Chairman of the Friends of Zion association in iceland, Ólafur Jóhannesson, believes it would be a great blessing if the Icelandic government apologized for their treatment of jews before WW2.
” I don’t think Icelanders today need to feel guilty about these events but its strange that the Icelandic government won’t consider an apology when the newly deceased Pope believed it necessary to publicly apologize to the Jewish people for the wrongdoings of the Catholic church in the last 2000 years. ”
Historian Thór Whitehead who is an expert in wartime Iceland feels that its more important that people should learn from past mistakes than necessarily making apologies for the past. “Actions speak louder than words. An apology won’t rectify the past. ”
He says that many official documents prove that the Icelandic government specifically wanted to hinder foreigners, and particularly Jews, from settling in Iceland.
