| Revision as of 23:10, 10 September 2014 editBoson (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers17,771 edits →top: Added 'purported' to avoid stating implicitly in Misplaced Pages's voice that the German people are *collectively* guilty of the holocaust and starting WW2.← Previous edit | Revision as of 23:17, 10 September 2014 edit undoBoson (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers17,771 edits →top: rm changed and incorrect statement of doubtful relevance. If disputed, take to talk and obtain consensus.Next edit → | ||
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| The psychoanalyst ] wrote an influential essay in 1945 about this concept as a psychological phenomenon, in which he asserted that the German people felt a collective guilt (''Kollektivschuld'') for the atrocities committed by their fellow countrymen, and so introduced the term into German intellectual discourse. Jung said collective guilt was "for psychologists a fact, and it will be one of the most important tasks of therapy to bring the Germans to recognize this guilt."<ref>{{citation |title=Guilt and Defense |author=Jeffrey K. Olick, Andrew J. Perrin |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-674-03603-1 |pages=24–25}}</ref> | The psychoanalyst ] wrote an influential essay in 1945 about this concept as a psychological phenomenon, in which he asserted that the German people felt a collective guilt (''Kollektivschuld'') for the atrocities committed by their fellow countrymen, and so introduced the term into German intellectual discourse. Jung said collective guilt was "for psychologists a fact, and it will be one of the most important tasks of therapy to bring the Germans to recognize this guilt."<ref>{{citation |title=Guilt and Defense |author=Jeffrey K. Olick, Andrew J. Perrin |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-674-03603-1 |pages=24–25}}</ref> | ||
| In what is called the ], World War II allies justified the carpet bombing and destruction of residential and industrial areas, which would deindustrialize Germany by completely dismantling its industrial capabilities, destroying its access to natural resources, and forcibly dispersing its technically skilled workforce.<ref>{{citation |title=Encyclopedia of American foreign policy |author=Glenn P. Hastedt |page=321 |isbn=978-0-8160-4642-3 |year=2004}}, also, per original memo</ref> | |||
| After the war, the British and US occupation forces promoted shame and guilt with a ], which included posters depicting concentration camps with slogans such as "These Atrocities: Your Fault!" (''Diese Schandtaten: Eure Schuld!'').<ref>{{citation |title=The Guilt of Nations? |author=Jeffrey K. Olick |doi=10.1111/j.1747-7093.2003.tb00443.x |journal=Ethics & International Affairs |volume=17 |number=2 |pages=109–117 |date=September 2003}}</ref> | After the war, the British and US occupation forces promoted shame and guilt with a ], which included posters depicting concentration camps with slogans such as "These Atrocities: Your Fault!" (''Diese Schandtaten: Eure Schuld!'').<ref>{{citation |title=The Guilt of Nations? |author=Jeffrey K. Olick |doi=10.1111/j.1747-7093.2003.tb00443.x |journal=Ethics & International Affairs |volume=17 |number=2 |pages=109–117 |date=September 2003}}</ref> | ||
Revision as of 23:17, 10 September 2014
German collective guilt is the purported collective guilt of Germany and the German people for starting World War II and the Holocaust.
The psychoanalyst Carl Jung wrote an influential essay in 1945 about this concept as a psychological phenomenon, in which he asserted that the German people felt a collective guilt (Kollektivschuld) for the atrocities committed by their fellow countrymen, and so introduced the term into German intellectual discourse. Jung said collective guilt was "for psychologists a fact, and it will be one of the most important tasks of therapy to bring the Germans to recognize this guilt."
After the war, the British and US occupation forces promoted shame and guilt with a publicity campaign, which included posters depicting concentration camps with slogans such as "These Atrocities: Your Fault!" (Diese Schandtaten: Eure Schuld!).
The theologian Martin Niemöller and other churchmen accepted shared guilt in the Stuttgarter Schuldbekenntnis (Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt) of 1945. The philosopher and psychologist Karl Jaspers delivered lectures to students in 1946 which were published under the title The Question of German Guilt.
See also
- Collective responsibility, a different concept from collective guilt.
- Denazification
- Hitler's Willing Executioners
- White guilt
References
- Jeffrey K. Olick, Andrew J. Perrin (2010), Guilt and Defense, Harvard University Press, pp. 24–25, ISBN 978-0-674-03603-1
- Jeffrey K. Olick (September 2003), "The Guilt of Nations?", Ethics & International Affairs, 17 (2): 109–117, doi:10.1111/j.1747-7093.2003.tb00443.x
- Tracy Isaacs, Richard Vernon (2011), Accountability for Collective Wrongdoing, Cambridge University Press, pp. 196–199, ISBN 978-0-521-17611-8