1947: Where Now Begins

For most of us 1947 is a very important year.  After all we were born during those 12 months.  (For those of you born a year or two before or after, this is still relevant.)  The approximately 70 years of life we are currently reflecting on started in that year.  So maybe we wonder what else was born in that year, what else started in 1947.  The Swedish historian Elizabeth Asbrink has an answer to that question in her recent book 1947: Where Now Begins.

Asbrink doesn’t know us and didn’t write this about us, but she does suggest in this book that major events shaping our world today began in 1947.

This is an interesting premise, and of course it’s plausible because the worst war in history involving the worst atrocities in history had just ended and a new era of global conflict had just begun. Asbrink doesn’t just write a more or less didactic essay supporting her thesis; rather she combines personal memoir with a month by month tracking of major events and themes of the year.  Among the major events she follows through the year are the partition of India, the creation of Israel in Palestine, and the escape of many Nazis from defeated Germany.  It’s not hard to see how we are still dealing with the aftermath of these events.

Along the way Asbrink also follows some other developments, less earthshaking but still relevant:  Simone de Beauvoir’s life and loves, Raphael Lemkin’s crusade to get the world to recognize the crime of genocide, Christian Dior’s “new look” in fashion and the protests it provoked, George Orwell’s life in isolation, the effort to understand Thelonious Monk’s importance in music, and others.  All of these enrich the portrait of the year by connecting popular culture to the big political events.

In the midst of this annus mirabilis Asbrink pauses to recount her family history in the Holocaust.  This poignant and multifaceted interlude anchors the book emotionally and provides an intensely human backdrop for the events unfolding in the monthly anecdotes.

Britian’s Difficult Legacy.  There are big takeaways from this book.  Britain’s desperate and callous efforts to escape the burdens of imperialism lead to unimaginable tragedy in India and in Palestine with consequences that have afflicted the world ever since.  The millions who died as a result of Britain’s arrogant decision to partition India were prelude to a conflict that still plagues South Asia.

Britain’s initial resistance to Zionist demands for a state in Palestine triggered worldwide support for that solution led by the US and led to the eventual decision to divide Palestine.  (How many know that acts of violence by militant Zionist groups in Palestine triggered weeks of anti-Jewish rioting in England?) And that partition triggered the formation of the Muslim Brotherhood and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes into permanent refugee status.  Sound familiar?  Of course it does.  That’s where now began.

Perhaps the most chilling theme Asbrink follows in our birth year is the escape of so many Nazis from Germany to Sweden, Argentina, and other places and the survival of the fascist movement.  This is paired with the birth of a historical revisionism that tries to change our perception of what happened in the Holocaust.  Both as an event and as a political technique this also sounds familiar, where now began.

I hope I haven’t spoiled any surprises in this brilliant and very readable book.  Even if it weren’t our birth year, it would be fascinating reading.  But given that WE were born where now began, how can we resist reading this book?