This is a story pertinent to the blindness of our own misdeeds, and how the enemy is not viewed as a person, but as the "other.

Nafplion in the Peloponese  has a venetian fort, Palamidi.   In 1822 it changed hands for the last time,  taken from the  Turks, in the revolution  of Greece from the ottoman yoke .

I was at an international  physics school there when  the mayor provided a town guide to take the honoured guests, professors all from their respective countries,  through the fort, and relate its history.

I was asked to translate as we went along, on how the fort was taken by stealth, and the defenders were taken by surprise  (mostly muslim albanians), and how the taking was bloodless, "not even a nosebleed". I was surprised and asked the guide  in Greek for a clarification before translating this: "are you sure, no bloodletting"? He was adamant and so I translated.

As we were walking on the parapet  he showed us the beach way below, called Arvanitia; and then, I had to translate how the water became red from the blood of the soldiers killed and thrown over the parapet!! You can imagine my embarrassment before the illustrious guests, in trying to recover from the "not even a nosebleed" statement of a few minutes before.