CLIF’S SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 2
(The numbered sentences are taken from David’s sheet of excerpts. The other sentences are Clif’s additional comments made at the beginning of the Zoom conference.)
1. Page 28: A German who talks about the singularity of the Holocaust is taking responsibility; a German who talks of its universality is denying it.
2. Page 37: Seen in one light, the differences between German and American histories are glaring. Seen in another, what’s clear is what the similarities can teach us about guilt & atonement, memory and oblivion, and the presence of the past in preparing for the future.
3. Page 40: For decades after the war ended, Germans were obsessed with the suffering they’d endured, not the suffering they’d caused.
This quotation from page 40 summarizes the focus of the beginning section of Chapter 2 , pages 40 to 44.
Then from pages 45 though 62 the writings of various philosophers and authors are referenced regarding the subject of German Guilt. The author has a PhD in philosophy, so we shouldn’t be surprised that she review their opinions.
Martin Heidegger is talked abut on page 45. He joined the Nazi Party, and after the war was generally unapologetic about Nazi crimes. For him anti-Semitism and anti-modernism go together, and he was both.
Carl Schmitt is another philosopher mention beginning on the bottom of page 45 on to page 46. He believed that “moral concepts are irrelevant in politics, where the only categories that matter are friend and foe.”
Karl Jaspers in talked about beginning near the bottom of page 46 through page 49.
4. Page 47: not all suffering is created equal: most everyone suffered, but it’s completely different whether one suffered and lost in battle at the front, at home, or in a concentration camp....
Karl Jaspers in this quotation was encouraging Germans to recognize that the suffering they caused is worse than the suffering they experienced.
On page 50 to 52 Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno are talked about. Both of them fled German during WWII and then returned after the war. They performed a Group Experiment noted in the middle of page 50 in which 1800 people were encouraged to speak about German guilt in small group settings. None expressed a desire to return to the good old days of the Third Reich. Occasional shame was noted, but the shame had no moral component. Nearly every participant in the Group Experiment denied any suggestion of guilt.
Which leads us to quotation No. 5 on David’s list. This quotation comes on page 52 at the end of the discussion of this Group Experiment. It’s commenting on the fact that the researchers would fully analyze the reasons for people defending themselves against guilt for any evil, but they did not explain why one woman responded to moral catastrophe in the right way, with a knowledge of sine and a sense of guilt that demanded expiation, cost what it may for herself and her children. At this point the author is addressing the reader with this question ....
1. Page 28: A German who talks about the singularity of the Holocaust is taking responsibility; a German who talks of its universality is denying it.
2. Page 37: Seen in one light, the differences between German and American histories are glaring. Seen in another, what’s clear is what the similarities can teach us about guilt & atonement, memory and oblivion, and the presence of the past in preparing for the future.
3. Page 40: For decades after the war ended, Germans were obsessed with the suffering they’d endured, not the suffering they’d caused.
This quotation from page 40 summarizes the focus of the beginning section of Chapter 2 , pages 40 to 44.
Then from pages 45 though 62 the writings of various philosophers and authors are referenced regarding the subject of German Guilt. The author has a PhD in philosophy, so we shouldn’t be surprised that she review their opinions.
Martin Heidegger is talked abut on page 45. He joined the Nazi Party, and after the war was generally unapologetic about Nazi crimes. For him anti-Semitism and anti-modernism go together, and he was both.
Carl Schmitt is another philosopher mention beginning on the bottom of page 45 on to page 46. He believed that “moral concepts are irrelevant in politics, where the only categories that matter are friend and foe.”
Karl Jaspers in talked about beginning near the bottom of page 46 through page 49.
4. Page 47: not all suffering is created equal: most everyone suffered, but it’s completely different whether one suffered and lost in battle at the front, at home, or in a concentration camp....
Karl Jaspers in this quotation was encouraging Germans to recognize that the suffering they caused is worse than the suffering they experienced.
On page 50 to 52 Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno are talked about. Both of them fled German during WWII and then returned after the war. They performed a Group Experiment noted in the middle of page 50 in which 1800 people were encouraged to speak about German guilt in small group settings. None expressed a desire to return to the good old days of the Third Reich. Occasional shame was noted, but the shame had no moral component. Nearly every participant in the Group Experiment denied any suggestion of guilt.
