Sometimes, you read or hear something that explains something important about yourself that you’ve always known, but never knew how to articulate. It happened to me this week!
Ever since I can remember (which is not a very long time), I’ve found “loving your country” a strange concept. I feel extremely fortunate that I was born in the prosperous, well-located and safe place on earth that is now the independent Kingdom of The Netherlands, but if history had taken a slightly different turn I would have been a citizen of The Mongol Empire. Or Spain. A country is just a place on earth where a border was once drawn for some reason, often arbitrarily.
I’m uncomfortable when people – especially friends and politicians – talk about their “love for their country”. I never quite know how to react. And as nationalism and polarization are in vogue again, this happens more than I’d like! I feel more like a citizen of the world, or Europe, than a Dutchman.
This week, I found out that one of my favourite Dutch columnists and writers Bas Heijne had translated a not-very-well-known series of letters published in 1942 by Nobel Prize winner Albert Camus called Lettres à un ami allemand (sic). It made me love my country again!
The four letters to an imaginary German friend (later published in English in Resistance, Rebellion, and Death in 1960) were originally published at the height of the Second World War in various underground publications.
In these letters, Camus writes to an imaginary German friend (well, Camus also writes that he no longer feels they’re friends) who defends Nazi ideology, particularly its nationalism, its drive to dominate other nations and its belief in the superiority of the German people. The friend accuses Camus of not loving his country because he refuses to fully align with it.
I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice
Albert Camus – Letters to a German Friend (1943)
Camus is deeply hurt by this accusation. In his letters, he explains that he does love his country, but for reasons entirely opposite to those of his friend. He speaks of a “higher love”, a love that transcends selfish desires, nationalistic pride or the will to dominate others. The love Camus has is rooted in a commitment to justice, humanity and truth. He writes that he is certain that Germany will lose the war because of this higher love values solidarity and moral integrity and human dignity over hatred and violence.
We paid dearly, and we will have more to pay. However, we have our convictions, our reasoning, our sense of justice: your defeat is inevitable.
Albert Camus – Letters to a German Friend (1943)
I guess I can relate to this “love for my country”. And I guess I’m a humanist softie!
Here’s has a nice English language translation of Camus’ first letter in the series.
