If

If Auschwitz had been in Hampshire

There would have been Englishmen to guard it

To administer records

Marshall transports

Work the gas ovens

And keep silent

The smoke would have drifted over these green hills

It’s not that all men are evil or creatures of instinct

We – even our subjective self – are products of history

Of political change

In history two things join

Our will and things beyond our will

We change what we are as a means of controlling these things

That is: we create a new culture

We remain human only by changing

Each generation must create its own humanity

And the smoke will drift over these green hills

Our culture makes us barbarians

It does not allow us to live humanely

We must create a new culture

Or cease to be human

- Edward Bond