Which leads us to quotation No. 5 on David’s list. This quotation comes on page 52 at the end of the discussion of this Group Experiment. It’s commenting on the fact that the researchers would fully analyze the reasons for people defending themselves against guilt for any evil, but they did not explain why one woman responded to moral catastrophe in the right way, with a knowledge of sine and a sense of guilt that demanded expiation, cost what it may for herself and her children. At this point the author is addressing the reader with this question ....
5. Page 52: Are we better at analyzing evil than goodness? Or is goodness, finally, impossible to analyze: it’s just something simple?
Beginning on page 52 the book talks about Bettina Stangneth who is a critic of German efforts to work off the past. She wrote to book Eichmann Before Jerusalem which was written in response to the more famous book, Eichmann in Jersualem: A report on the Banality of Evil, written by Hannah Arendt. The book Eichmann in Jerusalem basically accepts Eichmann’s claim that he was following orders and that he had not strong anti-Semitic views. Stangneth in her book Eichmann Before Jerusalem reviews interviews of Eichmann done in Argentine by Nazi sympathizers in which he states that he wishes that he could have killed more Jews. Basically, it paints a highly motivated extreme anti-Semite in contrast to someone who simply obeyed orders.
David’s quote No. 6 is referring to Bettina Stangneth the author of Eichmann Before Jerusalem ... She’s not convinced that the Germans have faced the worst fact about the Nazi period:
6. Page 55: not the ignorant masses, but the educated elites were the driving forces behind the regime.
And if you read on from that point is says, “Of the fifteen officials present at the Wannsee Conference, where the Final Solution was settled, eight had Ph.D.s.”
The interview with Bettina Stangneth continues on pages 56 and 57. The author of our book is more sympathetic with contemporary Germans than the critic Stangneth. I found the following quotation from page 57 interesting.
I reminder her of the days after the Charleston massacre, which mo ed many Southern states to take down the Confederate flags the murderer had brandished. “Steven Bannon, who was Trump’s chief strategist, wrote articles urging people to keep the flag flyings and fly it proud. That would be impossible to do with a swastika in this country.”
I think you’ve passed probation,.”
Stangneth’s response is that she doesn’t agree.
Starting on the bottom of page 57 this book takes about Cilly Kugelmann who is the retired program director of the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Kugelmann is Jewish and defends the acceptance of Jews in modern day Germany. On page 59 she is quoted saying ...
“Germany is one of the safest countries for Jew in the world. And that’s thanks to decades of public working-off-the-past.”
Beginning in the middle of page 59 the book interviews Polina Aronson, a sociologist who was born in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to Germany. She was recognized as Jewish by the Soviets, but she had no knowledge of Jewish religion or customs. The book tells of her meeting other Jews in Berlin and learning to appreciate many Jewish customs,
On page 62 the book goes back to it interview with Bettina Stangneth who is critical of German reform and provides the following quotation:
She fears that a silent majority is just waiting for the right moment to take off the cloak of repentance. “Instead of being grateful for the second chance the Allies gave us, many Germans still feel they are the victim of a great injustice.”
Beginning on page 52 the book talks about Bettina Stangneth who is a critic of German efforts to work off the past. She wrote to book Eichmann Before Jerusalem which was written in response to the more famous book, Eichmann in Jersualem: A report on the Banality of Evil, written by Hannah Arendt. The book Eichmann in Jerusalem basically accepts Eichmann’s claim that he was following orders and that he had not strong anti-Semitic views. Stangneth in her book Eichmann Before Jerusalem reviews interviews of Eichmann done in Argentine by Nazi sympathizers in which he states that he wishes that he could have killed more Jews. Basically, it paints a highly motivated extreme anti-Semite in contrast to someone who simply obeyed orders.
David’s quote No. 6 is referring to Bettina Stangneth the author of Eichmann Before Jerusalem ... She’s not convinced that the Germans have faced the worst fact about the Nazi period:
6. Page 55: not the ignorant masses, but the educated elites were the driving forces behind the regime.
And if you read on from that point is says, “Of the fifteen officials present at the Wannsee Conference, where the Final Solution was settled, eight had Ph.D.s.”
The interview with Bettina Stangneth continues on pages 56 and 57. The author of our book is more sympathetic with contemporary Germans than the critic Stangneth. I found the following quotation from page 57 interesting.
