I was excited to receive a note from Casey Due Hackney, one of America's hottest young classicists and the author of the 2006 book, The Captive Woman's Lament in Greek Tragedy. She points out that the question faced by Americans after World War II of how to deal with defeated Germans was not a new one:

I was just looking over your blog, and I wanted to tell you how much I admired your response to the letter of 5-9-08, in which you discuss how you grappled with the question of how much compassion or sympathy is appropriate for the defeated Germans. I have spent many years thinking about the way that ancient Greek literature (especially epic poetry and Athenian tragedy) portrays the captive Trojan women, the survivors and ultimate victims of the Trojan War. When the Athenian Empire was at the height of its power and at its most merciless, Athenian audiences regularly wept in sympathy for the plight of the defeated. I find it a remarkable recognition of the universality of war time suffering, one that blurs all distinctions between East and West, conqueror and conquered, even male and female (especially since young Athenian men doing their military training often played the role of the chorus of lamenting Trojan women!). The historical situations (the mythologized Trojan War, ancient Athens during the Peloponnesian War, and WW2) are not parallel, but I still was very interested to read your thoughts on this morally essential question.

There's a lot to think about there. As I've alluded to before, I wrestled with this question myself -- especially in light of my own family history. But ultimately I decided that treating people as humans is the only way to bring them to treat others in the same way. Anyone else out there want to weigh in?