Guilt

Something has been in the back of my mind for a long time. It’s the issue of studying in Germany. I’ve been thinking about it even more recently after finding an article about the World Cup in which the author wrote: “Talking about today’s World Cup match between Argentina and Germany, I heard myself saying, "Go, Germany," and flinched. For many people around the world, it is hard to ever really root for Germany. We may admire German cars and opera. We may acclaim German genius, from Goethe to Brecht to Richard von Weizsacker. But Germany is still known - and will always be known - as that nation that committed the crime which defines evil” (find the full article here).

I completely agree with the author’s sentiment. I had the time of my life in Germany, but it has always been a bit uncomfortable to admit how much I loved it, or that I even studied there at all. Despite the atrocities that so many countries, including the U.S., have committed, it seems as though Germany will always be the one country we instantly think of when we imagine the worst possible crimes against humanity. The sheer magnitude of the war and the Holocaust absolutely blows me away, and the more I learn about that period in Germany’s history, I wonder how it happened. Sure, we know many of the reasons, including Europe’s long historical trend of anti-Semitism, Hitler’s charisma, the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the economic woes of Weimar Germany, an enormously effective propaganda machine, and so on, but I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that all those different factors made the people of a modern twenty-first century nation commit such terrible atrocities. It wasn’t just Hitler and the Nazis. It was Germans, and save for the brave individuals and groups that risked their lives to help Jews and other victims, it was an entire people engaged in a collective act that killed millions and destroyed Europe. I walked all over Freiburg last semester, passing all kinds of people around town, and every single time I saw an elderly German man or woman, I thought you were there. You saw what happened. I rarely talked to these people and never heard anything about their lives, but I always perceived these older Germans in a certain way, intrinsically connecting them to the crimes committed nearly 70 years ago. I talked to my friends about this and I was so surprised to learn that some of them felt the exact same way when they encountered older Germans on the street. It wasn’t just once in a while. It was EVERY time we saw them. We instinctively linked these people to the worst parts of Germany’s past, and to me, it seemed to reaffirm the idea that collective atrocities deserve collective guilt. I’m sure many of the men and women we passed were only children during the war, or maybe not even born yet, but in my mind, I can’t separate them from what all Germans did and the burden all Germans bear. I suppose that’s why I feel guilty for loving modern Germany and the Germans I met there so much. They are not Nazis, but the past creeps in because Germany will always be infamous and its crimes will always weigh on the minds of observers, tourists, and guests like me, and that makes it hard to fully support, admire, or be proud of Germany.

Even with that barrier, I find it easier to respect Germany than the United States when considering the dark stains on both nations’ pasts. Germany will forever have both World Wars and the Holocaust on its conscience, and the U.S. will forever have its treatment of Native Americans, slaves, African-Americans, and countless people we’ve exploited, tortured, or killed in the many countries we’ve overthrown, invaded, waged war in, or otherwise affected. The thing I respect about Germany is that it accepts full responsibility for the atrocities it has committed, particularly during the Holocaust. Germany has officially apologized many times over and has paid billions in reparations to Holocaust survivors as well as to Israel. No German leader shies away from it, and some, like Willy Brandt, have become known for their emotional public actions of remorse and repentance. German schoolchildren learn not only the facts about the Third Reich, Hitler, and the Holocaust, but also their country’s responsibility for those crimes. Major cities and towns in German have Holocaust memorial museums and monuments as well as Jewish museums, and some, including Freiburg, have gold Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones”) implanted in the pavement in front of houses to commemorate the individual victims who once lived there and were deported or murdered. They make you “stumble,” and by doing so, they intrude on the everyday lives of Germans who weren’t even alive during the war, making them acknowledge the victims, look at their former houses, and remember what happened. None of these measures can ever erase Germany’s haunting history, but I can at least respect the genuine efforts of a nation that wants to repair some of the damage that forever changed the lives of so many people.

Stolpersteine in Freiburg. Kurt Lindemann, represented on the stone in the middle, survived.

In comparison, the U.S. has absolutely failed at addressing its historical wrongs. It can barely apologize, let alone offer reparations, to any of the people to whom apologies are due. A Senate resolution introduced in 2004 to formally apologize to the Native Americans has never been adopted, while similar measures on the issue of slavery express “regret” and make it clear that no restitution claims will be considered. Frankly, these efforts are bullshit. Half-hearted and centuries-late resolutions to address our crimes do no justice to the tremendous hardship and suffering that the U.S. has wrought against others, and any schoolchild knows that regret is not the same as an apology. At least seven southern states recognize “Confederate History Month,” a fact which seems to be tacitly accepted by everyone else even when some states in question neglect to mention slavery. These recognitions supposedly honor the unique character and way of the South while conveniently ignoring the truly horrific institution of slavery and its enduring legacy. I wonder how the world would perceive Germany if it declared “Third Reich History Month” and chose to glorify the German way of life while pretending the Holocaust never happened. I’m sure the world would look on in horror. The state of Bavaria has the longest Nazi past, but if any politician there attempted to honor that history, Germany would absolutely not tolerate it. Germans would not tolerate it. Such hypothetical actions would be considered despicable, and in the U.S., they are despicable. Sure, I respect the rights of individual people to be ignorant racists, but states and the federal government ought apologize for our crimes and publicly denounce politicians who disagree instead of turning a blind eye to them. There is no justification for slavery, abuse of Native Americans, or invading other countries and killing their civilians, but unlike Germany, we refuse to accept our rightful guilt and responsibility. I would rather live with the so-called “white guilt” than live with the knowledge that my government just doesn’t consider it necessary to apologize to the former and present victims of our crimes. Many countries have dark periods in their histories, but we are no better off by sweeping ours under the rug. We would be a stronger and braver nation if we attempted to address our wrongs through formal words and actions, and like Germany, maybe we’d finally begin to bear our burden with dignity.