On the past and guilt

I just finished a fantastic book called Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. It is a work of historical fiction. It tells the story of the Vel' de Hiv', a round up of French Jews that happened in 1942. Nearly 10,000 Parisian Jews were taken from their homes by French policemen and gendarmes. Nearly half of those taken were children under the age of 13. The Jews were nearly all sent on to Auschwitz...very, very few of them survived. Like I said, they were taken by French policemen, it was an act of the French government cooperating with the Nazis. I guess that's what makes it so shocking...I understand that France was occupied. I know it was a time of war and shocking things happen during those times. But France is supposed to be one of the "good guys". Oh, but I guess there are no good guys.

Anyway, one of the themes of the book was survivor's guilt. Half of the book was set in the present day and the main character of that portion was busy uncovering her family's roll in the roundup. The woman felt a need to find someone to apologize to for her family's behavior. All this over things she didn't do.

This is an idea theme I'm really interested in. How responsible are we for the actions of our ancestors? I really enjoyed the perspective presented by this book...highly recommended!