Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word Quiz

Answer: Germany

There has been so much written over the years about the Holocaust and apologies to Israel and the world's Jewish people. One of the first public demonstration was when Willy Brandt, in 1970 in Poland, knelt at a service for the Warsaw ghetto victims of the Holocaust.

More recently in 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's speech at the Israeli Knesset acknowledged the mass murder of Jews during WWII.

Answer: Argentina

In 1976, the Argentine junta took over the country and their reign of terror lasted for seven years. It is estimated that 30,000 people were executed.

On 24 March 2004 during the presidency of Nestor Kirchner, an official apology was given to the people of Argentina. This day has now become a national holiday for the respect given to the people.

Answer: United States of America

In 2008, The House of Representatives of the United States of America delivered an apology for slavery and the Jim Crow laws. Prior to this apology, some of the states had apologised, but this was the first time the federal government apologised. Jim Crow laws related to the segregation of schools, public areas, transport, toilets and restaurants for whites and blacks.

Answer: South Africa

After many years of struggling the apartheid laws in South Africa by the people with such noted people as Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko finally it was rescinded in 1991. In 1994, Nelson Mandela became South Africa's president. Two years later F.W. de Clerk made an official apology to South Africa for over four decades of apartheid.

The inquiry was known as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission stating that the racist policy was "deeply mistaken".

Answer: Australia

Although it sounds unbelievable, children from Aboriginal families were removed by the government and placed within missions and the foster care system. The removal was not judged case by case, meaning that good and bad parents had their children taken.

The justification of the removals was that was for the protection of the children. In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made an official apology to the Aboriginal people for the Stolen Generation.

Answer: Japan

Known as "comfort women", sex slaves were acquired by the Japanese army to be used for sex and at times to be blood donors for wounded soldiers. Eighty percent of the sex slaves were from Korea where they were captured and taken to Burma to be used day and night for sex. Negotiation for compensation started in the 1950s with Korea being offered payouts for survivors, injuries and death.

In 1993, the Japanese Parliament issued its first official apology. The Asian Women's fund was set up in 1994 by the Japanese government to give compensation to "comfort women" from South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan.

Answer: New Zealand

As a result of the Treaty of Waitangi, an apology to Tuhoe was given. The apology included admission of historic misdeeds which included land confiscation, killings and the scorched-earth warfare. Tuhoe was one of the last areas of Maori autonomy, and in 1916, the village was raided and arrested Rua Kenana. Rua Kenana was considered a prophet and his people followed him unquestionably.

The New Zealand authorities believed if he was captured and put on trial it would end the Maori independence.

After trial, Kenana was found not guilty but spent time in jail for resisting arrest.

Answer: United Kingdom

Unaware that the British had imposed martial law in the area, the Sikhs were celebrating a festival, Baisakhi, when the British opened fired on the celebrations, killing an estimated 300+ casualties. Queen Elizabeth acknowledged the massacre by laying a wreath at the spot where it happened. David Cameron fell short of giving an official apology, saying that something that happened 40 years before he was even born was something that he should not talk about.

He did quote Winston Churchill's comment of the event being "monstrous".

Answer: Canada

The Japanese steamship Komagata Maru, with a total of 376 passengers (mostly from India), arrived in Vancouver's harbour in 1914. Twenty returning citizens were allowed to disembark the ship, but the rest were not allowed to. The ship spent two months in the harbour before it was finally escorted out and sent back to India.

Although in 2008 an apology was made by then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, it was not sanctioned by Parliament. In 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologised in the House of Commons for the decision to forcibly turn away the ship.

Answer: Vatican City

In 2017, Pope Francis apologised to Rwandan President Paul Kagame for the involvement of the Catholic Church during 1994 massacre of ethnic Tutsis people. More than 800,000 people were killed. Some in the Catholic Church were involved in the planning, aiding and abetting of the genocide.

There were many incidents of mass murders being undertaken at churches, where people went for sanctuary only to be trapped and killed.