Learning history........ any purpose?

When I was a kid, I used to wonder why the hell do we learn history? What has happened has happened. Why do we look back? Will seeing old historical monuments and other historically rich things fill the belly of several millions starving to death every day? Will reading about world wars bring some shed on the heads of millions of destitutes suffering from chilly winter nights ? As I grew up.I understood that reading history, learning about the factual information of past helps us to understand what went wrong? What were the blunders that were commited by mankind which inflicted irreparable loss to human beings whose nuber is uncountable? All this , so that such mistakes are not repeated in ordrer to ensure peace for the future generation. Fair enough.

But are we really learning lessons from history? It was racial hatred against Jews and others that caused millions of them to be annihilated in concentration camps. Similarly the racial discrimination was the root of apartheid. India paid heavy price for religious intolerance between hindus and muslims in the form of partition. But have things changed today? Are we still not continuing to repeat our old habits? What Materazzi did to Zidane in the worldcup final was a fine example of racial hatred still nurtured in the hearts of Italians and may be several others. The communal riots in India every year also give fair idea of how much we have learnt from our past mistakes.