The German historian Moritz Pfeiffer broke new ground this year with a book analyzing why his grandparents supported the Nazi regime, based on an interview with his grandfather and systematic fact-checking of his statements.
His approach was unprecedented. The roles played by parents and grandparents during the Nazi era have been a taboo subject in many German families.
In the book, My Grandfather in the War, 1939–1945, published in March, Pfeiffer said his grandparents had suffered the same “moral insanity” that gripped many Germans of their generation – an emotional coldness, a lack of self-criticism and a “strong deficit of moral judgment.”
He said he hoped others of his generation would follow suit and start questioning relatives of that generation before the Third Reich passes out of living memory.
Judging by the reaction to his book in recent months, that call has fallen on deaf ears as far as younger Germans are concerned. But it has struck a chord with older people born during or shortly after the war, many of whom feel that they were left in the dark about what their parents did and thought.
Source: Spiegel Online International, October 10
…”that call has fallen on deaf ears as far as younger Germans are concerned… ” — uh-oh.
Shall we be heartened by the German contribution to the EU’s Nobel Peace prize, or shall we instead evoke Santana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” ?
Given how life is lived these days - especially by the young - in the very immediate present, one wonders if individual 30 year old Germans would be curious about the why’s and wherefore’s of his/her grandparents actions/beliefs in the last century? And would their failure to be interested be a predictor of future bad behaviour? Who knows? A country’s leadership is well-advised to put the nation’s history in context, but should we expect that - or hope for it - from ordinary individuals? Je ne sais pas.
One might go this far: that the failure to be interested is a predictor of the danger of future bad behaviour. Just that danger is enough for me, thanks…
Unfortunately, I understand the same “amnesia” is imbedded in the Japaneses memory….. and that of the Turks.
I believe the Der Spiegel reference to “deaf ears” of the Young have been misinterpreted. The overwhelming majority of German youth have no interest in rationalizing their Grand/now Great Grand Parents interest in National Socialism. They are far better schooled on the recent past than any North American school child. Exposed to Austrian and German culture and peoples of a range of ages while living in Vienna a decade ago, I witnessed first hand how the “judgements of the grandparents” could spark strong emotions. The Austrian contemporary who did not speak to her Grandfather for thirty years. The 75 German and Austrian Nazis (not Neo), who were given a permit to protest an exhibit linking the Luftwaffe with the war crimes of the Third Reich (“defending the memories” of their Grandfathers) while all of Austria’s riot police kept about 100,000 protesters, predominantly young people, at bay with watercannon.
Far more German and Austrian youth were far more interested in rediscovering “what our grandparents took away from us” - Klezmer - than attempts at rationalizing/understanding the “strong deficit of moral judgement”. Remember youth have all the answers. When they’re fifty, they may be more interested in Pfieffer’s book. And if you ever want to see Schindler’s List in German, uncut and commercial free in prime time, tune in to German TV on Hitler’s Birthday and Yom Kippur. Judging on what’s on TV, they do not intend to forget anything anytime soon!