Owen Robertson said:
I wonder how the English discuss the IRA. Or how Germany teaches their history. Or how Canada teaches that we treated aboriginal (native, or indian to the ridiculously ignorant) peoples in the 19th century worse than America treated African-Americans in the 20th. Oh that's right. We pretend it never happened. Everyone's got skeletons in their closets, right?
I think you be surprised how the Germans teach their history. they teach it in depth, they don't gloss over it at all and are extremely hard on themselves.
as for the "English" (i assume you actually mean British) and the IRA it doesn't get taught as history yet because its living memory. you're talking to someone right now who had school friends die in "the troubles" and if you meant slightly further back (such as Michael Collins and all that) you can opt to cover it in high school i believe. then there's things like the Bloody Sunday Inquiry conducted at great expense 38 years after the event and i quote:
The results were published on 15 June 2010. British Prime Minister David Cameron addressed the House of Commons that afternoon where he acknowledged, among other things, that the paratroopers had fired the first shot, had fired on fleeing unarmed civilians, and shot and killed one man who was already wounded. He then apologised on behalf of the British Government
so no we don't "pretend it didn't happened". generally speaking we understand acknowledging history, even when its uncomfortable, is important in this country.