I was lucky enough on this trip to interview none other than the late Adolf Hitler. I was gratified to learn that he now feels remorse for any actions of his, however indirectly, which might have had anything to do with the violent deaths suffered by thirty-five million people during World War II. He and his mistress Eva Braun, of course were among those casualties, along with four million other Germans, six million Jews, eighteen million citizens of the Soviet Union and so on. 'I paid my dues with everyone else,' he said. It is his hope that a modest monument, possibly a stone cross, since he was a Christian, will be erected somewhere in his memory, possibly on the grounds of the United Nations Headquarters in New York. It should be incised, he said, with his name and dates 1889-1945. Underneath should be a two-word sentence in German: 'Entschuldigen Sie.' Roughly translated into English, this comes out, 'I beg your pardon,' or 'Excuse Me.'
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- A darkly humorous take on Hitler's potential remorse and desire for a monument.
- In plain terms
- This text imagines Hitler apologizing for WWII deaths.
- What can you take from it?
- Absurd scenarios reveal deep truths about history and guilt.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can evil be apologized away?
- How do we remember war crimes?
Another view
The quote presents fiction that might be mistaken for fact.
More from Kurt Vonnegut
His plan? To pass out weapons to slaves, so they could overthrow their masters. Suicide.
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