The idea of collective responsibility and collective superiority served the Germans well during the initial victorious stages of the war. German soldiers killed many hostages in reprisal for attacks against the Wehrmacht, they committed many atrocities. At the end of the war, when the war fortunes changed, the German changed the rules, the collective responsibility was substituted with individual irresponsibility. Individually the Germans did not know about the atrocities or could prevent them. The Germans were not responsible for the atrocities they did not commit, the individual murderers were not responsible for all the murders committed on orders from above. An order cannot be refused. Suddenly each SS-man saved some inmates, each German had a Jewish friend.
One other thing must be added to complete the picture: in spite of the varied possibilities for information, most Germans did not know because they didn't want to know. Because, indeed, they wanted not to know. It is certainly true that State terrorism is a very strong weapon, very difficult to resist. But it is also true that the German people, as a whole, did not even try to resist. In Hitler's Germany a particular code was widespread: those who knew did not talk; those who did not know did not asked questions; those who did not asked questions received no answers. In this way the typical German citizen won and defended his ignorance, which seemed to him sufficient justification of his adherence to Nazism. Shutting his mouth, his eyes and hears, an accomplice too the things taking place in front of his very door. Knowledge itself was not a crime but the silence and acceptance of the crimes is a crime, at least in the moral sense.
It is true that the majority of Germans supported Hitler and accepted or tolerated his insanity and enjoyed his successes. It is also true that the Germans that opposed Hitler were helpless in an environment of a Totalitarian regime. The guilt of the German people lies in the fact that they placed submission to authority above civilized behavior, and did very little to sabotage the insane orders. Sabotaging the orders and simple behaving in a human way could have saved thousands of victims. The lack of response from the German public gave Hitler the green light in proceeding with his policies of terror, brutality and bloody conquests. The enthusiasm of the people, the wild cheering of the masses during the numerous parades, gave Hitler the consensus needed.
The tragedy lies in the fact that the German people participated actively or passively in the crimes, and kept silent, giving Hitler a green light to escalate the atrocities. In the film "The World at War" an interesting scene is shown: Two old women return home and viewing the total destruction of their homes, express anger at Hitler: "He promised us to conquer half of the world and this is what we got". They did not feel the responsibility for the mass destruction inflicted on Europe, by the German Luftwaffe. In another scene a German woman expresses outrage at the unnecessary, spurious bombing and destruction of Dresden. What about the destruction of Warsaw, Leningrad, London, this was not spurious, this was the outcome of war!
The rise of Hitler both crushed and coopted radical resistance movements in Germany. There was a remarkable and even dogged solidarity of Germany people behind the war effort. One telling story: the waterfront of Hamburg had for decades been a center of revolutionary politics in Germany — it was a base area of the Communist Party of Germany and in the early 20s, it has been a staging ground for a revolutionary uprising. But in World War II, when the British firebombing of Hamburg leveled this strategic military port, the dockworkers jumped into action and restored the operations with an energy that the Nazis proclaimed as heroic.
Every German born before the war’s end has now reached retirement age. In other words, the entire war-era generation – even those who were infants on V-E Day – is now in retirement. It means all those running Germany now had, as documented by their birth certificates, nothing what so ever to do with World War Two. Their parents, grandparents or great grandparents who might have voted for Adolf Hitler in the last free elections in 1933 could still be held accountable, even indirectly, for the war, the Holocaust and Nazi crimes. But can Germans born after the war still be blamed for it? Should those born decades or even a half century later still be made to feel the burden of guilt? I think not. At the same time, they do carry the burden of them to some degree, simply by virute of the ‘bad luck’ of being born in Germany. I guess they have paid for the mistakes of their forefathers for more than 60 years by being outcast (mentally and emotionally) and embarrassed with questions like their opinion about WWII and (of course their apologies) whenever they go anywhere in the world.
Apart from remembering for the sake of the future, as long as there still are people who were victimized by the Germans, Germany as a country has a moral responsibility to do what we can to make amends to these individuals and I believe we have done this, and are continuing to do this with some digity. So much on guilt and responsibility, but how about shame?
Perhaps, one could argue, the Germans should feel ashamed rather than guilty. We choose not to identify with our country and its history. For any normal patriotic person outside Germany, this must seem very odd but for Germans it is quite normal. Many of us see our history as a list of facts rather than something to personally connect with. We choose not to identify with our country and its history. For any normal patriotic person outside Germany, this must seem very odd but for Germans it is quite normal. Many of us see our history as a list of facts rather than something to personally connect with. For me it is not just a question of should Germans feel guilty about what was done under the Nazi banner but all of us as human beings should be aware of how easily humans can forget their own humanity. Genocide makes us all base - both those who commit it and those of us who do nothing active to prevent it.
I think there are aspects of guilt (or should I say shame?) which can have a useful role. It shows that you feel some sort of remorse for what has happened. It also indicates a level of acknowledgement. If you then do something constructive with it - you are moving on from paralysis.
As result of the acknowledgement that much that the Germans did was deeply wrong, over the last 60 years Germany has completely turned around. It is now unquestionably a solidly democratic state and has been a huge motor for European integration which arguably makes a future war at the heart of Europe impossible. The German state is based on fundamental respect for a common code of human rights. For me this shows that good can come out of guilt and an awareness of our history.