During the war, she was sent to Germany to seek for asylum. When the war ended, she was so eager to go back to Bosnia..But it never the same as what she remember.. People changed. There are some story that i heard which said that most of Muslim Bosnia before war are not practicing and after the war, they realise their mistake and become more religious. After the war,  Islamic party - Party of Democratic Action become one of the big party that control Bosnia. What this lady told me, people become more hypocrite.. Before the war people use to practise the religion because they want to practice and believe in it.. but after the war, people goes to mosque to get the politic connection. The tension between different race is even greater.. Religion become a way of achieving worldly thing..Yes.. war changed people.. or war just show the worst of human?
4. My forth highlight was when i was in Split. It's amazing they still have building from Roman and how you can see different way between Roman, middle ages, communism. It really a wonder how a great civilisation like Roman can go through the dark ages which you can really see the different. We always think, people will always better than before but history tell us it can be otherwise. A friend told me that we are in the era of going to dark ages. Nowadays people are depending on gadget.... little by little we are depending on this gadget without knowing exactly how thing works. The simple example is map. We are a bit lucky, to still go through time where we need to know how to use map.. (although i don't know/forget the concept of compass.) But now all is using waze or google map in the phone. Just imagine, if all this technology gone, nobody know how to use compass anymore. We have to start from the beginning. Yes Roman is giving it's trailer to me... 
5. My fifth highlight was when i was in budapest. Do you know that Hungary has a few nobel prize winner but none was received in Hungary. All of them has migrated to different country. Jewish are considered minority group in budapest but they are strong in academic and economy. So due to fear of minority will overtook the country even before the war, there are some rules to reduce the percentage of minority group in university and try to reduce their share in economy. So most of Jewish has to migrate to get better education. It somehow remind me of Malaysia. Also, there is this memorial in Danube where they put shoes as remembrance of those Jews that was shot to Danube. A friend told me, those that was chosen was from rich family where by people will take all their belonging after the shot... So does it all this back to greed?
6. My final highlight was in Mauthausen. It was a normal concentration camp but the real highlight was the tour. It was done by a local guy who really interested in the history of that camp. Normally during the tour, guide will tell the story what happen at that time but he not only tell us that but ask us to think and put ourself there. The camp was situated near the village.. so does it really people in the village are not aware what happen or they just pretend nothing happen?  He even ask to think if some day, someone knock our door and that is refugee. will we accept her/him? or chase it away? Worst if the law said keeping the refuges was wrong.. will we obey the law or will we risk our life to save them? And like what he said, we have to make decision ... as this not only history but really happen now either we open our eyes or not.. So what is our answer? 

Above all this, i wonder what happen to Malaysia during world war 2? We do has the history but what do I know about it? Do we ever learn lesson from our history?