This time, it was the Germans who felt the sting of humiliation. When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany and made plans to invade France the railroad car opprobrium of 1918 figured prominently on his mind. After the fall of Paris, he forced the French side to sign for peace at the same railroad car on June 22, 1940. For the Feuhrer, it was revenge pure and simple. There is quite a distance between Paris and Imrali, the latter an island prison in the sea of Marmara in Turkey, but I think of these two unlikely of places side by side these days.
Nations often resort to symbolism and sometimes at great cost for future generations.
What the French and Germans felt in Paris in 1918 and 1940, respectively, were vicarious victories. What the Turks may do to the sole Kurdish inmate at Imrali prison, I am afraid, is going to be no different. The little island of Imrali first became famous in the contemporary history of Turkey in 1961. One year earlier, the military had overthrown the democratically elected government in the country. After a sham trial, Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, his finance and foreign ministers and the president of the country were found guilty.