I reminder her of the days after the Charleston massacre, which mo ed many Southern states to take down the Confederate flags the murderer had brandished. “Steven Bannon, who was Trump’s chief strategist, wrote articles urging people to keep the flag flyings and fly it proud. That would be impossible to do with a swastika in this country.”
I think you’ve passed probation,.”
Stangneth’s response is that she doesn’t agree.
Starting on the bottom of page 57 this book takes about Cilly Kugelmann who is the retired program director of the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Kugelmann is Jewish and defends the acceptance of Jews in modern day Germany. On page 59 she is quoted saying ...
“Germany is one of the safest countries for Jew in the world. And that’s thanks to decades of public working-off-the-past.”
Beginning in the middle of page 59 the book interviews Polina Aronson, a sociologist who was born in the former Soviet Union and immigrated to Germany. She was recognized as Jewish by the Soviets, but she had no knowledge of Jewish religion or customs. The book tells of her meeting other Jews in Berlin and learning to appreciate many Jewish customs,
On page 62 the book goes back to it interview with Bettina Stangneth who is critical of German reform and provides the following quotation:
She fears that a silent majority is just waiting for the right moment to take off the cloak of repentance. “Instead of being grateful for the second chance the Allies gave us, many Germans still feel they are the victim of a great injustice.”
The section of page 63 begins by saying “The inclination to set one’s own suffering Uber ales isn’t particularly German, nor is it particularly new.”
David’s quote No. 7 in the middle of page 63 is commenting on how many people react to suffering— people in general not just Germans ....
7. Page 63: Out of that suffering some will weave a theodicy. All that pain cannot be without meaning. The weavers need not be those who remember the suffering directly, Often it’s the suffering of their ancestors more imagined than experienced, that drives the search for a framework with which to understand it.
On page 64 the author of this book talks about her own observations about the recent refugees entering Germany from the Middle East and Syria in particular. Reporters for Der Spiegel ask for her comment. She among other things that “There are empty villages from Poland to Portugal. Why not give refugees a chance to rebuild them? She notes that “the viciousness of readers’ reactions was chilling.” (i.e. very negative). A number of the replies are in the middle of page 64.
The section that begins on page 65 begins with David’s quotation No. 8:
8. Page 65: Do the sins of the fathers contaminate the children? And if so, for how long?
The book explores this question by telling the story of Alexandra Senfft’s family as described in her book titled Silence Hurts. The thesis of her book was that her mother’s mental illness stemmed from he fact that her family never acknowledged her father’s participation in the Holocaust. Her father was executed for war crimes.
The extended family of Alexandra Senfft was not happy that she had written the book, but she received many letters from readers with similar stories.
On pages 67 and 68 the book talks about the author’s experience sitting in on a group set up by the Working Group for Intergenerational Consequence of the Holocaust, in which Jews and Germans meet to talk about the pasts they are still working off.
The author make brief reference to meeting with similar groups between descendants of slaves and slave masters.
In the top part of page 69 I noticed an interesting a comment regarding the recent Muslim refugees.
“There is still a taboo against openly anti-Semitic statements, but anti-Muslim sentiment is deeply racist, and growing.”
On the bottom part of page 69 is an interesting discussion the the fact that the year of birth in Germany determines widely different experiences and things taught in school.
David’s quotation No, 9 near the top of page 70 is talking about the generation born in Germany during the 40s who experienced epiphanies during the Eichmann and Auschwitz trials. Suddenly they understood the cause of the grim-lipped brutal silence of their parents and teacher. It mirrored the silence of the victims but it had a different ground.
9. Page 70: The victims were silent from shame; the perpetrators from guilt.
This generation of Germans compensated in some interesting ways. The following quote is from lower down of page 70.
David’s quote No. 7 in the middle of page 63 is commenting on how many people react to suffering— people in general not just Germans ....
7. Page 63: Out of that suffering some will weave a theodicy. All that pain cannot be without meaning. The weavers need not be those who remember the suffering directly, Often it’s the suffering of their ancestors more imagined than experienced, that drives the search for a framework with which to understand it.
On page 64 the author of this book talks about her own observations about the recent refugees entering Germany from the Middle East and Syria in particular. Reporters for Der Spiegel ask for her comment. She among other things that “There are empty villages from Poland to Portugal. Why not give refugees a chance to rebuild them? She notes that “the viciousness of readers’ reactions was chilling.” (i.e. very negative). A number of the replies are in the middle of page 64.
