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This comment from another forum puts it as well as I ever could.
The people responsible back then acted for the state, and were never disowned by that state. Hence the "immortal" state is liable for their deeds.
If some unit of the British army commits a war crime today, e.g. in Iraq, you are (I hope) not opposed to the state paying compensation to the families of the victim and apologising for the crimes of the state's agents (i.e. the soldiers). Or would you then also claim that only the soldiers themselves should apologise, and only they should be made to pay compensation?
If you want to "inherit" all the good stuff from your country's past (like its infrastructure, permanent seat on the UN's security council, colonial possessions in Gibraltar and elsewhere) then you also have to accept "inheriting" the bad stuff, and the responsibility for that. This includes your government taking the blame and apologising for the country as a whole.
But you cannot brag about how "you" (allegedly) "saved France and Poland from Hitler, so they should be grateful and more accomodating towards us today" while refusing the same responsibility for the less savoury bits of your country's history.
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Author: Rasczak
26-11-2019 01:19:21