Results found: 2

Search results

Search:
in the keywords: German guilt

Sort By:

Limit search:

The Federal Republic of Germany and the History of the Last Decades: Outline and Observations

100%

Andrychowicz-Skrzeba J.

Institute of National Remembrance Review

2020

vol. 2

143-174

The article aims to present concisely and chronologically the most critical stages of the formation and evolution of the Germans’ historical consciousness and identity after the end of the World War II. This process was based on how German society dealt with the National Socialist dictatorship (the focus of this paper) and the communist dictatorship of the Socialist Unity Party (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, SED). Multiple factors have, over the years, contributed to how the Germans’ have dealt with their past and to the increasing awareness of this nation of its initially ineffaceable guilt and responsibility for the memory of World War II, as well as its homicidal role in this war. Among them were the post-war acceptance and integration of the “expellees” in both German states, the gradual confrontation of German society with the subject of the Holocaust itself and its mass-scale nature (for instance through touting the Nuremberg and following trials of war criminals and their assistants), and holding public debates on challenging issues related to the past (not imposed from above, but resulting from the needs of German society-for example some disputes between historians, the Walser-Bubis debate). Literary works often inspired the latter (for example, Günter Grass’s “Crabwalk,” Jörg Friedrich’s “The Fire”) and exhibitions presented in Germany (for example, on the crimes of the Wehrmacht). These considerations are a form of introduction to the second part of this article presenting the most important conclusions from an analysis, conducted by the author in 2014, of public speeches of prominent German (and Polish) politicians from the period 1989–2011 on subjects related to history. Its results confirmed that prominent German politicians are conscious of the guilt of Germans’ fathers and grandparents-not only for the outbreak of World War II, but above all for the Holocaust and crimes committed against a number of national, ethnic, and other groups-and they admit it. However, it is noticeable that the Germans’ knowledge about the criminal occupation of Central and Eastern Europe and the role of Poland in the overthrow of communism and the reunification of Germany is low and insufficient from the Polish perspective, among others.

About the usefulness and harmfulness of forgetting the German guilt

99%

Wójs P.

ARGUMENT: Biannual Philosophical Journal

2019

vol. 9

issue 2

271-287

The distinction between kinds of guilt has not lost its power to illuminate matters, and it remains a great tool to study the consequences of forgetting guilt of any kind. Karl Jaspers made the distinction between kinds of guilt mainly to ease the Germans coping with guilt, as all of them were blamed for the evil that happened under Adolf Hitler. Jaspers believed that in using this distinction the German nation could have come back to its origins, and thus purified, take its part in the possible future unity of the world and of all mankind. But soon after World War II ended, a confluence of political, social, psychological and philosophical factors contributed to a situation in which a large number of culprits were not brought to account: criminals were rarely rightly punished. In addition, many Germans believing in the ideology of National Socialism felt no guilt in terms of morality; they downplayed the political guilt; they negated the very existence of the metaphysical guilt. The process of forgetting guilt occurred.

Refine search results

1 ARGUMENT: Biannual Philosophical Journal

1 Institute of National Remembrance Review

1 Andrychowicz-Skrzeba J.

1 Wójs P.

1 2020

1 2019

Search results

The Federal Republic of Germany and the History of the Last Decades: Outline and Observations

About the usefulness and harmfulness of forgetting the German guilt