Very nice concept and feelings. I thought that this process of teaching the children in Germany skipped a generation. I have seen some documentaries that show people my age ( mid 60s) were actually unaware of many of the atrocities done by the Nazis. It was their children who realized what happen, as mentioned in this video. In the US there was an almost immediate last cause effort. Also, conquering and destroying a race and trying to take over all of Europe is different than the slavery issue in the US.
There are definitely points that are mentioned that should be used today to teach going forward. Unfortunately I don’t see attitudes changing.
You are not entirely wrong. It's important to remember that East and West Germans approached the issue from a different set of assumptions based on their respective systems of government. Neiman does a pretty good job of exploring this generational theme in the book that is linked to in the post.
Thanks for the article. In the 1990s, I returned for a visit with the family in Freiburg I had stayed with many years before. As I recall, they were the ones who first mentioned the film Schindler's List (1993), which we all thought was a powerful confrontation with the past.
Great article as always. Why do you think that America has struggled to adopt the same historical attitude that many Germans have? I suspect its primarily because our political environment won't let tour education system create such an attitude, but I could be wrong.
He links to Susan Nieman’s book Learning From The Germans. She writes about a museum exhibit full of letters from the (non-SS) German soldiers which casually mention the war crimes they participated in. It kind of forced Germans to acknowledge that their grandparents and parents really WERE those Nazis, and not just people doing their jobs out of patriotism. We’re a bigger country with a different history, but she gets into the weeds with it. It’s a great book.
Not all German military personnel, even on the Eastern Front, participated in war crimes. What is true is that the idea, long held by many, that it was only the SS that did so is a myth. There was a great deal of involvement on the part of the Wehrmacht. However, that's not the same thing as saying that everyone who fought on the German side in WWII was a war criminal. Also, I don't think it's accurate to say that everyone who DID participate in the crimes was a "Nazi." There has been a great deal of investigation into the motivations of rank and file perpetrators, and other important factors, such as peer pressure, have been cited as motivations. This of course does not excuse the crimes. But it does suggest that "they were Nazis" is a simplistic understanding of what was going on.
I think some people will feel I'm splitting hairs here. But when dealing with a topic as sensitive as this, it's important to be as accurate and nuanced as possible.
You said: "There was a great deal of involvement on the part of the Wehrmacht. However, that's not the same thing as saying that everyone who fought on the German side in WWII was a war criminal."
Just for the record, I don't think that is what Jayne was suggesting at all. She referenced one exhibit of letters. Obviously, you could have taken part in the atrocities in any number of ways beyond serving in the SS or even the German army. Thanks for the comment.
Back in 2005 I was in Europe on business, visiting several suppliers. One of the stops took me to Feucht, which is slightly south of Nuremberg. I had arranged to stay a couple of days in Nuremberg as I wanted to see the parade grounds where Hitler held his rallies. Not that far from the parade grounds (which at that time was in poor condition) was a museum about Nazism extolling the dangers and what it had wrought and so forth. I spent several hours there. It was excellent. There were numerous school groups there learning about its evils. That alone impressed me. Have you read the book “Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil” by Susan Neiman. Worth a read.
I agree with Ty Seidule: "Telling the trugh is a ruthless act" and "I want more history, not less".
Very nice concept and feelings. I thought that this process of teaching the children in Germany skipped a generation. I have seen some documentaries that show people my age ( mid 60s) were actually unaware of many of the atrocities done by the Nazis. It was their children who realized what happen, as mentioned in this video. In the US there was an almost immediate last cause effort. Also, conquering and destroying a race and trying to take over all of Europe is different than the slavery issue in the US.
There are definitely points that are mentioned that should be used today to teach going forward. Unfortunately I don’t see attitudes changing.
Thanks,
Mike
You are not entirely wrong. It's important to remember that East and West Germans approached the issue from a different set of assumptions based on their respective systems of government. Neiman does a pretty good job of exploring this generational theme in the book that is linked to in the post.
Thanks for the article. In the 1990s, I returned for a visit with the family in Freiburg I had stayed with many years before. As I recall, they were the ones who first mentioned the film Schindler's List (1993), which we all thought was a powerful confrontation with the past.
Thanks for sharing, Lyle.
Hi Dr. Levin,
Great article as always. Why do you think that America has struggled to adopt the same historical attitude that many Germans have? I suspect its primarily because our political environment won't let tour education system create such an attitude, but I could be wrong.
He links to Susan Nieman’s book Learning From The Germans. She writes about a museum exhibit full of letters from the (non-SS) German soldiers which casually mention the war crimes they participated in. It kind of forced Germans to acknowledge that their grandparents and parents really WERE those Nazis, and not just people doing their jobs out of patriotism. We’re a bigger country with a different history, but she gets into the weeds with it. It’s a great book.
Not all German military personnel, even on the Eastern Front, participated in war crimes. What is true is that the idea, long held by many, that it was only the SS that did so is a myth. There was a great deal of involvement on the part of the Wehrmacht. However, that's not the same thing as saying that everyone who fought on the German side in WWII was a war criminal. Also, I don't think it's accurate to say that everyone who DID participate in the crimes was a "Nazi." There has been a great deal of investigation into the motivations of rank and file perpetrators, and other important factors, such as peer pressure, have been cited as motivations. This of course does not excuse the crimes. But it does suggest that "they were Nazis" is a simplistic understanding of what was going on.
I think some people will feel I'm splitting hairs here. But when dealing with a topic as sensitive as this, it's important to be as accurate and nuanced as possible.
You said: "There was a great deal of involvement on the part of the Wehrmacht. However, that's not the same thing as saying that everyone who fought on the German side in WWII was a war criminal."
Just for the record, I don't think that is what Jayne was suggesting at all. She referenced one exhibit of letters. Obviously, you could have taken part in the atrocities in any number of ways beyond serving in the SS or even the German army. Thanks for the comment.
Back in 2005 I was in Europe on business, visiting several suppliers. One of the stops took me to Feucht, which is slightly south of Nuremberg. I had arranged to stay a couple of days in Nuremberg as I wanted to see the parade grounds where Hitler held his rallies. Not that far from the parade grounds (which at that time was in poor condition) was a museum about Nazism extolling the dangers and what it had wrought and so forth. I spent several hours there. It was excellent. There were numerous school groups there learning about its evils. That alone impressed me. Have you read the book “Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil” by Susan Neiman. Worth a read.
Thanks for the comment, Brad. I have experienced much of the same during my trips to Germany. I linked to Neiman's book in the blog post.