Dear 2025: I’m 80 and Still Cleaning Up Hitler’s Mess

by Similoluwa Ifedayo

Dear 2025,

I hope you are doing well, or at least better than I am.

I am 1945, 80 years older than you, and let me tell you, I’ve seen things. I carry the weight of humanity’s worst choices and its most hopeful beginnings. Believe me, being unforgettable is exhausting.

Before I showed up, the world had been on fire for six years—September 1, 1939, to September 2, 1945. The culprit? Adolf Hitler. Think of him as that toxic boss who thinks the company (or in this case, the world) should revolve around his delusions of grandeur. However, he was worse.

Hitler had a dream—well, more like a nightmare for everyone else. He envisioned a world ruled by his “Aryan” race, and his recipe for achieving this was simple: fear, hatred, and a sprinkle of propaganda (served cold). He was a great speaker too. Unfortunately, the rest of the world wasn’t having it. His actions led to World War II, a global conflict that began because he thought invading Poland (without an invitation) was a brilliant idea. Britain and France disagreed, and things escalated.

I remember June 6, 1944—D-Day. Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, a moment that shifted the tide of the war. And January 27, 1945, when the world bore witness to the horrors of Auschwitz as Soviet forces liberated the camp. These moments showed both the depth of human suffering and the strength of human resolve.

By the time I arrived in 1945, his regime had caused the Holocaust—a genocide of European Jews so horrifying that even history books struggle to contain its horrors—and the murders were carried out primarily through mass shootings and poison gas in extermination camps. At the end of it all, about 85 million lives had been dragged into the abyss.

When it finally ended, the world was like, “Well, that was a bad idea. Let’s never do that again.” But, dear 2025, even as nations celebrated victory, the scars of war lingered. Women, minorities, and the unsung heroes of the time stepped up to rebuild homes, economies, and hope. Many of their contributions remain overlooked in history’s grand narrative, but their hands carried the weight of a world trying to heal.

This is also the year humanity decided it couldn’t go on like this. In San Francisco, leaders gathered to create the United Nations, an organisation designed to prevent another Hitler, another Holocaust, another war of this scale, and to draft the United Nations Charter. It wasn’t just diplomacy; it was for survival and to thrive. It was essentially their version of, “Let’s start a group chat where we work out our issues before someone tries to blow up the planet again.”

But, 2025, I’ll let Similoluwa tell you the rest. She’s lived through the years before you and has a much better sense of whether humanity actually read the UN Charter—or just clicked “I agree” like it was terms and conditions.

Thank you, 1945, for giving this GenZ this privilege.

Dear 2025,

Shall we skip the formalities?

Eighty years ago, the world limped out of a mess of its own making, courtesy of one Adolf Hitler, the original “main character” who the majority didn’t like but couldn’t ignore. By 1945, the man was gone, but not before leaving behind a world full of broken cities, broken economies, and broken hearts.

Germany had been a mess after World War I—think of a nation-sized midlife crisis. People were angry, broke, and looking for someone to blame. Hitler came along and said, “Don’t worry, I’ve got the answers: It’s their fault.” Spoiler: “their” referred to the Jews, the disabled, and basically anyone who didn’t fit his narrow, hateful vision of perfection.

His rise taught the world a hard lesson about what happens when fear and propaganda are left unchecked. By 1945, leaders finally said, “Enough.” The United Nations was created as a “never again” insurance policy, a place where nations could argue over conference tables instead of battlefields.

Since then, humanity has had its ups and downs. The UN did some amazing things—like eradicating smallpox (seriously, we owe them a cake for that, chocolate cake precisely). But it’s also had moments of “Oops, we dropped the ball,” like failing to prevent genocides in places like Rwanda.

Today, you face challenges we couldn’t really imagine in 1945—climate change, cyber warfare, and the endless drama of social media. We still battle with gender inequality, child marriages, poor leadership, political apathy, corruption, poor access to education, etc. But here’s the thing: the lesson from 1945 still stands. Unity, cooperation, and a little humility can move mountains—or at least stop them from exploding.

Adolf Hitler’s story is one of destruction, but it forced the world to try to be better. The promise of 1945 was simple: never again.

It’s up to you, 2025, to keep that promise alive—and maybe laugh a little along the way.

Yours with hope and rebe

Similoluwa Ifedayo.