Britain is a country where old men try to understand their past

I've been thinking about my youth, so overshadowed by the Second World War and made more poignant this week by the 70th anniversary of the start of the 'Battle of Britain'.

I thought about 'how ?' and 'why ?' such a cultured country like Germany could spawn the ideology of Nazism which led to the Declaration of War on Britain and the bombing of British cities in 1940.

I couldn't put my finger on it until I saw it in this scene from the film 'Cabaret' in 1972 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMVql9RLP34

It still sends a shiver though me and I am reminded of it when I hear about small town America where men want to burn books.