By Xhabir Deralla

The long Ilinden holiday weekend was a great opportunity to watch the director’s cut versions of “Rebel Moon” on Netflix, conveniently shown on Macedonian Ilinden, August 2.

The Skopje version of the weekend was long and not too hot. There were few events, apart from the regular uninventive and boring “state-church” and cavalier-media pathetic showoffs. But mostly it was quiet. Even the forest fires somehow died down (or at least the reporting of them) so that there was more than enough media space to cover the celebratory marches to Krushevo and Prokhor Pczynski. To keep everything in the spirit of the usual convenient patriotic-peasant idyll, a nice contribution was when Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani got involved in a brawl with airport security in Skopje, which grew into a diplomatic squabble.

So, carried away by the insurgent nationwide craze, I watched the versions of “Rebel Moon” with a total duration of almost six and a half hours. Then, browsing the Disney Plus menu, I decided to rewatch the German documentary “Hitler’s Battle Against The Press” (Schlagzeilen gegen Hitler, National Geographic, 2018).

If you have missed rising in the patriotic spirit and seeing how other political leaders excelled in their patriotic battle against the treacherous media, I highly recommend that documentary.

The film describes how the members of the editorial staff of the “Münchener Post” in the 1920s risked their lives to preserve journalism and the democratic spirit in the public. Real traitors, weren’t they? They constantly and loudly warned about the danger from the Nazis, long before, and even more fiercely after, the Nazis’ rise to power. Their editorial office was also a refuge for those persecuted by the regime. But the Nazis made sure that the journalists and editors of this brave newspaper learned that the rule of law was suspended—with pressures and threats—then with reprisals and finally the destruction of the newspaper. After the defeat of the Nazis in 1945, one of the editors of the “Munich Post,” Edmund Goldschagg, co-founded the “Süddeutsche Zeitung.” Some of the journalists and editors did not survive Nazism. Some of those who escaped persecution and concentration camps never returned to Germany.

Тhe past is a lesson for shaping the present and the future. If not missed, of course. Unfortunately, humanity proves to be a bad student who regularly misses the most important lessons. The Balkan peoples are particularly bad students.

Undoubtedly, Hitler was particularly irritated and did not refrain from constantly and publicly threatening and calling names at the newspaper, and of course, suing the editor of the ‘Munich Post,’ Martin Gruber. As expected, the court ruled in Hitler’s favor. In addition to Hitler and his propaganda conducting a continuous campaign to discredit the newspaper in public and harassing the editor with lawsuits, NSDAP (Nazi Party) militants did not spare the editorial office from violent physical attacks.

In the night hours, in the days of the coup attempt in 2017—sorry, in 1923—the Nazis vandalized the editorial office, destroyed the archive, and stole everything necessary for the normal functioning of the newspaper. The attacks went on and on, as the newspaper continued to fight the Nazi infestation until the last moment.

And I won’t say any more; I think everything is clear. I just recommend—this documentary can be watched even after the holidays because the fight, as the new government says, does not continue, but—lasts.

You already know, the past is a lesson for shaping the present and the future. If not missed, of course. Unfortunately, humanity proves to be a bad student who regularly misses the most important lessons. The Balkan peoples are particularly bad students.

But neither the past nor the present can be erased or reshaped. Even the future is no longer uncertain. The blindness of the masses cannot erase this fact.

This is an opinion article. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author.