The section that begins on page 65 begins with David’s quotation No. 8:
8. Page 65: Do the sins of the fathers contaminate the children? And if so, for how long?
The book explores this question by telling the story of Alexandra Senfft’s family as described in her book titled Silence Hurts. The thesis of her book was that her mother’s mental illness stemmed from he fact that her family never acknowledged her father’s participation in the Holocaust. Her father was executed for war crimes.
The extended family of Alexandra Senfft was not happy that she had written the book, but she received many letters from readers with similar stories.
On pages 67 and 68 the book talks about the author’s experience sitting in on a group set up by the Working Group for Intergenerational Consequence of the Holocaust, in which Jews and Germans meet to talk about the pasts they are still working off.
The author make brief reference to meeting with similar groups between descendants of slaves and slave masters.
In the top part of page 69 I noticed an interesting a comment regarding the recent Muslim refugees.
“There is still a taboo against openly anti-Semitic statements, but anti-Muslim sentiment is deeply racist, and growing.”
On the bottom part of page 69 is an interesting discussion the the fact that the year of birth in Germany determines widely different experiences and things taught in school.
David’s quotation No, 9 near the top of page 70 is talking about the generation born in Germany during the 40s who experienced epiphanies during the Eichmann and Auschwitz trials. Suddenly they understood the cause of the grim-lipped brutal silence of their parents and teacher. It mirrored the silence of the victims but it had a different ground.
9. Page 70: The victims were silent from shame; the perpetrators from guilt.
This generation of Germans compensated in some interesting ways. The following quote is from lower down of page 70.
“Those who had children themselves often give them Hebrew names. In the 1980s, you could shout “Jakob!” On most any Berlin playground and watch three little blond heads turn.”
On pages 71 through 76 reports on the actions of Jan Phillipp Reemtsma. He inherited a large business in Germany which he sold for a sizable amount and has since been a philanthropist supporting many different causes. He was the one who paid for the development of the Wehrmacht Exhibit in 1995 which was responsible for educating Germans about the involvement of the Wehrmacht in the Holocaust.
David’s quotation No. 10 on page 74 is referring this changes in understanding regarding action of the Wehrmacht.
10. The murders committed by the Wehrmacht were not the fault of a few bad apples; they were widespread, systematic, and crucial to the war effort.
David’s final quotation No. 11 on page 80 is taken from a excerpt from the book Eichmann in Jerusalem. The context of this excerpt is talking about the action of a sergeant in the German army who probably saved about two hundred Jewish lives during the Holocaust in Lithuania by helping to hide them from the firing squads. His name was Anton Schmidt and I recommend looking that name up in Wikipedia and reading his story. The Schmidt story is an outstanding example of someone who didn’t follow orders.
11. Page 80: Politically speaking, it is that under conditions of terror most people will comply but some people will not, just as the lesson of the countries to which the Final Solution was proposed is that “it could happen” in most places but it did not happen everywhere.
On pages 71 through 76 reports on the actions of Jan Phillipp Reemtsma. He inherited a large business in Germany which he sold for a sizable amount and has since been a philanthropist supporting many different causes. He was the one who paid for the development of the Wehrmacht Exhibit in 1995 which was responsible for educating Germans about the involvement of the Wehrmacht in the Holocaust.
David’s quotation No. 10 on page 74 is referring this changes in understanding regarding action of the Wehrmacht.
10. The murders committed by the Wehrmacht were not the fault of a few bad apples; they were widespread, systematic, and crucial to the war effort.
David’s final quotation No. 11 on page 80 is taken from a excerpt from the book Eichmann in Jerusalem. The context of this excerpt is talking about the action of a sergeant in the German army who probably saved about two hundred Jewish lives during the Holocaust in Lithuania by helping to hide them from the firing squads. His name was Anton Schmidt and I recommend looking that name up in Wikipedia and reading his story. The Schmidt story is an outstanding example of someone who didn’t follow orders.
11. Page 80: Politically speaking, it is that under conditions of terror most people will comply but some people will not, just as the lesson of the countries to which the Final Solution was proposed is that “it could happen” in most places but it did not happen everywhere.
