The Traudl Junge/Nadira Jagan instinct in the human mind

Sep 19, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Whenever I write on the complexity of the human mind, the names Nadira Jagan and Traudl Junge appear right in front of my eyes. The former is the daughter of one of the world’s longest serving politicians, Mrs. Janet Jagan. The other (deceased) was the confidential secretary of Adolf Hitler who stayed with him in his bunker right up to the point where he committed suicide.
These names come up whenever I read about children praising their parents who were army leaders, presidents, prime ministers, police chiefs, judges etc., but whose careers were torridly controversial and for whom the evidence of horrible wrongdoing was incontrovertible.
Can the credibility of a country’s leader survive when there is proof that he/she murdered citizens whose only crime was to protest or write about the wrong things they saw in their country?
No one took seriously the cries of the daughter of Saddam Hussein when she ranted about her father’s trial in Iraq. A tape exists whereby Hussein ordered the murder of a journalist. How complex is the mind or is it that the mind is perfectly logical but it is just that humans are an indecent lot?
Surely, Hussein’s daughter had to be indecent to think that her father was a good person and that her pain had to be understood. In the mind of Hussein’s daughter, the family of that killed journalist had to have concrete running through their veins. Didn’t they feel the pangs of hurt when the journalist was murdered?
How can a child bless his/her parent with words of adoration when that parent had committed unspeakable atrocities? We need not go that far into the realm of atrocities; we can simply look at acts of violence perpetuated by that parent upon others. There is no complexity of the mind here. This is just cold-blooded barefacedness, deep dishonesty and open indecency. Surely, civilization has set standards by which we can judge the moral mind of humans.
Ms. Junge in her memoirs was plainly deceptive. She painted a picture of a loving, caring boss. But loving and caring to her; not to the Jews of Germany. We cannot judge the character of others based solely on their generosity to us. This is a recipe for macabre depravity.
One can be the most caring father to a child, but the child must not overlook a leader’s brutalization of his/her critics. Among the values civilization gave human society are those of love, protection and obligation.
Nadira Jagan was quoted in the Chronicle as saying that she cannot help hating people who criticized her mother. What if this daughter was given the evidence of terrible wrongdoing by her mother, who at one time was one of the most powerful politicians in Guyana, was President of Guyana, and was active in politics for over sixty years?
How does Nadira Jagan treat the words of a Trinidadian citizen who is regarded as one of the nicest persons the Caribbean gave birth to – Professor Lloyd Best? Nadira Jagan would find it impossible to locate any harsh criticism of Professor Best who was once the advisor to her father, Cheddi Jagan.
In the book, “The PPP of Guyana, 1950-1992: An Oral History”, Professor Best had some harsh, very strong words to say about the cruel mind of Mrs. Jagan. This is supported by countless citizens from all walks of life who at one time interfaced with Mrs. Jagan.
There cannot be any doubt that Saddam Hussein’s daughter must have felt deep hurt at her father’s execution. But is she an honest person? Was Junge an honest woman? Does Nadira Jagan believe that her mother was as virtuous as she Nadira believes in her own mind?
If we love our relatives and family members and parents, then we ought to intervene and stop them from hurting others. A mother has to tell her son so that he cannot rob someone of their pay packet. Likewise, a child has to tell his/her father/mother that as President or Prime Minister they cannot dismiss citizens from their employment, thus creating misery for a family with children whose education will suffer.
Ulele Burnham, in a reply to me, wrote that she once asked her father (President Forbes Burnham) why he ordered the transfer to the interior of the Headmistress of her school, St. Rose’s, Sister Hazel Campayne. She said she felt it was unjustified. This column was composed after I read that a daughter said at a funeral ceremony over the weekend that her father was the best dad in the world. What about best policeman? Was he?

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The Traudl Junge/Nadira Jagan instinct in the human mind

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